Nearly three years later, Cyberpunk 2077 devs fix one of its biggest memes

A family photo of River in Cyberpunk 2077 — (Image credit: CD Projekt Red)

Nearly three years after its launch, Cyberpunk 2077's devs have finally patched out one of its most infamous memes.

When Cyberpunk 2077 first arrived in December 2022, it wasn't without its technical faults and hiccups, to put it lightly. One such hiccup was the photo just below, introduced through River Ward's questline, that rapidly gained notoriety throughout Cyberpunk 2077's community for how goddamn weird it looks.

i usually overlook cyberpunks problems, but this is just disgusting from r/cyberpunkgame

As the Reddit comments attest to, the entire photo just looks like a strange placeholder that was accidentally left in at launch. It's not unreasonable to suspect that the photo was constructed under an incredibly tight deadline, especially when you consider Cyberpunk 2077 was delayed numerous times prior to launch.

Now, with Cyberpunk 2077's patch 2.0 launching yesterday, September 21, the infamous photo is no more. Below, you can see River Ward's brand new, drastically improved photo that he sends to V in his questline, and the family miraculously look like human beings now.

They did it, they changed River photo!!! from r/cyberpunkgame

"Fuck all the other changes, this is the change that was most needed," reads one blunt comment under the Reddit post. "Idk I kinda liked it. Was funny. Now new players will never experience the 'what the fuck' feeling we had when we got this txt," reads another comment.

The latter comment isn't wrong - Cyberpunk 2077 players obviously think it's a good thing the awful photo was replaced and upgraded, but there's an undeniable strange sadness at having lost something so unlovable that it sort of became beloved by players in the end.

Those in the comments are comparing the original photo to Tali's face reveal in Mass Effect 3, and weighing up which photo is worse. That photo has a unique place as completely bombing what should've been an incredible reveal, if you even believe the face reveal for Tali should've happened at all. Maybe some things are best left to the imagination.

Check out our Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty review for what we made of the brand new expansion that launches next week on September 26.

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.