Cyberpunk 2077: It plays well with Stadia

The most consequential choice of Cyberpunk 2077 comes before players even start the game. It centers on picking the right platform. The game is playable on the Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5, but those machines are running software built for the older machines via backward compatibility. Players won’t see how the latest consoles handle the game until later.

That leaves gamers with two options. They can pick it up for PC, but they’ll need a powerful rig to get the most from the experience. Cyberpunk 2077 can even bring powerful graphics cards such as the RTX 3090 to its knees. For those who don’t want to fork over that cash, there’s the Stadia version.

Google’s cloud-based platform was slow out of the gate, but it has built up momentum over its first year. The service’s roster of games increased and the promised list of features has filled out. Just load up the Stadia site on Chrome and you'll be all set.

The character creation in Cyberpunk 2077 is robust and lets players customize everything about the protagonist, V., including the sex, hairdo, body shape and private parts (if you’re into that sort of thing). From there, players are whisked away in and around Night City. The circumstances differ depending on one of three backgrounds from which players choose — Nomad, Street Kid or Corpo. Those life paths also unlock different dialogue choices for V.

Cyberpunk 2077 takes inspiration from films such as "Blade Runner" and "Demolition Man." The world is filled with holographic goldfish, soaring skyscrapers and crowded flea markets. Being in a fictional California, Night City also has desert scrubland and a multiethnic vibe as each city section is dominated by a distinct culture and gang.

The world oozes lore and that makes it easy to slip into Cyberpunk 2077’s campaign. As V., players find themselves as a mercenary working his way up the underworld ladder. V. and his friend soon finds themselves taking on a job to steal a relic from the Arasaka Corporation, one of the most powerful companies on earth.

The gameplay is surprisingly malleable and almost puzzlelike for an open-world game, but as players get more powerful and locate powerful gear, V. can overcome most obstacles by blasting foes with whatever abilities they invested in. Violence, not craft, quickly becomes the answer to many problems.

Cyberpunk 2077 is an enormous game that will devour 100 hours, so it’s best to have easy and reliable access, and Stadia provides that. Players don’t need a Stadia Pro subscription to access it. The game is always available once they have purchased it. Cyberpunk 2007 won’t stream in 4K without the subscription, but that’s not a deal breaker. On Stadia, "Cyberpunk 2077" has the power to suck players in and keep them entranced in compelling world of tech noir.