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Cyberpunk 2077: 9 New Details We've Learned Since E3
Science fiction facts.
We found out a lot about Cyberpunk 2077 at E3 2018, from its controversial first-person viewpoint to what its "Cool" stat is for. But in a game this ambitious, there's always going to be more to find out - and I'm hungry for details.
Which is why I've skipped across the Internet reading Cyberpunk-related E3 interviews, and collated the most interesting details. Here's the new information I've found - and this list will be updated as I spot more:
You can't drive flying cars
Flying cars are a classic sci-fi image, and there's certainly a lot of them in Cyberpunk's Night City. But temper your excitement, as it sounds as though they're more like set dressing or fast travel in CD Projekt's world:
"When it comes to AVs [aerial vehicles]," said lead cinematic director Maciej Pietras to Rock Paper Shotgun, "yes, there will be moments when you will be able to fly AVs but you’re not going to be able to control it because if you refer to the source material, AVs are like the most expensive things in the Cyberpunk 2020 world."
But you can ride bikes
The Cyberpunk hands-off demo showed a beautifully retro-futurist car being driven down Night City's streets, but that won't be the extent of your vehicle choices. Speaking to PC Gamer, level designer Max Pears explained that driving will be truly free, never on rails, and said there's more to it than we saw:
"[Cars are] one of the ways you're going to traverse [Night City]. It's not just through cars, there's bikes as well. It's an important thing to make that feel good."
Don't expect to meet The Witcher's Ciri
A lot's been made of a certain section in The Witcher 3 when Geralt's surrogate daughter, Ciri, describes an alternate reality she visited that sounds startlingly like Cyberpunk's world. Many are expecting Ciri to appear as an Easter Egg at least, but a Polygon interview makes it sound like that's unlikely.
“We are not Kingdom Hearts," said game director Adam Badowski. "We are not joining universes, and I know that there are a lot of fans on the team and they would like to have Ciri in the game. But I am totally against it, still.”
Abilities are based on three classes
We were told that the game doesn't make you pick a class at the beginning, instead asking you to evolve your style as you play - but it sounds as though there will be class routes of a sort: "We're kind of focusing on three main ones for the game itself," said associate design director Kyle Rowley to GameSpot. "Netrunner, Techie and Solo."
However, the point here is that those classes are guidelines, and you can mix facets of them to match how you want to play. Rowley explained: "As you're playing through the game, you're modifying, adjusting your class based on the attributes, the perks you pick, the cyberware you install. So it's a very fluid class system."
Other Cyberpunk 2020 classes will appear
Netrunner, Techie and Solo are drawn directly from the original Cyberpunk 2020 tabletop game, but there were more role choices than that in 2020. While the focus is on those three for the player-character, other familiar classes will be reflected in NPCs you meet. Again, Rowley said to GameSpot:
"The other cool classes that are in [2020], like Rockerboy and Corporate, they're kind of more in there from a lore perspective, from a story perspective. You'll encounter characters that represent those other alternate roles, but it's not something we're going to allow the player to necessarily play with."
There will be multiple companions
The hands-off demo featured a companion called Jackie (he's the guy in the middle of this story's thumbnail image). He assisted the player by pointing them to missions, providing a car, and taking part in combat. It seems he won't be the only NPC helper you'll meet. PC Gamer's interview with Max Pears revealed:
"You're definitely going to encounter different characters that will come with you on different missions as well. So there's a range of cool characters you meet along the way." Those characters will come with their own combat styles and roles - perhaps tying into those Cyberpunk 2020 classes the player won't get to use.
Conversations will be seamless
It wasn't totally clear in the hands-off demo how the player initiated conversations with NPCs - and it turns out that's because they didn't. Characters will talk to you and dialogue choices seemingly appear without a break in play. Maciej Pietras told Rock Paper Shotgun:
"We’re trying to create a seamless experience, where you don’t actually see the big difference between the gameplay and cinematics [...] We’re trying to really express the world, the interactivity, the NPCs, as fluidly as possible… When it comes to interruptions… we revised the Witcher 3 system and we’re trying to find a way where it’s seamless as possible. We’re working on creating this weird feeling… where if a person is still talking to you, she can be interrupted."
Multiplayer won't feel disconnected from the core game
We already knew that Cyberpunk should be getting a multiplayer component, but that it won't be available at launch. Max Pears told GamerHubTV that the mode is currently in R&D . More interestingly, though, he made clear that any multiplayer should feel familiar to fans of CD Projekt games, hopefully ruling out the possibility of the tacked-on deathmatches we see in other single-player focused games:
"We are primarily a single-player studio [...] whatever [form] multiplayer takes, just know that we are doing the research to make sure it sticks to our core as a studio as well."
The game is in pre-alpha
Perhaps the least surprising entry on this list - you're not going to be playing Cyberpunk 2077 anytime soon. Speaking to Bankier (via VG247), CD Projekt president Adam Kiciński said the game is currently "earlier" than an alpha build (essentially, when all the key features are in place, but not near polished).
“This [E3 demo] is the most polished part of the game we have now," he explained, "prepared in some sense to show it to people outside the company.” It seems like I'll have plenty of time to add to this list.
Joe Skrebels is IGN's UK News Editor, and he has a newfound respect for developers who have to say the exact same things in 300 different interviews. Follow him on Twitter.