Cyberpunk 2077

To say that Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the most highly anticipated upcoming games of the year would be a massive understatement. People have been giddily looking forward to it since the day it was first unveiled many, many years ago, and afterward, with CDPR proving themselves to the world with The Witcher 3 and then re-revealing Cyberpunk 2077 in impressive fashion kicked the excitement for the game up another notch.

In spite of its recent delay, the game’s launch isn’t too far away now, and recently, CDPR shared a lot of new info on the, through a livestream of their own, as well as a round of previews and hands-on impressions from several press outlets. Here in this feature, we’re going to be talking about the ten most interesting new details – big and small – that we’ve learned about the game as a result.

THE SETUP

We’ve been seeing bits and pieces of Cyberpunk 2077’s beginning here and there for the past year now, but with the recent info drop, we have a much clearer idea of how the game begins, and what the setup for the entire tory is going to be. V and Jackie – another character we’ve seen plenty of – have been hired by a fixer named Dexter Deshawn to look for The Relic, which is an ancient chip said to hold the power of immortality. The Relic has been stolen by the son of family firm Arasaka’s dead CEO, and there’s no shortage of people going after the chip. In true CDPR fashion, who you align yourself with in this situation and how you choose to get your hands on the Relic will be entirely up to you.

CHARACTERS

Plenty of details about important characters in Cyberpunk 2077’s vast world have also come to life. We’ve already spoken of Dexter Deshawn, a fixer who often contacts V with jobs for hire. There are also interesting new details on characters that might have a big presence in the beginning of the game (and perhaps even later on) depending on what Life Path you choose. There are corporate executives Abernathy and Arthur Jenkins for the Corporate Life Path, an aggressive sheriff who is constantly mistrustful of you in the Nomad Life Path, and and helpful allies Padre and Kirk in the Street Kid Life Path.

Oh, and speaking of Life Paths…

LIFE PATH

CD Projekt RED have been teasing out snippets of info on Cyberpunk’s Life Paths for a while, but we now have much clearer details on how each of these will affect the game’s beginning. Corporate will see you starting out as an Arasaka agent in the Arasaka Tower right in the bustling streets of Night City. As a Street Kid, you’ll start out in El Coyote Cojo in Heywood. Meanwhile, the Nomad Life Path will see you beginning all the way out in the Badlands, with the prologue taking place a few months before the proper story begins.

BADLANDS

The Badlands are the seventh major section of Cyberpunk 2077’s open world, after the six districts of Night City, and after having vaguely mentioned it over the past year or so, CD Projekt RED have revealed some more stuff about it, while also showcasing some gameplay footage. The entire area is much more open and much less crowded than Night City itself, being set in a dreary desert, and seems to have an entirely different feel and culture than what the various districts of the city will have to offer. As we’ve mentioned, beginning the game as a Nomad will allow you to start off in the Badlands, which means they might play a bigger role right from the get go- but of course, even if you choose any other Life Path, the Badlands will still be explorable in all their dingy glory.

BRAINDANCE

Braindance is perhaps the biggest new thing that CD Projekt RED have unveiled in their recent info dump. To start off, there’s quite a lot of intriguing lore to go along with the concept- created in the early 2000s, Braindance allows you to witness the events and memories of a person through their perspective, exactly as they experienced it, and though it was initially used for things such as therapy, in the dystopian future of Cyberpunk 2077, it has become much more widespread. From mass entertainment to more illicit forms of thrill-seeking to being used as a means for investigation, Braindance is something that has become an integral part of Cyberpunk’s world’s way of life.

But how exactly does it work in the game?

MORE BRAINDANCE INFO

Mechanically speaking, Braindance will work a lot like, say, the investigations in Batman: Arkham Origins, or even the investigations in Detroit: Become Human. You’ll be put in the middle of a scene, and in the editor mode, you’ll have the freedom to rewind, forward, and pause the timeline. Through it all, you’ll also be able to inspect and scan various things in the environment, such as weapons, people, sources of sound (to eavesdrop on conversations), screens to see any useful recordings of feeds, and more. It seems like Braindance will come into play in more than a few quests, so here’s hoping CDPR reveal more info on it in the lead up to the game’s launch.

PROGRESSION

For a while now, CDPR have been claiming that on top of providing the sort of freedom of choice one would expect from their stories, Cyberpunk 2077 will also offer that sort of freedom and player agency in gameplay. Details on the game’s RPG mechanics and progression have certainly made it seem that way, and new, finer details on what that might entail surely look enticing. With five categories to invest points into, there seems to be all manner of ways to upgrade your character- from basic things such as being able to hack security cameras or improving your melee proficiency, to much more elaborate skills that basically turn you into a cybernetic ninja, it seems there’s going to been a lot of room for player expression in this game.

CUSTOMIZATION

Cyberpunk 2077 will, of course, have a character creation and customization toolset, and though we’ve had hints of how versatile it will be in the past, that’s starting to become much clearer now. It seems like there’s going to be a ridiculous amount of options- cyberware, hair styles, jaw, eyes, eyebrows, mouth, teeth, tattoos, scars, blemishes, earrings, skin types, eye makeup, and much, much more- and many different options in each of those categories.

SHARDS

Like an open world RPG, Cyberpunk 2077 will, of course, have plenty of room for exploration. One of the ways the game will rewards you for this is with datashards, or Shards. What are these Shards, exactly? Well, they’re a tool for the game to tell you more about its world, lore, and backstory. Each of these shards will contain pieces of info that will reveal more of these details to you, contributing to the overall world-building. If you’re at all the kind of player who pours over lore dumps and backstory details in games such as this, that should sound like an exciting prospect.

SIDE ACTIVITIES

Of course, this being a CD Projekt RED game, fans are expecting no shortage of side activities, and really good ones, no less. As you’re moving about Night City, on top of the aforementioned exploration and side quests (obviously), there will be plenty more opportunities to engage with side content. You might dynamically see civilians in need of aid (whether you aid them or the other party will be up to you, of course). You might work with the police on contract jobs, temporarily working for the law to bring criminals to swift justice. You might get gigs from handlers to make more money and enhance your cred. Certainly, it seems like there will be no shortage of things to do in Night City.