So far, we’ve been able to learn a fair bit about what exactly Cyberpunk 2077 will have in store for gamers, including about its side quests, choice and consequence mechanics, and more. One area we haven’t heard a lot about until now is the music for the game, but the game’s composer Marcin Przybyłowicz has now revealed some new details about it, and how it will be organically connected to the game’s world.
Speaking to Gamer Professionals, Przybyłowicz discussed how the game is even more open than a game like The Witcher 3, and because it is set in the future where technology is everywhere, it’s easier to have music present in an organic way. He said, “So, the approach, as I said, totally different because it’s a totally different universe. A totally different world. And the goals that music needs to achieve are also… well they’re not that different compared to The Witcher because it still is this trait of music but, I think I can say it now that the world in Cyberpunk is going to be even more open. It’s obviously set in 2077, so that means we have electricity, we have technology, so that also means that we have various amounts of devices that can play music. For example: personal media players, P.A. systems in clubs, boomboxes, whatever, which we didn’t obviously have in The Witcher. So, that means we are going to have much, much more source music placed in the world connected organically to the world and the narrative in [Cyberpunk 2077] than in The Witcher. In The Witcher we were quite limited by the age – the made-up age obviously. The fantasy version of the Middle Ages.”
Following this, he also went on to talk about how a lot more work is required for this game that what was required for The Witcher 3. Przybyłowicz stated, “So, in terms of source music you could have a band of bards, for example, in Novigrad playing some catchy tunes, but apart from that, that was basically it. You couldn’t go beyond that because it wouldn’t sit well in the world. It wouldn’t be believable. People wouldn’t buy it as a part of the background for Geralt’s story. With Cyberpunk things are completely different because the world itself allows us to go crazy with placing specific musical cues in the world and treat them as part of the audio layer in the world. So, for example, that’s a very big change for us. That also changes the scope of our work dramatically because that means we have to prepare much, much more of this than we did for The Witcher.”
One way in which the music will be similar to what we saw in The Witcher 3 is that it will be adaptive and dynamic in the same way. Regarding this, he said, “So, the system is built in a way that it is prepared for several options at any time. So, for example, if a player decides to suddenly go nuts the music will follow that and, you know, will increase the temperature of the atmosphere as needed.”
When he was asked whether there would be licensed music in the game, similar to what we see in the Grand Theft Auto series, Przybyłowicz answered, “That’s part of the territory I’m not very comfortable, at the moment. So, we would have to pick that up like six months from now [laughs]!”
As of now, we can’t wait to see (and hear!) more about this game. At least we know now that the developers plan to release the game for current gen, but we have no clue about what the release date exactly is. Stay tuned to GamingBolt for the latest updates about Cyberpunk 2077.