I've seen things...
So as you'll most likely have already seen, the folks at CDPR have graced us with an entire trailer's worth of new footage in a video entitled 'The Gig.' In this we get another look at that delightfully Bladerunner-esque world, as well as some surprising shots of the wide open Badlands that carry a very GTA/Mad Max vibe. (Which makes sense as this is literally depicting the same location that GTA V did.) In fact, this entire trailer just screamed Grand Theft Auto, from the studio's choice of music, the trailer's abundance of action shot set-pieces and the running narrative of some sort of grand heist that we know is doomed to go wrong. This is the sort of 'story trailer' that one would expect to head the final month of advertising before the release of the game, spelling out of the grand narrative and laying out all the best beans on the table; and yet CDPR decided to knock everyone for two when they turned around and said that everything we saw was strictly from the prologue sections of the game. (Which is a little misleading, admittedly, for reasons I'll go into later.)
Sticking strictly to the game (the other stuff is alright but I'm not incredibly infused at the idea of an Anime that's coming out in two years and might not even be good. I know that the studio also worked on 'Kill La Kill' but one huge success alone does not guarantee quality) the biggest thing we saw out of the streamed event in terms of gameplay was probably the Brain Dance feature; which is something that both intrigues and concerns me. Brain Dance, or BD, refers to a recording device that is implanted in one's cybernetics and allows for experiences to be captured and shared; simple enough. In the game the player can use this to see moments from the past in a style very similar to Batman Arkham's detective mode; wherein clues from the environment can be deduced to tell a story of past events. What this essentially means is that the player can enter the memories of another person and see an important moment they lived through and wanted recorded. As the developers explained, this allows for perspectives to be explored that wouldn't normally be seen such as those focusing around religion, philosophy and- childhood trauma? (Those are their examples, not mine.) In terms of gameplay this means you can go full 'investigator' on the BD recordings and identify irregularities from the scenes to pick out and examine in order to get at some deeper truth. This makes for an interesting change of pace from all the fast-action that we've seen from other gameplay sections and I love the diversity. This alone might give the game a more varied pace than the modern Deus Ex games.
Now this is all very good for fulfilling the cyberpunk fantasy, but I wonder at how prevalent this will actually be and if it'll end up just being a showy gimmick. Look to the 'memory editing' from 'Remember Me'; throughout that game there were four instances in which you actually used the power the entire premise of the game was balanced on (With the last one literally making no sense) and it never felt like something the player was in control of. Now from what I hear there are a few instances of BD in the prologue (I think I heard 3, but I may have misheard that. I'm been watching a lot of footage on this game, it all starts to jumble after a while.) so I only hope that CDPR go the extra mile and make some really indepth examples of this feature. All I want is one or two BD sections that feel like real investigations, where you may get stumped and have to look at situations from new angles. That'll hold great potential for pacing and tension establishment, especially in crucial plot threads.
Yet even though that was all we really saw from Cyberpunk in terms of the livestream, that was by no means the end of actual things we learned about the game due to the fact that select critics were flown out to play the title and give their words on it. Alongside that, the Internet has been inundated with about 20 minutes worth of B-roll that I've watched in it's entirety, so it's fair to say I have vacuumed up as much Cyberpunk content as humanly possible. It is due to all this background that I saw how CDPR's claim of all the trailer footage being prologue footage is a tiny bit misleading; because there are actually three prologues in Cyberpunk 2077.
With the more disseminated and sanitised version of picking your 'background' in Cyberpunk 2077 (compared to what we saw from the original gameplay trailer) comes three specific 'life paths' which come with three unique starting positions into the world of Cyberpunk. Either you become a Street thug who's lived all their life in Heywood, Night City; a Nomad who's entered the Badlands surrounding the city and is looking for a way in; or a Corpo agent who works for Arasaka before getting involved in a deal gone wrong. From what I can tell, all of these intros have starkly different stories to tell (much in the same vein, I've heard some say, to the character intros in 'Dragon Age: Origins') but they'll all funnel you down into the same story by the end of the action where you're alongside Jackie Welles and pulling an ambitious heist which leaves you the target of the entire city. (And sticks you with your personal head-Keanu Reeves)
Now all of this sounds frankly amazing for the realms of repeatability. I know that I've played through the intro portions of 'Dragon Age: Origins' alone dozens of times in order to explore every possible permutation of storyline and can imagine doing the same for this game. This rings especially true since every outlet who has touched this game seems to be singing the same praises of huge, regular, choices throughout the missions which drastically change up the circumstances. They've even mentioned how some of the different directions taken in the Militech sales mission (from the very first showcase footage) go beyond what even the narrator teased. There's so many branches that make different allies, other's that change objectives, some which require skill checks, (New Vegas hype!) that it simply boggles the mind. And to parrot the developers; this is still just the prologue! Now does this mean that same level of freedom and choice will bleed out into the rest of the game, perhaps not, but it leaves room open for hope and I'm hoping up a storm right now.
In terms of the utilities, we've gotten a closer and more intimate look at what we can safely assume will be the final look of a bunch of more stable elements, such as the HUD. This newer HUD doesn't quite share the same dark red 80's vibe of the one we saw from a couple years back, but it hasn't lost that style either. I was worried that whilst this game matured they would retreat to a more proto-typical 'slick' HUD for this futuristic game, but actually they've seemingly retained that endearing retro-futuristic aesthetic that has characterised certain portions of Cyberpunk. (You rarely see that style executed in a serious manner, I appreciate it.) We've also heard word on the customisation system which, to my utmost relief, has been described as 'impressively robust'. (I'm paraphrasing, don't try to quote-check me.) One fellow did crown this as 'the most extensive character creator that they've ever seen from a game', but I'm laying some serious 'X to doubt' on that because without even having played the game I can definitely name at least two games which undoubtedly surpass it. (But if this title is even comparative to Fallout 4's creator I'll be more than happy.) Particular attention has been paid around options to change the length of nails, browse around 30 haircuts, mess with facial wire-work, mix-and-match genitalia, adjust the size of genitalia and choose between a circumcised or uncircumcised penis. (Lot's of genitalia questions. I have real strong questions about what sort of game this is. Like, when is the circumcision-status of my character's penis going to come into play? Wait, new question: do I want an answer to that?)
I think the real draw of this game, the thing that makes it so hard to wrap one's head around, is the sheer number of aspects that CDPR are trying to tackle at once. This was always the case, even in the casting-call stage, (rather than becoming a consequence of uncontrolled feature-creep à la 'Star Citizen') and it's incredible to see that same spirit alive and well all these years later into active development. You have the driving which seems to share it's heart with Grand Theft Auto and has been enriched with gorgeously varied vehicular designs, high-speed gun fight set pieces and even entire radio tracks worth of songs created for the Cyberpunk world. (That alone still blows my mind) There's fighting which revolves around gunplay but leaves enough room for some rudimentary fist-fights, both of which has, so far, been found to be satisfactory by pundits. Stealth, which is my usual goto, that is realised in restricted areas, multiple pathways and hacking. And a seemingly unparalleled-in-detail simulated open world that boasts varied crowd mechanics, a day night cycle, bounties, incidental quests, developed side quests and likely all manner of things that contribute to make the world of Night City feel "lived in". All of that is held up by an RPG backbone that sounds significantly robust and impressive. There are skills which can be improved by partaking in them, (The Elder Scrolls style) extensive perk trees and attribute cards and even a 'street cred' system which steadily unlocks activities and purchase-ables as you progress. (Admittedly I typically hate such systems and find them pointless, but coming from CDPR I'm open minded enough to give them a chance.)
And that, in a long winded nutshell, is everything that CDPR have let loose about their, much-delayed, November title; and boy is it a lot. I never imagined we'd reach this level of detail and transparency before the release of the game and whilst I find their confidence both refreshing and encouraging, honestly, I'm on the fence about whether or not I like it. Don't get me wrong, I'm loving all I'm hearing about Cyberpunk but I wonder if I wouldn't prefer to go in a lot more blind. But I'm hooked now, I'm in that accursed content cycle, I have to see everything this game has to offer and I only hope that doesn't ruin the final game for me when it launches. Whether it scuppers that important surprise or not, it seems that these Cyberpunk live streams will be hitting us on a monthly basis so I'll be there to summarise what we learn like the robot trapped to his programming that I am. Despite my worries, I'm ready and eager to hear more about this title and await next month with irresponsible abandon. (Continue to blow me away, CDPR!)
No comments:
Post a Comment