This is the first entry in our ongoing “Is It Worth Playing?” series, where we answer the question busy adult gamers actually ask: not just “is this a good game,” but “is this worth my limited time and money right now.”
Finishing Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the highest-value moves for the GTA 6 waiting room. Our pillar on what to play before GTA 6 covers 11 more games worth finishing before Rockstar drops.
Cyberpunk 2077 is also on our 5 open world games that don’t nag you to invite friends list, alongside Elden Ring, RDR 2, Ghost of Tsushima, and Horizon Forbidden West.
Cyberpunk 2077 is also on our 8 single-player games with honest 20-minute save points list, specifically because its save-anywhere system and frequent autosaves make it one of the most short-session-friendly open-world RPGs in 2026.
It’s been over 5 years since Cyberpunk 2077 launched in a state so broken it got pulled from the PlayStation Store. If you were there for that, you remember. If you’ve been waiting to see if it ever became the game it was promised to be, I have an answer for you:
It did. And then some.
The Cyberpunk 2077 that exists in 2026, with Patch 2.3, the Phantom Liberty expansion, and the Edgerunners TV bump all in the rearview mirror, is genuinely one of the best single-player RPGs available right now. Not “good considering the rough launch.” Actually, legitimately great.
But is it worth your time? Here’s everything you need to know.
The Busy Gamer Quick Stats
Before anything else, the numbers that matter to you:
| Time | |
|---|---|
| Main story only | 20-25 hours |
| Story + major side quests | 37-50 hours |
| Completionist | 100+ hours |
| At 5 hours/week (main story) | ~5 weeks |
| At 5 hours/week (story + sides) | ~8-10 weeks |
Session-friendliness: 4/5
You can save anywhere, at any time. Individual gigs (mini-missions) take 10 to 15 minutes and are perfectly self-contained. Main story missions run 20 to 45 minutes each. There are a few story sequences that lock you in for longer, but they’re well-signaled.
The metro system (added post-launch) and instant fast travel mean you’re never burning your session time on pointless travel.
Where to get it right now:
| Platform | Cost |
|---|---|
| Xbox Game Pass | ✅ Included (since March 2026) |
| PlayStation Plus Extra/Premium | ✅ Included (since July 2025) |
| PC (Steam, on sale) | ~$27 |
| Switch 2 | $69.99 (Ultimate Edition) |
If you’re already on Game Pass or PS Plus, this is a no-brainer. The base game is there. You can try it tonight for free.
Phantom Liberty (the expansion): Not included in subscriptions. Costs around $25 to $30. Adds 10 to 15 hours for the main story, 20 to 23 hours with side content. It’s genuinely excellent and worth buying if you finish the base game and want more. Don’t stress about it upfront.
What the Game Is Actually Like in 2026
The version of Cyberpunk 2077 you’d install today bears almost no resemblance to the 2020 launch build. Since then:
Patch 2.0 (September 2023) completely rebuilt the skill tree. It removed the old perk system and replaced it with a reworked build architecture. Police AI was overhauled. Vehicle combat was added. Crowd behavior improved.
Patch 2.1 added the metro system, making Night City feel more like an actual city you can move through. Active radio stations. Improved NPC AI.
Patch 2.3 (June 2025) added AutoDrive, letting you ride hands-free to waypoints. DLSS 4.5 support. Additional performance improvements across all platforms.
The result is a genuinely stable, feature-rich RPG that runs well on current hardware. Steam reviews sit at 86% positive from 848,000+ reviews. Metacritic: 86. Phantom Liberty separately sits at 89 on Metacritic with a 97% recommendation rate on OpenCritic.
The game also still has around 27,000 average concurrent Steam players for a 5+ year single-player game. That’s healthy. It tells you people are actively playing and enjoying it, not just reviewing it.
Does It Work for Short Sessions?
Largely yes, with a few specific things to know.
What works great:
Gigs are the backbone of the busy gamer playthrough. These are short, self-contained jobs you pick up from fixers scattered around Night City. Most take 10 to 20 minutes. You show up, handle the situation, get paid, get out. They’re satisfying in 20 minutes the same way they are in a 3-hour session.
The autosave triggers constantly. You can close the game mid-anything without losing more than a few minutes at most.
Fast travel via the metro or instant markers means you’re never spending 15 minutes riding to a quest.
What to watch for:
Some main story missions lock you into sequences that run 30 to 45 minutes without a natural break. The game usually signals these, but not always explicitly. Before starting a main quest, check if you have 45 minutes rather than 20.
The first 3 to 5 hours are front-loaded with tutorials and story setup. They’re not terrible, but they’re slower than the game’s middle section. Push through them. It picks up significantly.
V’s apartment (your base) doesn’t have a “recap” feature. If you put the game down for two weeks, you might need 5 minutes to remember who you were supposed to call and why. Keep notes or check your journal before picking it back up.
The Best Approach for Busy Gamers
Difficulty: Normal. The game is well-tuned at Normal. You’ll die sometimes, you’ll figure it out, you won’t spend 40 minutes wiping on a boss that’s blocking the next story beat.
Build: Netrunner (hacking) for efficiency. You can neutralize enemies quietly without extended fights. Stealth builds generally clear faster than straight combat. Great for sessions where you want to make progress without grinding through combat encounters.
What to actually play: Main story + the four major side quest chains (Judy’s quests, Panam’s quests, River’s quests, and Kerry’s quests). These are where the writing is at its absolute best. The rest of the side content varies.
Skip the NCPD crime scanning (little blue and orange icons on the map). It’s technically optional content but it adds 20+ hours of low-quality filler. You don’t need any of it.
If you get the expansion: Play Phantom Liberty after the main story rather than during it. It works best as a coda.
The Verdict for Busy Adult Gamers
Backlog Priority: HIGH.
At free (if you’re on Game Pass or PS Plus) or $27 on sale, the value is absurd. At 5 hours a week, you’re looking at a 5-week commitment to see the story through. That’s completely reasonable.
More importantly, this is a game that works in short sessions, tells a story worth telling, and has a world that’s genuinely interesting to spend time in. Night City is dense in a way that means a 45-minute session where you wander around, do a gig, talk to some characters, and upgrade your apartment still feels like time well spent.
It’s not a game where you’ll feel like you accomplished nothing in a short session.
Play it if: You want a story-driven RPG that respects your time, you’re already on a subscription service, you’ve been waiting for it to “be ready.”
Maybe skip it if: You genuinely hate games set in cyberpunk aesthetics (it’s unavoidably a vibe), or you’re already deep in something else and don’t want to start a new 40-50 hour game.
Coming Up Next in “Is It Worth Playing?”
This is the first entry in a recurring series where we give the busy gamer verdict on games you’ve been meaning to play. Next up: Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut and Disco Elysium: The Final Cut.
If there’s a specific game you want us to cover, drop it in the comments.
Ready to boot up Night City? Let us know how it goes.
About the Author: Fred is one half of Two Average Gamers, a community-focused gaming site dedicated to helping regular folks enjoy gaming without the toxicity. He played Cyberpunk 2077 at launch, rage-quit, went back in 2023, and has since recommended it to basically everyone he knows.
More from the Busy Gamer’s Guide
This article is part of our Busy Gamer’s Survival Guide series, the complete guide to gaming when life won’t let you.
