Cyberpunk 2077

"Nah, mano. Not just any other city. Legends are born here"

- Jackie Welles

Cyberpunk 2077 is an open-world, action-adventure role-playing video game, being developed and published by CD Projekt RED, scheduled to be released November 19, 2020. The game was announced during the 2012 CD Projekt Red Summer Conference as the official video game adaption of Mike Pondsmith's pen and paper RPG Cyberpunk 2020. Originally titled Cyberpunk, the 2077 subtitle was added in late 2012.

Setting
Cyberpunk 2077 is a continuation of the events of Cyberpunk 2020, taking an alternate path to that of Cyberpunk V3.0. The game is set in the dystopian metropolis of Night City. It is in the Free State of Northern California. Night City is located south of San Francisco around the area of Morro Bay, CA. During Cyberpunk 2020, Night City is said to have a population of more than five million inhabitants. However, this number is suspected to be considerably larger in 2077.

Following an economic collapse sometime during the early 21st century, the United States is forced to rely on large corporations to survive. These corporations deal in a wide range of areas, such as weapons, robotics, cybernetics, pharmaceuticals, communications and biotechnology, and many of these companies operate above the law.

The game follows the story of V — a hired gun on the rise in Night City, the most violent and dangerous metropolis of the corporate-ruled future. A robust character creator will allow players to choose V’s gender, visual appearance, as well as historical background — all of which may influence the shape of the game.

The world is inspired by the works of authors such as William Gibson (author of Neuromancer) and Phillip K Dick, whose novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and subsequent movie adaption Blade Runner heavily influenced the creator, Mike Pondsmith, in creating the original tabletop RPG.

Prologue
The player character V, is contracted along with Jackie Welles, to steal an important piece of technology from the Arasaka Corporation - know as the chip of immortality - by fixer Dexter Deshawn. The duo manage to infiltrate the megacorp and steal the device but the plan goes awry and Jackie appears to die. After meeting with Dexter, V is betrayed and left for dead in a landfill, but manages to survive - possibly in-part due to the chip of immortality - and is haunted by the digital-ghost of iconic Rockerboy, Johnny Silverhand.

The Corpo-Rat
V starts in the Arasaka Tower, where Arthur Jenkins gives the player a job to take out another corporate employee. The player arrives at Lizzie's Bar by AV and is accosted by several basketball players, whom they almost crushed by conducting an illegal landing on the basketball court. V enters the establishment and meets up with their old friend Jackie Welles.

The Nomad
The player, a lone nomad on their way to Night City, has car issues on the border to the badlands and is forced to seek the services of a local mechanic. V managed to fix the vehicle before they are confronted by the local Sheriff as they continue on towards Night City.

Street Kid
The player is running a job for Kirk Sawyer, who provides V with the technology to steal a high-end Rayfield Aerondight owned by Kaoru Fujioka. V enters the car before they are stopped and held at gunpoint by Jackie Welles, whom also intends to steal the car for their own purposes. Before he is successful an NCPD squad show up and bust the pair. The squad is lead by Jackie's childhood friend, Inspector Stints, who also recognizes V. Kaoru - an Arasaka employee - shows up and orders Stints to kill the pair and dump their bodies out at sea as he does not wish to see them go to trial.

Gameplay
Cyberpunk is an open world, non-linear RPG with an FPS style in which players are able to heavily customize their character to suit their play style. Gun play, exploration, player choice and activities such as hacking are to feature heavily throughout the game with missions, quests and objectives being completed in a variety of different ways.

One such example of gameplay is non-English speaking characters featured throughout Night City. Players may be required to purchase a translator implant to understand them, with varying levels of success based on the implant they buy.

The game was originally stated to be a single player experience with multiplayer elements. It was reported in early 2018 that the multiplayer components may have been scrapped, however in June 2018 CD Projekt stated that they had multiplayer "in R&D" but it would not be included for the game's launch.

The world will have dynamic weather and a day/night cycle to make it truly immersive.

Perspective
The game is played primarily from a first-person perspective. A new combat system has been developed around this perspective that includes the use of guns, melee, powers, and even combat stimulants that grant additional bonuses, such as increasing speed. Players may choose a third-person perspective whilst driving vehicles, such as cars and motorbikes. Although players can utilize flying machines, these are all automated.

Attributes
Player characters will have attributes like Strength, which can be raised via leveling and installing cyberware. Skills and perks can also be selected; skills are related to performing actions - such as hacking, crafting, specific weapons, etc. - while perks can be unlocked with both Street Cred and XP.

During character creation, the player can select a gender and customize their character; customization can include depictions of breasts, buttocks, and genitalia, as well as various sizes and combinations of genitals. Options also include picking between a male or female sounding voice, while also adjusting the pitch. Other tabs that have further customization options include Birth Record, Biometric Scan (face, hair, scars, coloration), Appearance (style, clothes, makeup, piercings, tattoos, mods), and Biostats.

One can also choose from a set of background stories (Nomad, Street Kid, or Corporate) and other elements to fully flesh out their characters (like childhood hero, key life events, and what drove them to Night City), all of which will have an impact on the game. Selecting a background story doesn't lock a player into that for the rest of the story: if a player decides to betray their original background group, they can do so (like go from Street Kid to Corporate).

Classes/Roles
Cyberpunk 2077 will feature a fluid class system, where V may primarily conform to a trio of skill trees, allowing the player to choose what best fits their playstyle and experiment, but is by no means locked into a set class.


 * Netrunner: These are the elite hackers of the world, perhaps best suited to players who prefer a stealthy approach to dealing with problems. Their skills can grant them access to mundane objects like doors, to more intricate systems such as security and encryption, and even people's brains.
 * Solo: Mercenaries whose skills focus on combat. They are strong and fast, and the most capable melee opponents.

Development
During the beginning of production it was reported that a team of 50 people were working on it, however after the completion of the Witcher 3 and its subsequent expansion packs, the team has reportedly grown larger, with dozens of jobs being advertised on the CDPR website. In early 2018 it was reported that a new studio had been opened in Wroclaw, Poland to assist in the development of the game.

During an interview Pawel Sasko, lead quest designer for Cyberpunk 2077, said that the teams biggest inspiration for the story were Akira and Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines, and almost every quest in the game tells some part of the worlds story that you live in.

Marketing
In 2012 CD Projekt Red announced they had partnered with Mike Pondsmith and acquired the licence for a video game set in the Cyberpunk pen & paper world. In early 2013 the title reveal and teaser trailer were shown to attract talent to start development of the game. The world premier was shown at E3 2018, where viewers got a first glimpse at gameplay. The next year at E3 2019, Keanu Reeves was announced to play Johnny Silverhand as well as showing off a cinematic trailer depicting the events of the prologue. CD Projekt Red later showed more gameplay at Gamescom 2019 as well as announcing a release date for April 2020. In January 2020 it was announced the game had been delayed to September, then November 2020. Due to the outbreak of Coronavirus, the 2020 conventions were cancelled and CDPR premiered Night City Wire, where new gameplay was shown as well as the announcements for the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Netflix anime and the Dark Horse Trauma Team comic.

Kitsch
The look of a long lost golden age on people entirely unwilling or unable to forget it. It’s flashy, bold and usually cheap – filled with gold-plated cyberware, implants encased in brightly colored plastic and larger-than-life makeup.

Neokitsch
The look of infinite wealth and vanity. Synonymous with luxury, it has been blossoming among Night City’s wealthiest elites – those who can afford to buy anything, who can afford to be anything they want to be.

Neomilitarism
The look of global conflict and corporations jockeying for power. Cold, sharp and modern. Making everyone look as if they are ready to drop out of an AV’s cargo door and head straight into combat.

Entropism
The look of poverty that derives from humans grappling with and struggling against technology and its unforgiving advance. It denotes a lack of design blending with a general poverty of means and ideas.