Following the newest Cyberpunk 2077 gameplay reveal, CD Projekt RED’s developers took the stage on Twitch to talk about the game.
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We learn some interesting details about what we saw from Senior Level Designer Miles Tost, Lead Quest Designer Paweł Sasko, and Quest Design Coordinator Philipp Weber.
You can find a summary of what was shared below.
- The districts of Cyberpunk 2077 are as different as possible without being unbelievable. This isn’t just for the sake of variety, but also intended as a navigational tool.
- Each district has a dominant gang.
- The district of Pacifica is dominated by the Voodoo Boys, which are actually deeply integrated with the community.
- The Voodoo Boys have the reputation to be the best netrunners in Night City, and they have made cyberspace basically their religion.
- Haiti is flooded, which is why the people which used to live there have mostly settled in Pacifica.
- Each sitruation in the game can be solved in several different ways, with many different gameplay approaches. The player has many different tools to solve an issue or bypass it.
- There are consequences to the choices the player makes. They’re not only affecting the current quest but also the story.
- Quests are iterated upon a lot by the developers, providing designers with new ways to approach issues and interesting consequences to implement.
- There are many different kinds of vehicles in the game. Some are simply very utilitarian in how they’re built. On the other hand there are super-luxury high-end vehicles. Players are limited only by what they can afford.
- There are both cars and bikes, on top of “surprise” vehicles that haven’t been revealed so far.
- The super-high echelon of society has flying vehicles, and players will be able to ride some of them through story moments.
- Fast travel is possible.
- The development team has actual city planners at work on designing the city, the traffic flows, and elements of that sort.
- Most districts have “fixers” that can give you jobs. They may contact the player and give them quests.
- Some of these jobs are “street stories” which appear on the player’s map.
- The map is really immersive. It’s a cool-looking point cloud version of Night City.
- There is always a reason behind quests and tasks to perform in the city. Street stories are basically a representation of V’s job. They’re a different way to feel immersed in the city.
- Each Life Path defines the beginning of V’s story. You’re a completely different person in a completely different place depending on which one you choose. It carries over through the whole story, from the very beginning through the very end.
- They let you unlock side branches in the dialogue and at times in whole quests.
- Attribute points define the core characteristics of your V. Skills define the proficiencies and what your character can do. Perks add more depth on top of that.
- Cold Blood (based on the Cool attribute) is a skill that allows you to survive in tough situations. It gives you a boost in damage when you’re in a pinch. Using that skill over and over lets you evolve it and pick different perks.
- If you add specific perk to your Athletics skill, it lets you carry bodies without being slowed down.
- The “Cool” attribute indicates how cool you are under pressure.
- The inventory is where you manage your style. The developers are aware of the usual conflicts between stats and looks in many games. They teased that they’re working on solving the issue so that you can look the way you want to look and still have the best stats you can afford.
- Cyberware can be enhanced. For instance cyberlegs can be customized to let you jump while emitting less noise for a stealthy approach.
- Shorts let you experiment with Cyberware without actually needing to equip it.
- There are multiple ways to acquire and enhance cyberware, including the Ripper Doc and the Street Cred system which can open up different vendors and services, including new cyberware.
- Building a netrunner character lets you be very creative in how to solve situations. If you hack an access point you can use quickhacks. Depending on where you are, you can do different situational things with that.
- You can play the whole game without killing a single person. Every player can do it and you don’t need to be a netrunner to achieve that. At times it reqires thinking about it and finding a solution.
- The developers tried to find way to avoid punishing players for their choice of playstyle.
- A Solo build can be strong or fast (or a mix or the two). For instance, strong solos can rip weapons off turrets. Fast solos have a lot of traversal skills and can access areas that others can’t.
- The Technie is the third basic archetype (besides Netrunner and Solo) and they dabble with hardware. They can use a Flathead, which is a spiderbot that can be controlled remotely and do things for you like manipulating devices or engaging enemies in combat. It also has customization options.
- Archetypes are just basic setups, and you can freely create hybrid builds between them.
- Guns are divided in three categories: smart guns, tech weapons, and power weapons.
- There is a weapon that starts shooting bullets slowly and then accelerates the longer you shoot.
- There is a class of guns created by a Russian company purpose-made to fight cyberwear.
- Some weapons have secondary firing modes.
- There is a shotgun with eight barrels.
- Every gun manufacturer has its own history and lore. Everything is rooted in the world.
- There are a lot of different melee weapons. Some can be thrown and you can specialize in melee weapons. You can play a cyberninja and there are various different katana available.
- There is also cyberware dedicated to melee. One specific cyberware enhances your reflexes with the effect that you perceive time as slowed down.
- You can breach a squad’s network and use a demon software to hack their cyberware. For instance you can make them pull the pin of their own grenade or simply shot themselves. The nanowire allows you to do it from a distance, while otherwise you need to take down an enemy to gain access.
- Each playthrugh of the game will be very unique. No playthrough will be like the others.
- There are two major ways to customize guns. The first is cosmetic with various paint jobs and decals. The second is attachments that can boost the stats and add functionality like optics and suppressors.
- The more you use a gun the better you become at using it, and this changes the animation for reloads and handling. Increased accuracy will also make your crosshair become smaller, reducing bullet dispersion.
If you want to learn more about Cyberpunk 2077, you can read our recent interview with producer Richard Borzymowski, how character creation can impact the story, and every way V can kill someone.
Earlier this morning we also got some comment from CD Projekt’s executives about the early pre-orders of the game and expectations for sales.
Cyberpunk 2077 is coming to PS4, Xbox One, and PC on April 16, 2020.
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