Cyberpunk 2077. All the gaming world is abuzz for this game and I, obviously, am no exception. And why shouldn't I be? Deus Ex is one of my favourite franchises ever, Blade Runner is my choice for seminal movie of our generation, and I practically live on the Internet; so sci-fi is pretty much my thing. Joking aside, I feel it's important to emphasis just how much anticipation CD Projekt Red have managed to stir up for this game. They're like the new Rockstar, except CDPR still bother to show up to trade shows. Even people who know nothing about games have started to hear things stirring about this game; details about some futuristic dystopia spearheaded by John Wick legend: Keanu Reeves. Maybe they've heard something about that 'breathtaking' comment.
CD Projekt Red have entered that level of proliferation. They've reached the point where our 'niche little hobby' has spilled out into the sight of the mainstream media. At this point their game is, to quote Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, too big to fail. The game could be a code for code copy of Anthem and it would still sell millions. (Although we all expect the game to be a tad more complete then Anthem was.) Next year on the 16th of April (dangerously close to my birthday) Cyberpunk 2077 will rock the entrainment world, for better or for worse.
This inevitability is due in part to the masterful marketing techniques employed by CDPR. Feeding us piecemeal with just enough so that we don't complain but not so much that we feel complacent. We always want more. We need to see more. They seemed to stumble onto this golden formula almost by accident last year (Although how 'accidental' that really was, is arguable) when their behind-closed-doors demo of Cyberpunk 2077 impressed invited media so much that not one person could legitimately fault it. After deliberation and urges from professionals to show the public what they saw, CDPR relented on August 27th and published a 28 minute gameplay walkthrough on their YouTube channel.
Que the adulation.
The world of Cyberpunk looked unreal, yet familiar. Like some sort of fever dream from Arthur C. Clarke bought to digital life. This bright, colourful dystopia was a world of corruption, exploitation and sedition bought to life in stunning, unmatched detail. Nobody could believe they were looking at an unfinished product without so much as a release date attached. It was all just too good to be true. And perhaps to some degree it was.
Cyberpunk 2077 is well known to have undergone some development issues. Announced in 2012, a year before The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk captured the hearts of the public even back then. Not too long after the reveal, CDPR announced a casting call to all talented developers, designers and composers to flock toward. All those that were enamoured by their cinematic tease could apply for roles that would give them the opportunity to work on the project of a lifetime: An open world Sci-fi RPG opus of a game. But things didn't go so smoothly. We now know that jousting opinions and butted heads prevented a clear direction to be charted for the project and many resources that were originally meant to be used on the development of Cyberpunk ended up being diverted into The Witcher 3. That included staff.
Many accounts tell of the hard work that went into bringing the Witcher 3 to life. Switching engines from Witcher 2's engine to something more appropriate to the modern console age, costing a lot of time and work; Heavily workloads and crunch burning out staff causing the type of issues one might expect from being overworked and gameplay features being left to the whim of indecisive minds leading to more wasted work and time. Some who signed onto CDPR's team for the promise of Cyberpunk ended up quitting and leaving before ever getting the chance to get started. It's not the prettiest period of CDPR's history but it is one from which they purported to have learned from and have vowed to do better from.
This all leads up to 2018 when many were anticipating a rumored reveal for Cyperpunk during the Xbox E3 conference, following the smash hit that was The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. That wasn't the greatest year for Xbox by any stretch of the imagination, and many of the most exciting announcements were studio acquisitions that promised to bare fruit in later years. Many would have written the conference off if it wasn't for the glitch-themed surprise reveal after the main show. CD Projekt Red gave us all out first proper glimpse of the world Night City in a bright, futuristic trailer meant to showcase just how good their world looked in the daytime as well as the night. Like GTA from the future. The trailer garnered a lot of positive reception from the excited and interested nods from the skeptical. (Like myself.)
Of course, then was the aforementioned behind-closed-doors demo and the following praise from critics. Many remembered the behind-closed-doors demo of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt that received similar praise but was never released. But this was different. The Witcher 3, whilst still a juggernaut, was the capping off of an established franchise. Fans had some idea what to expect from a third outing and thus only needed a little bit of a showcase to pick up the general gist. Cyberpunk was a something brand new. No one new just how many ideas had survived since 2012 and how many had evolved. Was this still an RPG? Still first and third person? Could we still expect an open world? What should we be excited for?
Press seemed excited after the demo and most of the hype was built by them. Most notably for me was the popular YouTuber YongYea who saw the footage and returned with a Q&A stream wherein he described the entire fifty minute long presentation with eidetic precision. That stream was the point where I personally boarded the hype train. I listened to his stream whilst working on a father's day card, (themed around Bladerunner, coincidentally) and allowed my imagination to run wild. I picked up on his excitement and gestated my own. I became a true believer and fell into an obsession with the project from Projekt. So, I imagine, did many others as the gameplay would drop only two month's later. In a secret message in the trailer (CDPR's preferred format of communication with the fans) they explained that their received response was so positive and unprecedented that they decided that they needed to share this with their fan base. They also let us know that this was sort of a proof-in-concept rather than a vertical slice of the finished project and that we should approach the gameplay with that in mind. In essence, they just wanted a confirmation from the larger fan base that the direction they were going was, indeed, the right one. And judging by the reaction from the fans: it was.
In that original 48 Minute walkthrough we got a solid idea of the game and what to expect. From the high rise mega buildings to the dystopian slum houses and everything in between. Like Bladerunner bought to life, the visual aesthetic mixed Asian culture with western society in a futuristic LA skyline brimming with neon and plasma. The trailer took us through it all, starting in the seedy underbelly of a den of scavengers before plopping us in an apartment in the heart of a mega building and driving us right down to factory way by the viaducts. And everything we saw was just brimming with life.
During the gameplay footage, our narrator boasts how every detail is rooted within the lore of Cyberpunk granting purpose and authenticity behind the presentation of the world. We saw it represented in the currency, the brands, the advertisement and even the gameplay details. This grounded view of the future helped resonate fans with the wild, ambitious and arguably high-concept vision with which they were presented. Cyberpunk is a vision of a world gone mad with the ideas of the cosmetic and the superficial. Its citizens are possessed with the idea of body modification and alteration, never satisfied with themselves and always seeking improvement. It's an extreme reflection on the vapid nature of modern society that feels almost as accurate as it does authentic. But this isn't the satire soaked world of GTA, it's a bare faced simulation of a truly synthetic world.
Alongside that vision we saw quite a lot of gameplay, and it sure did impress. Solid first person gunplay mixed with a slew of quality of life touches including sliding, first person cover systems and a pick-up-and-shoot weapon system, lent to a showcase that felt as dynamic as it did cinematic. Even their conceptually muted set piece moments (Like Jackie charging through a wall, or a gunfight on the freeway) stood out as highlights because of the robustness of the gameplay as well as the grounded touch of the presentation. We also got to see that delicious choice of gameplay that I love so much; Stealth or loud, hacking or brute force and usually a little bit of both. Those Mantis Blades from the 2012 reveal trailer also made a return, showcasing the player climbing on a wall before slicing and dicing some gangsters. All in all, we were treated to a coherent reel of highlight moment after highlight moment, strung together into a dense 50 minute demo that left many breathless.
What about this E3? Well, they did it again. We got another cinematic followed by a closed door presentation. However this trailer did make a bit more of a splash than last year's. That may have something to do with the surprise reveal of Keanu Reeves playing legendary rocker and counter culture icon Johnny Silverhand in the game. Now given some story details, the fans have rejoiced in the fact that Keanu (Through Johnny) will be following players through a large part of the story due to a faulty chip in the player's head that contains the consciousness of the presumed-dead singer. Besides the fan service of being having a major role voiced (And performance captured) by crowd pleaser and all around swell human being, Keanu Reeves; CDPR have teased a little bit about the themes of the larger game through this reveal. The chip that holds Johnny is described as 'The secret to immortality', hinting at the sci-fi tropes of body versus mind and digital immortality. In the eyes of a nerd it's incredibly exciting to see a game that could have so easy immersed itself in science fantasy pay a close eye to the themes of science fiction.
All of that is without taking into account the new gameplay demo which... was behind closed doors again. Dammit. However, this time CDPR's secret message did promise us that the public would get the chance to see it. (That is the public who can't afford to travel to LA, buy a ticket into one of the years most anticipated expo's and wait in line for 3 hours.) August, once again, is the date we'll have to wait for. But the wait is made much more manageable now we have a release date for the game, a promise of an extended gameplay walkthrough and, of course, a play-by-play retelling by YongYea.
Apparently, we'll be treated with a look into a whole new area: the slummy, dilapidated ruins of Pacifica. A district built up and designed around the dream of becoming an expensive tourist trap before investors pulled out and the district fell into disrepair. This area is home to the Voodoo Boys gang who are made up of members of the Haitian community. Here we are given an example of the interplay of cultures between night city as the Voodoo boys speak in genuine Creole that protagonist V requires a translation chip to understand. Unless the player is Haitian that is, as there was a video on twitter that featured a couple of fans who had seen the demo celebrating the developers for putting some of their language in the game. An example of how seriously CDPR are taking their realisation of Mike Pondsmith's tabletop game.
Again the authenticity and believability of the world will be touted. Every NPC is designed to feel and look different with some people being given different gaits and walk cycles to reinforce the difference in the way they move. Additionally, the entire game is designed to be played in first person, (And without any loading screens) cementing the immersion of the player into the world they have created. Of course with that comes built in HUD elements, real time mission briefings and even live cybernetic surgery. (Lovely.) Customisation is also a huge part of this demo and the last, both in cosmetics and in back story. Last time we saw a character creator coupled with a wardrobe of clothing to reinforce the customisation and this time we'll be getting hints about how the background you choose can open up conversation options that can lead to unique possibilities in gameplay.
A game is only as strong as it's gameplay, however, and from the sound of it we'll be in for a treat come this August. CDPR opted to give viewers a view of two different approaches to the same mission; one with a big powerful run-and-gun character and the other with a sneaky hacker character. The hacker was the quiet one, sneaking in through the back of a heavily guarded area and taking people out with silent takedowns like pushing them down dumpster chutes or in quick combat by slicing them up with the plasma charged 'Monowire'. Loud V was the more direct type. Ripping doors open with her bare hands and cutting through all the opposition with a huge heavy machine gun capable of ripping her opponents to bits. Quiet V hacked into the local network to acquire mastery over local machinery, allowing him to sneak into the Gym and incapacitate the room with contextual options. Hacking someone's robotic sparring partner to lay them out or crushing someone on the dumbbells by remotely upping their weight. In open combat his choices were more obvious, hacking turrets to provide covering fire or hacking an opponent to set off their own grenade, or even just shutting someone down wholesale. Loud V seemed just as fun, breaking necks, slicing people up with broken bottles and grabbing an enemy meatshield as makeshift cover. Destructible environments, vertical enemy placement and a multi staged boss fight all lend to a game that sounds as fun to run-and-gun as it does to stealth.
Ultimately, CD Projekt Red know that they have a hit on their hands and they know just how to market it. All the entertainment world seems to have eyes on them so the pressure is very much on, but the team hardly seems to show it. They are putting together a game that seems grand enough to rest a career on and no level of manufactured controversy or eye rolling hitpiece can put a dampener on them. Gamers are dancing to the tune of CDPR's flute with the promise of a game that brings together the intensity of Deus Ex with the freedom of Watch Dogs and the... well... everything of GTA. A game changer and trendsetter that will undoubtedly set the bar of the industry. (And push Square Enix to make another Deus Ex game? Who knows.) In April 2020, Cyperpunk 2077 will release after nearly eight years of hype. And when it does, I think the wait will be worth it.
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