Cyberpunk 2077 - 1.0 UI/UX Differences



Opening Video

Unpatched has no narrator in the opening video.
Unpatched gets a Cyberpunk logo animation at the end, patched jumps to the title screen before that.


Unpatched just says "Skip" instead of "Press to continue", and also lacks the "Welcome to Night City" sign:



Seizure Warning

At release the game infamously had a really bad braindance animation that was quickly nerfed in a patch and a seizure warning was added.



Title Screen Button Color

The color of the button is orange on 1.00. Blue on patched versions.
The color for the text also changes and is slightly different in size.


Color Scheme

Unpatched uses more of the red color scheme throughout the game.
There are many instances of this so I cannot find and list all of them.
Here are some examples.






Mouse Cursor

Earlier versions used the square pointer even when playing with a mouse on PC.


Load Game

As of 1.3 the save file will show what version of the game it was saved with.
1.3 also moved some things around and made the entire list wider.


Additional Content

1.3 added sections for Additional Content in the main menu and in the settings screen.



Settings

Various settings and menus was changed:

- The On/Off buttons don't fill the whole width in 1.00. 1.03 filled the whole width. 1.3 went back to a style similar to 1.00's.
- The volume sliders aren't actually sliders in 1.00
- "Disabled Copyrighted Music" was called "Streamer Mode", and its description also changed
- 1.2 added some more subtitle options
- 1.2 added Steering Sensitivity option, and flipped inner/outer deadzone options
- Various descriptions of the controller scheme changed
- There is no option to change difficulty in 1.00
- Fewer options in Gameplay and Interface in general
- No options for colorblindness in 1.00
- 1.2 added more HUD visibility options










Difficulty Names

In 1.00: Easy was called Story Mode, Medium was called Easy, Hard was called Normal and Very Hard was called Hard.


Normal/Hard Description

The description for the Normal (patched: Hard) difficulty was slightly altered.


Lifepath Videos

Patched versions have a little video showing the different lifepaths.





Character Creation - Stats Abbreviations and Descriptions

1.00 uses the abbreviated stat names. Patched write out the full names.
Patched also have different and more detailed descriptions for each of the stats.







Character Creation - Stats Order in Summary

At the summary screen, the stats are listed in a different order.
Unpatched: Tech, Body, Int, Ref, Cool.
Patched: Body, Int, Ref, Tech, Cool.


Loading screen after starting new game

After creating your character and starting the game, unpatched version has a black loading screen. Patched has the title screen as a loading screen.


Loading Screens

In unpatched there is no news anchor reporting what has happened in the world, and once it finishes loading it just says "Skip" in simple grey text instead of "Press to continue".
In 1.2 the text was moved to the top-right corner (replacing the loading bar once it's finished loading.)


Loading Tips

In 1.12 and prior versions the tips were typed out. In 1.2 it was changed to a fade in/out. This was likely to fix the bug where the XML (or whatever format it is) was typed out before being changed into a button icon.


Dialogue UI is slightly larger

The dialogue UI is more thicc unpatched.
The icon for [Remove patch] is also different.



Welcome to Cyberpunk 2077!

The Welcome to Cyberpunk 2077 text box has green text.
(Also notice how the time is -:- AM in 1.00, which doesn't really make sense.)


Point of No Return

Just like the Welcome message, the PoNR message also has green text.


Game Completed Reward Message

The unpatched message is a lot shorter and less helpful.
(1.00 also has a bug where it overlaps the message if you load a PoNR save file.)


Menu has no background sounds


1.00 has no background noise/sounds in the menu. Listen to the video in the Navigating Stats Menus or Upgrades UI sections to "hear" it.

Reset Perks

1.3 added the ability to reset your perks from the character screen.


Lack of mystery stat

This is a very curious one: the bottom-middle character stat is missing from unpatched. In patched it cannot be selected and just goes weird if you hover over it. Very interesting.
In 1.2 it now has a "Relic" logo.


Navigating Stats Menus

1.00 makes a little sound when you navigate in and out of the individual stat menus.

Assault/Rifles

The Assault category was originally called Rifles.


Radio Station Selection

Unpatched:
- the stations are not sorted by transmission frequency
- the icons are red
- the menu always goes back to No Station when you open it
- you preview channels by just selecting them in the list (you don't have to press X)
- the scroll bar doesn't move (bug)
- the menu closes when you confirm your choice by pressing X

Patched (as of version 1.12):
- the stations are sorted by transmission frequency
- the icons are blue
- the menu remembers which station you are listening to when you open it
- you preview channels by selecting them in the list and pressing X
- the scroll bar moves
- the menu doesn't close until you hit the Close button



HUD

- The health bar is slightly larger in 1.00
- 1.00 tells you how many experience points you have
- The number showing your level is slightly thicker in 1.00
- The compass is in the minimap top-right corner in 1.00, it's outside in later versions (replacing another icon)
- Friendly people are filled green circles on 1.00, they're not filled in later versions
- The button icons in the bottom left have a ring around them in patched versions, helping indicate you can hold down that button to access more options
- 1.00 always shows how to do basic movement like sprint, jump, dodge etc
- In a vehicle 1.00 always shows how to Hand Brake and Horn
- The speedometer in 1.00 uses MPH. Later versions don't specify.
- Entering a car is shown as "[Get in]" in 1.00. In later versions it drops the brackets




Waypoints Distance

Waypoints are constantly updating their distance in 1.00. Later versions does it in increments.

Map

- In 1.00 the map opens up to a view from the South-East. In later versions it views it from the South
- 1.00 views the map from more of an angle by default
- 1.00 views the map much more zoomed in by default
- The "Open Journal" text next to the D-pad Down button in the top-right is not present in 1.00.
- 1.00 does not show what the city area is called (eg. Heywood) in the bottom-right corner.
- 1.00 has an altitude meter? Removed in later versions.
- 1.00 does not show the region icons
- 1.00 shows threat level as a scale (3/5). Later versions just say Danger: Moderate or something similar.





Crafting UI

The item you craft is shown in a little pop-up in 1.00 and the right side of the screen is quite unused as a result. 1.0 also had your Crafting XP bar in a different location. (1.0 Bonus: some items have placeholder values).
As of 1.2, you can craft multiple items at once.




Upgrades UI

Similar to the Crafting UI, in 1.00 you simply hover the cursor above the item icon and hold X to upgrade it while the right screen is unused. Once the item is upgraded you get a huge confirmation screen.

The UI is very busy and messy and things go outside the screen and overlap frequently and the stats changes doesn't show. Because of the overlapping you can't see if you have the required parts in some scenarios.

Later versions does everything on the right side of the screen and doesn't give you a huge celebratory confirmation screen.
It's still not great, but usable atleast.





Phone Call blocks Selling

1.00 doesn't explicitly tell you you can't sell during a phone call.


Subtitle Font

1.00's subtitle font is slightly larger and thinner.
In 1.2, the background was changed to be more noticable.


Version history