It feels a bit weird to say/admit, but I’m not paying a monthly sub for any MMO right now. It has been a while since I could say that. While I have occasional bouts of FOMO, it gets easier each day to just put those games aside. It helps that I have a pretty big backlog of games in my Steam and Epic libraries, not to mention XBoxPlus, Horizon Forbidden West and more that I can play. I could finally finish Outer Worlds, or after this long, maybe I’d have to start it all over again to remember how to play it. When it comes to things I’ve already paid for, or picked up as free games, I have absolutely no reason to pay a monthly sub for a long time (other than missing friends). 

The first game I decided to install and play after being MMO-free was Cyberpunk 2077. I can’t believe I waited this long to start playing it. It has been in my game library for months now and I even started a very short career as a Nomad story origin for a couple of hours before getting distracted by WoW’s DragonFlight. This 2nd time around I’m 33 hours into the game and started as a Corpo, which put me right into Night City. This has felt like a more immersive origin than coming in as the Nomad. Here is Stylish V in her original Corpo threads. 

I love the Wardrobe feature they put in the game. I can be wearing goofy shorts, a silly hat, and a ragged jacket that I took off my latest takedown, but still look sleek and show off my hairstyle. Otherwise, my hair looks pretty goofy when wearing the latest armored ball cap.

The story cadence has taken a bit of getting used to. I can essentially ignore the “be right there” responses for taking on quests and just do side jobs or split up sections of the main quests as much as I like. It breaks some of the immersion, but I’m glad there are very few quests that have to be done within a specific timeframe after you start them. Right now my goal is to upgrade some of my implants, but they are really expensive, and I’ve put most of my money into paying back debts or buying pricey information. That means breaking out of the main quests to do some side jobs and hack some terminals so I can upgrade at least my legs for jumping, or my cyberdeck for more hacking modules. 

I’m still not sure if I’m spending my points in a way that I’ll be happy with by end game, but so far I’ve been able to go the stealthy, stalker, hacker path and mostly survive. I have had to re-load the game many times when I’ve become impatient and stirred up a hornet’s nest. The X key (med pack) has been getting a workout since I picked up a Katana. Despite a bit of frustration with getting easily overwhelmed in combat situations, I’m having a lot of fun with the game.  My V hasn’t slept other than via story missions, since the first time you use the bed in your apartment. Fortunately, that doesn’t matter and sleep depravation doesn’t exist in the game. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I finally have my car back and can go help the poor guy who couldn’t ride my motorcycle to the ripperdoc due to a truly unfortunate implant malfunction. That was a hilarious side quest to come across, but I somehow suspect it will end badly for the guy. 

I keep watching game news to see if SWTOR has anything substantially new for me to check out, but so far it is all rehashed stuff and I can’t justify playing or paying. Maybe I really will give up MMOs for good this time around, ha!