What just happened? Once regarded as one of the most bug-ridden games of all time, Cyberpunk 2077 has managed to repair its once heavily damaged reputation. After many patches by the developers at CD Projekt Red, the game has finally gained enough favorable reviews to reach an 80 percent positive rating on Steam.

Released in December 2020, Cyberpunk 2077 was one of the most highly anticipated launches in gaming history. From its announcement back in early 2013 to the "breathtaking" Keanu Reeves-assisted E3 trailer in 2019, players could not wait to get their hands on the game. Despite multiple delays, the hype simply wouldn't let up prior to the release date.

Unfortunately, Cyberpunk 2077 arguably had one of the most catastrophic launches in gaming history. Players were reporting numerous game-breaking bugs and significant performance issues on both console and PC versions of the game. The once highly sought-after game was now being flooded with negative reviews and countless refunds.

The issues were so bad that both Microsoft and Sony, known for having strict refund policies, were granting full refunds to players who had purchased the game. The developing studio, CD Projekt Red, was also hit with a class action lawsuit due to the events. After tons of backlash, Sony even pulled Cyberpunk 2077 from the PlayStation Store entirely.

Despite all of these shortcomings, developers at CD Projekt Red got to work and slowly ironed out countless flaws. Initially, the results were promising and the quality quickly improved; after six months of being delisted, Sony welcomed Cyberpunk 2077 back to the PlayStation Store. Upon its return, it even managed to reach the top of the "best-selling" list within the marketplace.

However, after nearly three years, fans noticed Cyberpunk 2077 had reached a milestone, prompting community manager Marcin Momot to celebrate on Twitter. The game had finally landed at Steam's "Very Positive" threshold for reviews, with 80 percent being favorable for Cyberpunk 2077. A large turnaround from the rough launch, where it received over 60,000 negative reviews on Steam in just the first month.

Many reviews describe the absolute night and day difference between the release phase of Cyberpunk and the current state, while others are still very "meme-forward," as the Cyberpunk fanbase has always been. Despite the improvements, there are a handful of negative reviews, most of which are from disgruntled fans upset about the game's final DLC being a paid expansion.

CD Projekt Red did promise free DLC launches for the game and even delivered on said promise, but there were no claims that expansions were ever going to be part of the free DLC.

Regardless, the Phantom Liberty expansion is planned to be the final addition to Cyberpunk 2077, meaning this could be CD Projekt Red's last big chance to increase the positive reception of the game. However, we'll have to wait until the launch on September 26 to know for certain.