Is the Burned-in Cyberpunk HUD a Bug or a Feature?
The highly anticipated game Cyberpunk 2077 has undergone significant improvements since its troubled launch in 2020. However, some players are now questioning whether a certain visual element in the game is intentional or a glitch. The answer may surprise you: it’s both.
A Reddit user named OlStickInTheMud recently posted on the r/gaming subreddit, seeking clarification about a peculiar issue they encountered with their HUD. In the attached post, it can be seen that many icons on the far right side of the HUD appear burned into the display, appearing multiple times due to chromatic aberration and ghosting. OlStick mentioned that they were playing on a “49 inch ultra-wide Odyssey G9” monitor, leading some to believe that the issue lies with the hardware rather than the game itself. A user named Totowolfie95 commented, “It’s normal, but it looks worse because of your ultrawide monitor.” So, it seems the matter has been resolved.
Another Reddit user named Tehjeffman has confirmed that the burned-in effect is “100% by design” and is an intentional part of the HUD user interface, unaffected by hardware or settings. According to Tehjeffman, the developers at CD Projekt Red added this effect to make it appear as if the information is being projected onto the lens of the player’s Kiroshi optics. However, since many players dislike this feature, there is a mod available that can remove it. Interestingly, I personally have not noticed this issue during my playthroughs on the PS5, even though I play on a 40-inch TV. It could be a setting exclusive to the PC version, or perhaps I have simply overlooked it.
Jeoshua explains that this effect appears more pronounced on ultrawide monitors due to mathematical reasons. They state that “the displacement is proportional to the percentage distance across the screen, and the wider the screen, the larger that percentage is at the edges.” Jeoshua also suggests that CD Projekt Red may have not anticipated the use of 32:9 ratio screens, where the math becomes distorted. They propose that fixing the displacement to the corners rather than using a percentage calculation would have been a better approach. Perhaps it’s worth considering an interview with CD Projekt Red to discuss this further.
Some users suggested that the glitch-like effect should be embraced as part of the game’s immersive experience, similar to how Bethesda handles certain issues in their games. Instead of considering it a bug, it can be viewed as a unique feature.
Cyberpunk 2077, game, feature, bug, HUD, visual glitch, burned-in effect