CD Projekt RED’s Cyberpunk 2077 has a lot going for it, not the least of which is Keanu Reeves playing Johnny Silverhand. However, given the amount of time it took to nail the game’s art direction, it only seems appropriate for Cyberpunk RPG author Mike Pondsmith to make an appearance. Well, it looks like fans will get their wish as Pondsmith confirmed he indeed has a role in the upcoming RPG.
Speaking to Official Xbox Magazine for their September 2019 issue, Pondsmith confirms that he recorded for a role but that “they came up with a different one.” “I have a role. I actually recorded for one role, but they came up with a different one for me, but I can’t tell you much more than that. And I’m telling you that because there are a lot of fans who are going, ‘He better be in the game somewhere.’
“So I’m in the game. I’m figuring what happens is, you know, at some point, [Johnny Silverhand] is playing his guitar and I’ll come out and play my bass [laughs].” While that last point doesn’t seem likely (especially since Silverhand is, well, a digital ghost haunting protagonist V), the inclusion of Pondsmith into a universe of his own creation feels right. We’ll have to see exactly how it pans out in-game.
Cyberpunk 2077 is out on April 16th 2020 for Xbox One, PS4 and PC. Pondsmith recently spoke about the game doing justice to the old pen-and-paper RPG, and why he opted for CD Projekt RED in the first place. “What I saw in CD Projekt was that they really cared about it and the things that were important to us were important to them. So I knew it was in good hands.”