Cyberpunks and netrunners were pleasantly surprised last month when CDPR brought a working Metro system to Cyberpunk 2077. This is significant for a number of reasons, the most important of which being that Metros seem to be essential to the atmosphere of a cyberpunk megalopolis—the weirdos, commuters, and homeless people all bundled together as the city flies by in the background. Metros have also been one of the most requested features in the game since its release. It’s a true urban slice of life packed into a limited area.
My intention was to visit every metro station in Cyberpunk 2077, but I ended up having to restart the game and continue playing for around four hours before the beginning region emerged from lockdown. As soon as I arrived there, I went to one of the 19 NCART Metro stations that are dispersed throughout the city.
Road To Train
I must admit that I felt a little letdown. Although the inclusion of a semi-functional Metro system is a welcome surprise, there are far too many indications that this was a feature “bolted on” to a finished game rather than something that was properly integrated with the environment.
Firstly, the entire pretentious notion of visiting several NCART stations, observing any irregularities on the platforms, recognizing their distinctive architectural characteristics, and all that nonsense? Not taking place. As before, you approach the NCART gate and select “Ride Metro,” which causes the screen to cyberglitch in a way that suggests you are having a cyberseizure. From there, you are teleported directly into the interior of the tram. You’ve already missed out on a crucial aspect of the Metro experience: navigating a station and waiting for a train.
Okay, so let’s set aside our forgetfulness and go on. I’m not sure how I got from the street to the train, but I’m here. At first glance, everything seems really nice. A man is strumming his guitar in front of me, while others are slouching around on their phones; some people are dozing off across chairs; and there’s a nervous guy curled up in the corner going through a phase of cyberpsychosis that’s keeping everyone else in a huge circle away from him. Like, say, New York City!
The guitarist’s casual jamming seems to annoy the woman seated next to him, so he answers to her with a threat, which makes her walk away down the train. It’s a convincingly grotty metro experience for ten or so seconds.
But nothing happens while I wait to see what else occurs. The game seems to presume that you will become bored and press the “Get Off At Next Stop” button after giving you a little show at the beginning of the journey. But no, sir, not me! It’s clear from away that I’m in for the long haul—this is going to be a gloomy journey. The man is still playing music, but there are no discussions going on, no one around me to talk to, nothing.
I make an effort to get up so I can see what’s going on across the train, but I am unable to. It appears that sitting, standing by the door, or staring out the window are the only positions you can take. All I can do is wait for the next stop, hoping that a shift in people coming on and off will provide me with something else to stare at, as it feels incredibly constricting.
When we reach the next stop, nothing happens. Once more. The train doors don’t even open, and nobody boards or exits. Suddenly I see why when I glance out the window. You would have to run over the rails to reach the platform because there is only one platform at the station for trains traveling in the opposite direction. Is this some sort of subway system? This isn’t always the case after a few stops, but in a couple of the stations I travel through, the train I’m on just doesn’t have a station platform. There’s a lot the CDPR urban planners have to answer for!
As I’m idly thumbing through messages on V’s phone, wondering how in the world I’m going to report on such an utterly boring experience, inspiration strikes. I should use this downtime to catch up on messages on V’s phone, maybe text some people back (I’m terrible at texting back in-game, so there’s a big backlog), or even make a few calls to set up some jobs or text a potential love interest. I can’t help but change the music playing on the radio in my brain, while the other half of the passengers on the train are obligingly staring at their phones.
I take several different trains, and on each one, the most thrilling event is a car that drives right down the middle of the train (as shown in the last scene of the film above). However, I have a feeling that this was just a happy accident.
I’m going to stop now
Please understand that while it’s great that CDPR included this at all, it feels very much like an afterthought and offers very little interaction while it could have been a powerful immersion component. This could have been a minor but significant aspect of that gritty Night City experience if there had been gang fights on the platforms, chances to break up fights on the train, or at the very least, the ability to use your damn phone. However, in the end, I can’t help but feel that the money spent on adding this—which was obviously not without effort—could have been better spent elsewhere.
Although I like Cyberpunk 2077 as it is right now, it’s becoming increasingly clear that this was not a finished game when it was released, with features like the NCART system filling in gaps that will never be completely closed. However, given that the game continues to receive significant upgrades that enhance it little by little, perhaps the next step should be to incorporate fully explorable NCART stations into the game. I won’t hold my breath, though, because CDPR is already working on a Cyberpunk 2077 sequel and The Witcher 4, so perhaps it’s preferable to look to the future rather than always trying to make amends for the past.
