Cyberpunk 2077 Designer Talks Cut Content and Features

CD Projekt RED’s Cyberpunk 2077 is only a few weeks away but it’s interesting to see just how closely it resembles the original 2018 gameplay demo. That being said, some features – like wall-running – have been cut. Will that impact one’s enjoyment of the title? In a recent forum post, senior level designer Miles Tost weighed in on the same.

Tost first noted that dual-wielding, also reportedly cut, was never a thing and that players should read reviews and other impressions before picking the game up. He then noted that, “Cutting features and scope is a very normal part of development. You can witness it so openly with our game, because we happily gave in to community wishes and showed you that 2018 demo. Think about it. The game – 2 years from release. Of course we iterate and change stuff and of course we also will have ideas that sound great on paper but then doesn’t end up working out well in the game with all the other features.

He also cited The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt which had a “ton of stuff” cut out, “but in the end all of it made the game better – now I understand, this is disappointing for everyone when it happens and also difficult to understand without all the context of development environment, but in this case I just kindly ask you for your trust. Just look at stories of so many other games you might enjoy.

“Believe me when I say that during their development some loved features also were cut and you still enjoy them today, maybe even because of the cuts. In the end, it is all about how much fun the game and it systems provide you and we are doing our best to make sure it is as great of an experience as it can be. Sometimes for that, you have to make some hard decisions and this time around, you were here to witness it.”

Finally, for those worried about the content that will be in the game due to these cuts, Tost replied, “If you worry about the amount of content on our game, please don’t. We’re notoriously bad at judging how long game time is in our games (I remember we estimated players would max out The Witcher 3 at 100h), so we try not to do that anymore. But I can only keep saying what I have been saying in the past: you guys have seen nothing yet.”

With three Life Paths to pursue, each with their own impact on the main story and branching decisions; 75 Street Stories which provide smaller quests with their unique stories to tell; an extensive list of activities and happenings around every corner; and much more, it’s safe to say that there will be plenty to do. CD Projekt RED will also be releasing free DLC, which should add more quests and items like with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. This also doesn’t account for the upcoming paid expansions or multiplayer which release further down the line.

Cyberpunk 2077 is out on November 19th for Xbox One, PS4, PC and Google Stadia. It will be playable on Xbox Series X/S and PS5 at launch but proper next-gen versions won’t arrive till later. Stay tuned for more details en route to launch.