Witcher Developers Announce Cyberpunk 2077
CD Projekt RED, developers of the hugely successful Witcher games, have launched a new website dedicated to their next title, the open world RPG Cyberpunk 2077. They have also released an announcement video outlining their scope and ambition for the title whch you can see above.
The game is based on the original pen and paper RPG that took it’s inspiration from genre luminaries such as William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. Whilst little is known about the project so far, it has been confirmed that the title will be a free roaming sandbox with a non-linear storyline set in Night City. Which is also the default location for the original pen and paper games. Character classes will also be available with huge range of customisation, which is obviously a departure from the Witcher titles.
The website itself is sparsely populated so far but a few blog postings reveal this to be very much a labour of love for Game Director Mateusz Kanik.
While still working on The Witcher 2, we started thinking about creating a huge RPG set in a Sci-Fi world. We wanted to take the universal values we used in the game about Geralt and show them from a different perspective. On top of that, we had plenty of ideas for features that couldn’t be implemented in The Witcher simply because they didn’t fit in the setting.
We were still committed to create a game for mature audiences that dealt with important, thought-provoking matters. We would put in place exactly what we’ve learned while creating The Witcher 2 with just one difference – the game would be set in the future. No elves, no dwarves and no magic.
Mike Pondsmith, the original designer of the RPG, is working closely with CD Projekt RED on the transition from paper to computer. He reveals on the blog that this process has been a long and painful one for him in the past, with repeatedly failed attempts by developers both big and small.
As a huge fan of the genre, my biggest problem with cyberpunk is that there just isn’t enough of it. Downton Abbey is a great piece of television, but why not shove a few mechanically augmented waiting staff in there? And where the hell is my Neuromancer film adaption?
Check out the video above to hear more about Pondsmith and Kanik’s vision for the game. It’s jumped straight to the top of my highly anticipated list. And if this is a PC only release that delivers on the promise… then I’ll upgrade my PC, something I’ve never actually done for a game before.
Small footnote: Mike Pondsmith needs to do some audio work on this game. Big time.