Cyberpunk 2077 is a game about following the yellow line

Cyberpunk 2077 is out for PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Stadia this week, and that means you’ll finally get a chance to explore its big-budget, vast open world. But when you do, you may find that the game feels less open than you might expect. And that’s because this is a game about following specific directions.

I like Cyberpunk 2077. It’s a well-made crime thriller with some really cool setpieces. But don’t come into the game thinking that you’re going to have a say in how those quests work. Almost everyone is going to play through the same missions in the same ways. This means following a yellow dotted line on your minimap to the next waypoint, doing whatever the game needs, and then following the line again.