Cloudpunk has helped me get over Cyberpunk 2077
Everything that could go wrong with 2020 went wrong. With all the chaos that was happening in the world, we probably thought video games were incapable of making news…but then Cyberpunk 2077 came out and boy was it a doozie.
Setting a new precedent for how poorly a launch can go, a game people have been waiting on for roughly a decade was launched so incomplete that it would crash game consoles. Features shown in “game reveals” were missing from the actual game. In fact, it was discovered that the reveal videos that showed your car being jacked were actually completely independent from the game and were, in fact, a completely different program made just for showing people something.
As time went on, the disastrous launch caused companies to reverse their policies on refunds specifically because of how many people were desperately trying to rid themselves of the title.
My hopes for the Cyberpunk story I desperately craved seemed to be lost. Until a friend recommended Cloudpunk to me.
Released by ION LANDS for the Switch, PS4, and Xbox One in October of last year and for Windows all the way back in April…which, kinda feels like a decade ago. But despite having the exact cyberpunk story I wanted AND giving me the ability to use the cyberpunk noir flying car of my dreams, the game flew completely under my radar.
Unlike Cyberpunk 2077‘s mass collection of guns and swords, Cloudpunk grants you absolutely no weapons. In Cloudpunk, you control Rania, a character who, despite being new to town and not really being familiar with the area or the customs of the city, gets a job with an illegal delivery service known as Cloudpunk and must make deliveries to make ends meet.
Flying under the radar to deliver boxes filled with unknown goods, trying to not ask too many questions despite your packages occasionally smelling or, in one particular case, talking to you, you make your living while, at the same time, finding yourself in the middle of a mystery involving a rogue AI.
The game’s aesthetic combined with the overall feel was the exact story I wanted. I didn’t want to play a cyberpunk-themed shooter, blasting my way through hordes of enemies. I wanted a world where I struggled to make ends meet in a Blade Runner type setting filled with noodle stands and rain.
My one complaint involves the visuals. The game is made out of blocks, like Minecraft with smaller bricks and because of this a lot of the characters look like they came from the now ancient video for the song “I Want My MTV”.
Despite the graphical minimalism, there is also an issue with the Switch version, which is the one I played. The draw distance is borderline embarrassing. While the game looks amazing as you’re flying around, the draw distance on the Switch is so reduced that sometimes entire skyscrapers will appear in front of you so close you cannot turn in time leaving me driving at a very cautious clip.
If you’re curious, here’s some gameplay footage I took of two parts as an example of what it’s like flying around on the Switch.
It felt really weird that I was able to see into the far distance in Breath of the Wild but a building made of blocks was somehow limiting. But I’m also not a developer so they probably have a better answer than I have.
Either way, the story is why I’m here and it’s honestly the story I wanted and kind of knew Cyberpunk 2077 wouldn’t have delivered to me anyway. If you, like me, are suffering from Cyberpunk withdrawal, PLEASE give Cloudpunk a try.