My group and I were 100% in agreement that Cyberpunk Red just isn’t a good game. As a big fan of Cyberpunk 2020, I was looking forward to Red, but it ended up being a big disappointment because of my high expectations. You might be thinking, “What’s so bad about Red, Odesio?”
I dislike the special abilities for many of the roles. For those who don’t know, while Red doesn’t have strict classes like D&D, they have roles like Solo (combat specialist), Nomad (member of a wandering tribe), Media (news reporter), Rocker Boy (some type of performer/entertainer), etc., etc. etc.
The special ability of the Nomad is called Moto and gives the character access to some vehicles. Are they cool vehicles? Not really. A starting character will typically have a rank 4 Moto which gives them access to a compact car, a gyrocopter (kind of cool), a motorcycle, or a jetski. In essence, the special ability of a Nomad is to be the group’s chauffeur.
The special ability of a Lawman is called Backup and allows the character to call for help. i.e. He can get other cops to come and help him out when he’s in a jam. The special ability of an Exec (a corporate man) is called Teamwork and gives them a free place to live, a few extra eddies (cash), and a personal assistant who might be a bodyguard, hacker, driver, or an operative of some sort. These might not seem so bad, but for me, I don’t like it when the cool thing about a player character is they get to have a non-player character do things for them.
I don’t particularly care for the setting. Red advanced the timeline, it’s set in 2045 instead of 2020, and it’s been a little over 20 years since the end of the 4th Corporate War and the world is still recovering. In a way, it’s got more of a post apocalyptic feel to it than cyberpunk. The economy makes absolutely no sense. A cybernetic leg costs 500 eddies which is the same cost as a drum magazine for a rifle. Think about that for a minute. A competent machinist can make a drum magazine in his garage but it takes a fairly sophisticated facility to produce a cybernetic leg. Why do they cost the same? Automobiles are prohibitively expensive which is why the Nomad’s Moto ability comes in use. You might think the PCs could just steal a vehicle when they want, and sure, I suppose, but then it makes the Moto ability even more lame than it is.
Combat is a more simplified version of what it was with 2020 and now it’s boring. There’s still the problem of how useless handguns are versus even the lightest of armor in the game. If you’re fighting the weakest security forces better bring a rifle or hope for a critical because you’re going to be shooting at them all day and barely hurting them if all you have is a pistol. Oddly enough hand-to-hand is very effective because armor is only valued at half against those attacks.
And on top of everything the book is poorly organized. How much does an automobile cost? I’m pretty sure that’s in the book but good luck finding it. The charts with guns and cyberware are essentially duplicated but they have slightly different information on each one which is beyond annoying.
But other than that Red isn’t a bad game.