I returned to Cyberpunk 2077 for the romantic hangouts in update 2.1, but stayed to rediscover a new Night City

I must have sunk well over 300 hours into Cyberpunk 2077, but this is Night City as I've never experienced it before. The streets look more polished and prettier than ever, neon-lights from the towering cityscape reflect off of the rain-soaked roads, more pedestrians can be seen going about their daily business, and up above, I can see the new NCART metro system snake through the skyline. Everywhere is a hive of activity, making the city feel so alive. I admittedly came to CD Projekt Red's RPG much later, having first stepped into the game when the PS5 and Xbox Series X upgrade launched last year. But even if I never did witness the jankier side of the world in the early days first-hand, I'm still taken by the changes introduced in the latest updates.

I'd been holding off on reuniting with V until I could put some time aside for Phantom Liberty. This year has been absolutely stuffed with exciting new games, and something had to take a backseat while I tried to keep up with, well, everything. But if there was one thing that was going to make me drop my best laid plans and hit Night City again, it was the promise of more content in the romance department. So, when I learned the latest Cyberpunk 2077 2.1 update was giving us more quality time with our love interests, I couldn't resist any longer. I figured a quick fly by visit would suffice; I'd go in, load up an old save, check out the new romantic hangouts in my apartment, and leave. Little did I know that five minutes was all it would take to ignite my desire to start over fresh and play through the adventure all over again. 

I really want to stay at your house  

 If I had to describe what it was like to boot up an old Cyberpunk 2077 save, I'd say it was like seeing a friend you haven't seen in a while who's undergone some drastic changes. I'd left V happily behind in Judy's apartment, and it wasn't until I tried to leave that I realized I was moving at a snail's pace. It turns out I was heavily encumbered, but I didn't immediately know why. 

Closer inspection of the menus gave me my first proper taste of one of the biggest changes in the most recent updates: with a major system overhaul, update 2.0 revamped character attributes entirely, meaning all of the skills I'd assigned had been completely reset. Not only that, but my clothing didn't have armor ratings anymore since cyberware had been reworked to cover that side of things. Suddenly, everything felt a bit alien to me, like I was out of the loop on a game I'd spent hours upon hours of my time in. I felt like I'd shown up to an event, but had somehow missed a last-minute dress code update. 

Still, I was just here for the romance, right? I wasn't about to let these overhauled systems get in the way of a date with Judy… at least, not right away. Not wanting to drop a load of guns everywhere, I started slowly making my way out of her apartment when I got a text on my phone from… Judy? She was still lying in the bed that was a matter of feet away from me, but the game was evidently getting ahead of my encumbered snail-like speed. I immediately noticed that the UI for V's phone messages had had a touch up, and a text message sound even came through on my DualSense controller. 

I’d heard the 2.0 update was pretty major, but I don't think I fully comprehended just how major until I stepped back in for myself. Everything felt so fresh in a way I wasn't anticipating. Even so, nothing could quite rival my excitement when I clapped eyes on the message that had come through. Judy asked if we could spend some time together, and offered to head over to my digs. All I had to do was choose from one of my many apartments I bought over the course of the game as the location for our rendezvous. 

Love theme  

Night City can be a lonely place, especially for V who's on a high stakes mission to save their own life, and in my eyes, having someone you can share that burden with makes the relationships you can form that much more meaningful. It's why I was so hungry to spend more time with Judy, River, Panam, and Kerry. In the base game, after you initiated a romantic relationship, it kind of felt like it was over from there. You'd still receive messages from them occasionally, and you could visit them anytime (with an update making it so they would sleep beside you), but it still didn't feel like there was the option to really spend time together properly. 

Setting my original pad in Megabuilding H10 as the desired destination, I decided to break apart most of my weapons to lighten my load. Then, I was hit with another message triggering a mission for a new set of wheels, and as I sped my way through Night City, I was struck by how good everything looked. I mean, holy Chippin In' did it look pretty. Damn, okay game. I hear you loud and clear, I thought to myself. Maybe a flyby visit just wasn't going to cut it. It was like everything in the update was trying to distract me from my own quest for more romance and convince me to step back into V's world properly.  

I was so used to going to my apartments and being the only one there, so when I arrived and saw Judy waiting for me inside, it suddenly felt like a real home for V. From sitting on the sofa together, cuddling and chatting, to dancing and gazing out over Night City from the window, I at long last got a cozy date with Judy. As my phone later told me, I'd have to wait two in-game days for another hangout, but the promise of more just sealed my fate. On top of all of the changes waiting to be experienced, I started imagining how great the romantic hangout addition would be in the long run. As I went from mission to mission and gig to gig, I could stop for a while and take a breather with my chosen partner. 

Before I knew it, I was starting Cyberpunk 2077 all over again, and now hours into a fresh playthrough, I've already been enjoying the updated version of V's journey. Among all of the features and tweaks introduced in the last few updates, being able to spend time with those you care about is arguably a smaller addition, but it's probably the most important new feature for me. I may have come back to Night City for a spot of romance, but it succeeded at pulling me right back in for more. 

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