More bits of info about the highly-anticipated Cyberpunk 2077 has come trickling out from developer CD Projekt Red. Apart from game quest director’s bid to add Hollywood legend Meryl Streep to the game‘s cast of characters, Cyberpunk 2077‘s team has shared details about ways in which V (the game’s protagonist) could interact with NPCs, why the character creation feature is still in development, and what Cyberspace exploration will be like.
In a question addressed privately on Cyberpunk‘s Twitter (phrased concerningly enough to raise a few eyebrows), a user asked in which ways players could violently interact with people in Night City, blatantly asking if players would be able to “… kill regular people.” Cyberpunk 2077‘s Twitter account responded, “Hey there – you won’t be able to attack children or NPCs connected with the plot, but other than that you can be aggressive towards most people you meet.” Aggressive behavior towards NPCs, however, may have consequences. If situations escalate high enough, the police may be thrown into the mix. Also, local gangs won’t take lightly to V harming gang members or causing a ruckus on their turf.
At E3 2019, it was revealed that the game can be completed without killing anyone and that some skills, like hacking, will be very valuable in a pacifist-inclined playthrough. This detail had been elaborated upon by game quest director Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz, who said that although a player can complete the game sans-killing, violence cannot be wholly avoided as some combat sequences (like boss battles) are unavoidable.
Non-lethal weapons will be easily accessible to the player, and, in major combat sequences, the player will always be granted the option to spare enemies once they’ve been defeated.
The game’s team has also alluded to the idea that the in-game character, who will be created by the player before he/she embarks on the adventure, could be transgender. Players will be able to mix-and-match body characteristics to create the type of character they’d like to play as.
Sexuality within the game became a slightly controversial discussion at E3 when a transgender character was depicted in a fictional in-game advertisement. Because of the sensitive nature of the subject and a range of other factors, the character creation process isn’t finite just yet, and its facets are still being internally discussed. Additionally, the player, regardless of character build, will be able to become romantically entangled with any other character in the game.
Cyberspace is a somewhat explorable plane in the game, and it has been painted out to be a unique in-game experience. Without going into much detail, a plot point in Cyberpunk 2077 will “have players trying to break through [a “barrier” within the Cyberspace] to find out what lives on the other side.” According to Tomaszkiewicz, “the way you visualise [Cyberspace] depends heavily on who the user is.” So, presumably, different players (with different character skill sets) may have different experiences in Cyberspace.
Cyberpunk 2077, arguably the most-anticipated game scheduled for 2020, and will be relased on 16 April for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and hopefully sometime in the very near future for next-gen consoles, a technological jump that the game’s architecture is ready for.
