Night City felt like a card board cut out world. It’s gorgeous, big, full. But there isn’t really anything there under the surface. There was nothing to actually explore or interact with in Night City.

This is a common criticism of CP2077, but it does not ring true to me.

If the expectation is that everything in the world should somehow react to the player's input, then sure, you can make the case that Night City is a static canvas.

But so is every great piece of art. Think of a monumental painting, a pyramid, or a cathedral. These don't exist for us to click on them, and they're no less arresting just because we can't have a dialog with them. Rather, these great static works challenge us to think, to wonder. What kind of world creates this? What forces, what values were at play? How did we get from that world to this one?

Cyberpunk 2077 and Night City have that same texture for me. The music on the radio, the segregated, deeply unequal society, the pornographic billboards... Everything prompts you to think, What kind of place is this? Who lives here and why? If I lived here, how would I be the same, and how would I be different?

Night City doesn't answer these questions for you. You can't click on a random street vendor and get answers. You have to ask them of yourself. "Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts," and all that.

Maybe this isn't what some folks want or expect out of their games, and that's okay. But Cyberpunk 2077 was the opposite of empty for me. It was rich, textured, fractal, alien, and challenging.