I think quite a few people are missing the point, to be honest. And expecting the game to be something it isn't. See... the world of Cyberpunk 2077 draws from several different Cyberpunk ideas. Notably Altered Carbon and the movie Strange Days.
I am running two different characters, basically a feminine bodyshape with a penis, and one without, to see if I can notice any difference in the way they're treated. And so far I have noticed very little difference (although admittedly I am not that far into the game). With one exception, which I'll cover later.
The thing that people aren't getting with Cyberpunk 2077 is something the Ripperdoc Viktor tells you, in no uncertain terms. People can change their bodies in whatever way they feel like. And even get new bodies. That is important. Like Altered Carbon, people can essentially upload themselves to a Shard and re-download themselves into an entirely new body. That fact alone put a lot of things into perspective for me.
Now, the exception I talked about involves a side mission where you pick up a guy whose... um... crotch implant had malfunctioned. He asks you to take him to a Ripperdoc. You have a conversation with him en route, and depending on whether your character has a penis or not, the conversation differs. Regardless of whether you chose the feminine or masculine voice or bodyshape. If your character has a penis, then you talk about how he got the wrong implant, and how another one is better.
This stuck me as very odd. For someone born with something they would rather didn't exist... the character would never say that. I would never say that. And at first I figured they just didn't understand what the condition entailed. But it isn't that. See... the world of Cyberpunk 2077 is one where if you don't like your genitalia, you can just change them. If you don't like your body, you can just change it. As Viktor talks about.
That was a bit of a lightbulb moment. The game treats it as a choice. It assumes if you have a feminine bodyshape and voice, then it's your choice to have a penis, and that you like having it. And that you use it as a part of your identity. And you get treated that way. In the context of the game... that isn't so far fetched. In CP2077 being trans doesn't have to be something you're stuck with. They treat it as something you choose to do. That's why the ads are what they are.
So do I feel the game is transphobic? No, not personally. But I think a lot of people don't understand the kind of world the game is set in. Where... when you just want to be another woman, you can be. With no questions asked.
Just my opinion, of course. Oh, and I've put in like 50 hours so far and have only just got past act 1. I don't find it boring in the slightest. In fact, rather the contrary, it's a little bit overwhelming how much there is to do.
