E3 2018 Impressions — Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077

While at E3, I was able to see Cyberpunk 2077 in a more intimate setting than just a trailer. Here is my take on Cyberpunk 2077.

After a nice five year gap of silence, we were all finally treated to our first look at Cyberpunk 2077 and where the game currently stands in the development cycle. Some out there were able to see the nice new trailer that CD Projekt RED put together to be shown. Others, like myself, were treated to a behind closed doors showing of Cyberpunk 2077 that featured a whole lot of gameplay. Even if it is in its early state, there was a whole lot to give us at least feeling for how the game has progressed and could end up being at the end of the day. Here is a breakdown of the larger parts you may not have been able to get out of that trailer.

The demo for Cyberpunk 2077 all kicked off with a short look at the character creation system for the game. I say short as we were only shown a few of the stats and basics before being driven into a prebuilt character. It was explained that while we will be playing the character V, we will have the option to select their gender, basic stats, and background for each individual playthrough of Cyberpunk 2077 so it can be better tailored to what we want in the end. In this demo, they went with the female option for V, so take that into account when I refer to her and not him the rest of the way.

From there, we were then introduced to the world of Cyberpunk 2077 slightly and also given a deeper look at the futuristic land of California. Some of the more purists of the cyberpunk genre will be quick to note that there is a lot of light in the trailer and this persists in the game as well. This is to not only show off the dynamic day/night cycle that we will have in Cyberpunk 2077, but to also show us a deeper look at the style of each NPC and V herself. There is a Street Cred mechanic in the game that we will also be able to use. More or less, it does not matter how good you are at something, but how good you look doing it. Even if we are in a first-person mode to raise the immersion levels a bit more.

It was also at this time that we were given a good look at the world that had been crafted and the way we would interact with the many other NPCs in Cyberpunk 2077. While we did not get to do so in the demo, it did look like each of the NPCs wandering around could have been someone mixed in to further the story or action. Instead, we moved along to meet up with one of V’s close friends and also meet her Ripperdoc to get a new enhancement. A scene that played out very smooth and injected our first look at the dynamic nature of the dialog that we have seen in many of the past titles from CD Projekt RED.

Not to go into the gory details here, we received our upgrades and then had a simple explanation of the progression system we would be using in Cyberpunk 2077. There are no character classes in the game, unlike the various tabletop versions of the genre, but a dense and massive skill tree or ability set up. None of which was truly shown in the demo, but it is all supposed to be laid out for us to be able to play how we want and what we want. What to be a cyber-ninja? You can do that if you so choose. Want to be a basic hacker? You can do that too. Want to blend them all together? All you have to do is spend the upgrades in the proper way and you can do that. It is all about freedom here as it would seem.

Next, we moved into the first “core” mission of the game that had us searching for a missing cyborg. The reason we needed to get those enhancements from the Ripperdoc and such. This is where Cyberpunk 2077 transitioned into a smooth looking FPS title even further as the option taken placed us into the middle of a firefight that had us destroying most of the building and using other skills to get into the back where our hostage was being held. Well, more being chopped up for spare parts to be sold on the black market. Something that was not shied away from as Cyberpunk 2077 is being set in a very mature world and will be tackling very mature themes as the universe should. This runs the gamut from violence, themes, and nudity. So take note for those who can be offended by such and were excited for the game.

All of this fluidly moved into the next mission V was able to take and that showed off the other various ways we can tackle things in Cyberpunk 2077. It also showed how things could shift no matter how we want to progress as it all started out with a diplomatic option being used, but due to character actions and other events, turned into another firefight that was used to show off some of the game’s future upgrades and skills. No, not everything in Cyberpunk 2077 needs to devolve into a shooting gallery of sorts as it all sounds. This was just how it ended up being to be able to showcase everything that they wanted us to see in the hour-long demo.

When all is said and done, I walked away from Cyberpunk 2077 with a newfound sense of wonder and excitement for the game. It truly looked spectacular and seemed to perfectly marry a whole lot of gameplay mechanics that we have all enjoyed from many other titles in the past. That and placed them in a world that truly feels dynamic and open for players to go down any path that they so choose. I was already excited for it all to come at us and now I am glad to see that they took their time on Cyberpunk 2077 and are making the game that we have been wanting and waiting for. I only wish I was able to show you everything else I was able to see for this demo.