Cutter as weapon?

I played Starfield back when it first came out (stopped before even the first DLC) and remember using the Cutter with Laser 4 and Heavy Weapons Certification 4 to rush through a few NG+ to upgrade powers and it melting enemies.

Just redownloaded the game as I got the itch to play the game again after seeing the upcoming update and was playing last night to get re-acclimated but Cutter seems very weak now as a weapon.

Just curious if it received a nerf in the 2.5 years since I last played or if I just remember it being more effective then it seems to be now.