When CD Projekt RED confirmed that their upcoming RPG Cyberpunk 2077 would be a first person game, as opposed to the third person view we’ve become used to seeing in their games over the years, the announcement was met with some backlash. A few fans, apparently, were unhappy with the approach the game was taking. However, according to Mike Pondsmith, the creator of the original Cyberpunk 2020 tabletop RPG (which is what the upcoming title is based on), the world of the upcoming CDPR title is best experienced through a first person perspective.
In an interview with YouTube channel LastKnownMeal (which you can watch here), Pondsmith talked about how the open world of Cyberpunk 2077 will be a very dense one, and that that is something that is best viewed through a first person camera rather than a third person one. He went on to give a rather specific example for why that might be the case, saying that, for instance, while in first person view in a dense environment, if a player hears a voice in the game, they may or may not be able to see who’s speaking to their character, so interacting with the speaker is a choice that the players make themselves. Something like this gets lost in third person view.
Pondsmith also went on to talk about how the first person camera is a better fit for the combat in Cyberpunk 2077. He said that while a third person perspective allows players to strategize more, having a fuller sense of their surroundings, a first person view, with its more restricted field of vision, makes players play more tactically, which is something CD Projekt RED wanted to achieve.
Pondsmith also mentioned that irrespective of the camera perspective, the game will allow players to have plenty of freedom of options during navigation and traversal. Cyberpunk 2077 recently had a pretty big presence at this year’s E3, and we were quite impressed with what we saw of the game. Unfortunately, a release date still hasn’t been announced by CD Projekt RED. Stay tuned, and we’ll keep you updated in case we come across any information.