At this moment in time, Cyberpunk 2077 is – arguably – the most awaited game of 2024. The title is surrounded by hype and the majority of the gaming culture has high expectations about the upcoming game. A polish company is developing Cyberpunk 2077 – CD Projekt Red, which is also known for the critically acclaimed Witcher RPG game series. It’s not hard to see where the excitement is coming from.
If you are not yet familiar with the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 game, here’s everything you should know about the game before its official release. If the following content fills you with excitement – you can already Pre-order Cyberpunk 2077 GOG release for a significantly cheaper price at the Eneba store!
History of the Cyberpunk franchise
The first thing that should be noted about Cyberpunk 2077 is that the title of the franchise corresponds with the subgenre of science-fiction that it’s ascribed to, so the two shouldn’t be confused. Since around the early 1980s, there have been many different and independent cyberpunk books, movies and video games.
That being said, Cyberpunk 2077 will be the first video game in this series, which originally started out as an RPG table-top game from 1988, created by illustrator and author Mike Pondsmith. The original creator is involved in the development of the latest Cyberpunk 2077 game as well.
Cyberpunk genre overview
Cyberpunk genre, as a whole, often explores the development of information technology, artificial intelligence, cybernetic body modifications, ponders the philosophical problems about difference between human and machine (or lack there off) and the loss of privacy and individuality in the plutocratic age of information where the ultimate authority belongs to international megacorporation conglomerates. Doesn’t that sound eerily familiar?
Creating his own Cyberpunk franchise Mike Pondsmith set himself a goal to capture all these ideas and tropes that define the cyberpunk genre altogether. However, cyberpunk wouldn’t be what it is without the “punk” element to it.
The Cyberpunk 2077 game will have a rebellious and optimistic edge, with characters like Johnny Silverhand representing the interests of the oppressed class of society. CD Projekt Red is working with Keanu Reeves to bring this character to life and it should be noted that Reeves has quite a reputation with cyberpunk movies like Johnny Mnemonic (1994) and of course – The Matrix Trilogy (1999 – 2003).
The open-world setting
Regarding the actual gameplay, the upcoming CD Projekt Red’s RPG will be an open-world video game taking place in the fictional Night City. The place is located on the West Coast of the United States, between Los Angeles and San Francisco, to be specific. Cyberpunk 2077 game features a lawless Wild West-like world created by the socio-economic collapse of global infrastructure at the beginning of the 21st century. Therefore, the building of Night City was funded and overlooked by private companies and not by the national government.
The Night City is divided into six districts: the former tourist hotspot Pacifica which is overrun by gangs; City Center which will serve as a social hub; Heywood where the protagonist V lives; Santo Domingo which is an industrial district; Westbrook that’s controlled by the top 1% and Watson – a market district where the player can expect to restock their gear.
The Cyberpunk 2077 game map is going to be smaller than the area of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. However, what Night City lacks in size it will compensate with quality. Unlike in The Witcher 3, the six districts of Night City will not be separated by loading screens. On top of that, they will be extremely detailed to the point where the players will be able to visit every room in every skyscraper they’ll come across.
Confirmed vehicles
Without a doubt, this open-world city will not be explored by foot. So far, the early gameplay footage has confirmed futuristic motorcycles and cars being available in Cyberpunk 2077. The game will also feature vehicles with autopilot, which will allow the player to let go of the wheel and perform drive-byes and participate in highway gunfights.
Vehicle modification or air vehicles are not yet confirmed but their inclusion into the final game is a possibility. The early trailers shop an armed paramedics squad arriving to retrieve a patient on a flying ambulance. There’s also gameplay footage of airships with advertisements hovering above the Night City. Considering the smaller size of the map, the probability of manually controlling flying vehicles is low, however, they might be included as a form of fast travel. At this point, it’s all fan speculation.
One of the questions circling in the fanbase is this: will the Cyberpunk 2077 game allow us to actually leave the Night City by using our vehicles? At a first glance, it might seem like that will be impossible but there have been statements from the Cyberpunk 2077 quest designer Powel Sasko claiming that there will be missions in the game that will have the player leaving the city. After all, the game’s lore does cover the existence of Mad Max-type currier faction known as the Nomads, which brings us to the topic of classes that are included in the game.
Classes as representations of different factions
The protagonist of the Cyberpunk 2077 game is heavily customizable and won’t have to be limited by a skillset of a single class unless the player chooses to. There will be multiple pre-existing class profiles and the player will be able to customize their in-game character by mixing characteristics of different possible roles and gameplay styles.
It wouldn’t be inaccurate to say that each class represents different factions that exist in the world of Cyberpunk 2077. The already mentioned Nomads are road warriors who travel between the cities of America despite the lack of infrastructure but that’s far from everything Cyberpunk 2077 game includes.
What would be a cyberpunk setting without hackers? In Cyberpunk 2077 they are known as netrunners, who can use stealth and use local networks against their enemies through the means of cyberwarfare; Solos are mercs that use brute force through military-grade hardware installed in their cybernetic body augmentations, Techies are experts of these enhancements, while Corporates, Fixers, and Rockerboys use social influence to meet their goals.
Multiplayer mode in Cyberpunk 2077?
While, for a long time, CD Projekt Red representatives kept stating that the goal of Cyberpunk 2077 game design is to provide the ultimate single-player experience, just recently, the developers started talking about the possibility of a multiplayer mode. However, this mode will be released after the initial launch of the base game, as the single-player experience of the best quality still remains a priority to CD Projekt Red.
The multiplayer mode of Cyberpunk 2077 may release as a DLC addon or a spin-off. Developers have added that the multiplayer mode will work in a similar way to GTA Online. Just like GTA V single-player mode had no direct link to multiplayer, neither will the campaign of Cyberpunk 2077 game will be kept separate from the online mode. The online campaign will probably feature a completely different custom character and a story that’s unrelated to the plot of the single-player campaign, aside from the shared setting.
Prepare for the Cyberpunk 2077 GoG release!
Judging from what is known about the game so far, it’s fair to conclude that this title will offer a staggering amount of content and present a cyberpunk world with an attention to detail that has no comparison. On top of that, most of the information about the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 GOG release still remains in secret. There’s still a lot more to come and a lot more to hope for.
