CD Projekt Red has committed to fixing the console versions, but it's a rough ride for anyone on the systems right now. At the same time, the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions of the games only have a 2021 release date, although Cyberpunk 2077 can be played on the consoles via backward compatibility.
With that in mind, fans will obviously wonder how the game performs on PS5 and Xbox Series X. Cyberpunk 2077 gets a marginal boost on the newer consoles, but it's still nowhere near running the game on a high-end PC.
Cyberpunk 2077 on PS5
Cyberpunk 2077 on PS5 is running the PS4 version in backward compatibility, but even with that, it's a decent improvement. As with most last-gen games on PS5, Cyberpunk gets a bump in both image quality and load times, but there's more to it than that. The PS5 version of Cyberpunk, generally, runs at a steady 60fps, but it's a locked option. Players don't get to choose between performance and quality, and can't bump down to 30fps. That being said, Cyberpunk generally stays at a solid 60fps, although it can fall into the 50s during driving sequences. Digital Foundry did an in-depth video looking at the PS5 version, where they say the game runs on the same settings as PS4 Pro, meaning the resolution tops out at 1188p.
This does lead to some assets looking blurry or flat, and multiple outlets have recommended turning off Chromatic Aberration as well as Film Grain to help the image quality. An interesting difference from the PC version, on both PS5 and Xbox, is crowd size and traffic. On PS5 there are noticeably fewer NPCs walking around the world, and when players jump into a vehicle those crowds reduce in size even more. The sheer technical power of the PS5 makes Cyberpunk 2077 a sizable improvement over the base PS4 version, especially in of overall performance. Again, it may not come close to the PC experience, but it makes the game much more playable than on last-gen.
Cyberpunk 2077 on Xbox Series S and X
Unlike the PS5 version, Cyberpunk on Xbox Series X lets players choose between a 30fps quality mode and a 60fps performance mode. Once again, Digital Foundry says that quality mode ranges from roughly 1500-1700p depending on what's happening in-game. Cyberpunk 2077 on Xbox Series S is pretty comparable to Series X, albeit with lower resolution across the board, whether in quality or performance mode. Crowd sizes and traffic are also reduced from the PC version, although Xbox Series X does have a bit larger crowds than PS5. Interestingly, Digital Foundry shows that the performance mode on Series X has quite a few drops in frame-rate, and doesn't stay as consistently at 60fps as the PS5 version. At the same time, Xbox Series X seems like a small step up from PS5 in of visual quality.
At the moment it seems like the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S are the only way fans should play the game on console. Even without the proper upgrades, Cyberpunk 2077 is a stable experience on PS5 and Xbox Series X, unlike the last-gen consoles.
Cyberpunk 2077 is currently available on PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Google Stadia and PC.
