The Witcher 3 had a massive lifespan, especially with its expansions, and after so many years of development, it makes sense that player expectations for Cyberpunk 2077 are particularly high. We mentioned the topic in our review after a little less than a week on the game, and have continued to play since in order to get close to the famous 100% and refine our estimate.
Overall life
Compared to the other medias, our estimate of the lifespan was more generous, with 20 to 30 hours for the main quest, 40 to 50 hours for the secondary missions and 80 to 100 hours for the 100%. Of course, there can be quite significant variations depending on the playstyle and the chosen difficulty setting. Someone who plays Cyberpunk easy and shoots anything he crosses with a shotgun without bothering to search the premises or listen to the dialogue will go dozens of times faster than a careful and methodical player in maximum difficulty that searches everything. We therefore base these estimates on a vague perception of the normal playstyle that takes advantage of dialogue and seeks to explore the game with satisfactory opposition from enemies.
Our previous estimates still seem valid to us for several reasons. Each district has many small contracts and optional missions which have their share of conditions and which require to make a lot of trips, not to mention the time to search and then go from one to the other. If we add to that the tons of ongoing crimes reported by the NCPD that fall into the 100% in more than one way, it becomes terribly time consuming. Things do, however, pick up speed over time, as at high level V is likely to roll over any opposition, even on very difficult.
Reach the 100%
If you want to get all the trophies it will also require you to collect a lot of levels and equipment on V in order to unlock all the skills and powers required in some cases. Buying all the vehicles in the game is also a major time chasm in order to gather the necessary cash, although you should have the required sum by clearing the entire map.
Finally, we can also debate the fact that Cyberpunk's lifespan is well beyond 100 hours if you really want to discover everything. For example, creating a second character of the opposite sex in order to discover the other romances and some variations in the dialogues is not without charm, especially combined with another choice of origin and above all, different choices in the way of managing missions and key moments. Even without having fun cleaning the card again, it significantly extends the life. So you should be able to have fun for at least a few weeks, even when playing hard.
Original content by Robin "Raiden" Bouquet.
