CD Projekt Red, best known for The Witcher series of video games, released its science-fiction game Cyberpunk 2077 at the end of 2020. The game was widely criticized at launch for software bugs, especially on consoles, and it lacked full support for the then-new Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5. CD Projekt Red said a few months ago that the game's next-gen update would be ready in the first quarter of 2022, and sure enough, it has now arrived.

The new update on both platforms includes ray-traced shadows, dynamic 4K scaling (except on Series S, which is limited to 1440p), improved reflections, and faster loading times. There's also a Performance Mode that will aim for 60FPS on all consoles, sacrificing some of the fancier ray tracing effects.

CD Projekt Red highlighted some of the PS5 features in a post on the PlayStation Blog, saying, "The DualSense wireless controller’s haptic vibrations bring a new level of sensations to the palms of your hands, while the adaptive triggers will react uniquely depending on a multitude of factors: type of combat — ranged or melee — or whether you’re driving a car, exerting different amounts of pressure for each weapon, action, and vehicle."

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The Xbox version has a few unique features, too. CD Projekt Red said in another blog post, "Thanks to the power of the newest generation of Xbox consoles, you’ll be able to jump into all the action much faster thanks to greatly improved load times, and with Quick Resume, you can drop in and out and continue your adventure at your leisure. It’ll be like you never even left Night City at all."

The update also includes improvements for all platforms, not just the latest generation of consoles. According to The Verge, the perks tree has been reworked, all bikes now have glowing wheels, vehicle controls have been improved, there are more options for home bases, new weapons are included, and NPCs are smarter. PC players also get a new walking toggle when playing with a keyboard (similar to Bethesda's Fallout and Elder Scrolls games, and other titles) and a benchmark mode.

CD Projekt Red is making the update available for free on all platforms. That's certainly better than the next-gen upgrades for most other games, which are typically an additional purchase.