This year’s E3 has been an exciting one despite the fact it feels like the big publishers might be keeping a little more under wraps regarding future titles than in the past. Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo all had big time showcases this year with the reveal of Smash Bros. Ultimate for Switch, Death Stranding and one of the most highly anticipated titles in development, Cyberpunk 2077.
It has been many years since Cyberpunk 2077 was teased, but we got our first good trailer during the Microsoft E3 2018 presser (seen below). Based on the Cyberpunk 2020 tabletop role-playing game, it is in development over at CD Projekt as the follow-up to its groundbreaking fantasy title, The Witcher 3.
CDP went from a well-respected RPG developer in the industry to releasing one the best fantasy games ever to grace our home consoles by the time the final episode in Geralt’s story wrapped up. Needless to say, the pressure is on and gamers have, to put it lightly, incredibly high expectations for CDP’s new futuristic RPG shooter.
The game takes place in Night City, a sprawling fictional metropolis that sits somewhere between Los Angeles and San Fransisco. This is a densely packed city split into 6 distinct districts evocative of something like Blade Runner or The Fifth Element. Think flying cars, street gangs and bright neon billboards in a massive open-world run by mega corporations of the future. The world is littered with narrative opportunities, side missions and what appear to be GTA-style mini games.
Cyberpunk 2077 is a narrative-driven, open world RPG set in the most vibrant and dangerous metropolis of the future — Night City. You play as V, a hired gun on the rise, who just got their first serious contract. In a world of cyberenhanced street warriors, tech-savvy netrunners and corporate life-hackers, today is your first step to becoming an urban legend.
You play as V, a hired gun taking on the most dangerous jobs in Night City. While V is a voiced character, players will be able to customize the look, feel and backstory here, all of which will apparently influence the way NPCs treat you and the way the game plays out in general.
As expected with a CDP role-playing game, you will be able to use experience points of some kind to build out your character, his or her abilities and more, as you see fit. It sounds like on top of a plethora of guns and melee options, “sideware” and other upgrades will allow for special abilities like wall running, slowing down time and even engineering/hacking like options.
Driving is in the game, but CDP isn’t talking about those hovering vehicles yet. We will for sure be driving regular cars and motorcycles, but nothing is confirmed on the flying cars just yet. Judging by the tone of the studio at this point, it sounds like most of the driving will take place on freeways in between city districts. So while hover cars seem like a bit of a development nightmare, if the architecture of the open-world limits driving to outside dense city centers to some degree, it does seem like a possibility.
But one thing that has shocked Witcher 3 fans and others more than anything else is that this is a first person game. Wow, ok. Rumors have been swirling around the net for a while regarding the perspective here, but not very many people expected the game would play out almost entirely in first person. It sounds like cutscenes will show your character but the actual gameplay is essentially an open-world FPS RPG. While I’m not stoked about that, these are the folks that made The Witcher 3, so how could it possibly be bad?
With Cyberpunk 2077, it sounds like CD Projekt will mix first person Deus Ex-style action with Grand Theft Auto V — as a proper role-playing game — count me in. There are still some questions up in the air regarding the fluidity of combat and more as we are yet to see proper in-game footage, but clearly Cyberpunk 2077 should be on every gamer’s radar. Did a title with no gameplay footage possibly just get Game of Show at E3 2018?
E3 2018:
- Microsoft E3 2018 Halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 4, Cyberpunk 2077, Gears 5
- Nintendo E3 2018 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Fortnite, Mario Party, more
- Sony E3 2018 Last of Us 2, Ghost of Tsushima, Death Stranding, more
- EA E3 2018 Battlefield V battle royale, Anthem, FIFA 19, more ahead of E3
- Bethesda E3 2018 Fallout 76, Elder Scrolls VI & iOS, Starfield, more
- Ubisoft E3 2018 Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Division 2, Beyond Good & Evil 2, more
- Square-Enix E3 2018 Just Cause 4, Tomb Raider, Kingdom Hearts, more
- E3 pre-order deals from $48 w/ $10 credit: Fallout 76, AC Odyssey, Anthem, more
- Microsoft E3 2018 Deals Xbox One X $400 ($100 off), more
- Sony’s E3 2018 Deals PS4 Pro $50 off, Controllers $40, more
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