Bengaluru, NFAPost: Cyberpunk 2077, this year’s biggest blockbuster video game from CD Projekt Red (CDPR) is due for release on 10 December (Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, PS5 and Google Stadia). CDPR has, however, drawn severe criticism for producing such a game that’s brimming with flashing neon-lights and running a serious risk of inducing seizures, especially for people with epilepsy and other medical conditions with photosensitivity.
Players have been forewarned to exercise caution as there is no way to skip any of these seizure-inducing visual sequences in the game. People with pre-existing medical conditions like epilepsy are prone to the ill effects of strobing lights and hence should avoid playing such games.
Although several such high profile video games in the past have clearly displayed a warning message to users on booting up the game, there are no practical means to actually circumvent or avoid the potential hazards of flashing lights in intense gameplay sequences.
For instance, some grand-scale explosion sequences followed by cinematic cutscenes (with dazzling lights) are mostly unskippable due to the nature of today’s realistic gameplay mechanics built into the game world.
Players could, however, try reducing the in-game brightness levels or toggle the option to reduce the intensity of flashing lights along with other in-game lighting options.
Nevertheless, critics have cautioned potential Cyperpunk 2077 users to be wary of its glaring and disturbing game world filled with flickering neon lights and other visual effects that tend to boost the game atmosphere in a grimy, futuristic dystopian world.
Users have been forewarned that the initial few hours of the game takes you through mindlessly crafted real-time events that bring the potential risk of seizures in the disguise of special effects or braindances (BD). It lets your character relive the experiences of others with the use of a special headset that boots up with intense flashing lights, as reported by Tech Crunch.
“When “suiting up” for a BD, especially with Judy, V will be given a headset that is meant to onset the instance. The headset fits over both eyes and features a rapid onslaught of white and red blinking LEDs, much like the actual device neurologists use in real life to trigger a seizure when they need to trigger one for diagnosis purposes. If not modeled off of the IRL design, it’s a very spot-on coincidence, and because of that this is one aspect that I would personally advise you to avoid altogether. When you notice the headset come into play, look away completely or close your eyes. This is a pattern of lights designed to trigger an epileptic episode and it very much did that in my own personal playthrough,” reports a reviewer at Game Informer to describe the experience of a seizure.
CD Projekt Red is reportedly working on a solution to address this issue at or near launch. Here’s what the company tweeted in response to the post published by Game Informer:
