Ever since Cyberpunk 2077 got here out in 2020, followers have debated Act 1, which sees V befriend Jackie Welles and try and make it huge in Night time Metropolis earlier than the notorious heist mission goes horribly incorrect. Some really feel the recreation would have been higher had Act 1 been prolonged and given gamers extra time with the much-loved — however short-lived — companion character. However what does the inventive director of Cyberpunk 2 suppose?
Taking to (*1*), CD Projekt’s Igor Sarzynski stated extending Act 1 earlier than the heist wouldn’t have made Cyberpunk 2077 a greater recreation, and he used Star Wars to again up his level: “it is like saying we must always spend extra time on Tatooine with farmer Luke earlier than he acquired concerned with all this Jedi stuff.”
Then: “the motivation / objective on this part of the recreation is fairly imprecise — ‘get to the prime’ — which, extended and with out stakes or stress would end in meandering, unfocused expertise.”
Act 2 picks up after the surprising occasions of Act 1 and Jackie’s premature loss of life, with V determined to discover a treatment for the Relic of their head. A part of the story entails V grieving for Jackie and serving to different characters cope with his loss of life in their very own methods.
Some Cyberpunk 2077 gamers, decided to spend as a lot time as potential with Jackie earlier than the inevitable occurs, focus on Watson, the Act 1 playable space, and little else — one thing Sarzynski acknowledged in his posts. “It is an open world recreation, some handle to squeeze 20 hours out of Watson,” he stated. “Choose your individual tempo.”
However Sarzynski acknowledged the ongoing debate round how a lot time gamers get to spend with Jackie. “Is it sufficient time to bond with Jackie?” he requested. “For some it’s, for some it is not. All issues thought-about I believe we struck a very good stability.”
And eventually, “No, half-year montage isn’t lower content material. We at all times deliberate it like this. However extra on ‘lower content material’ notion in another publish.”
Sarzynski has moved on to Cyberpunk 2, and there’s no indication that something he’s stated right here on Jackie has a bearing on what to anticipate from the hotly-anticipated sequel. Cyberpunk creator Mike Pondsmith has been chatty about it, nonetheless. In Could final yr, Pondsmith teased some beforehand unknown particulars when he was requested about the scope of his involvement with Cyberpunk 2 (then referred to as Venture Orion) at the Digital Dragons 2025 convention.
Pondsmith admitted he wasn’t as concerned this time round, however stated he does evaluation scripts and had been to CD Projekt to take a look at the ongoing work. “Final week I used to be wandering round speaking to totally different departments, and seeing what they’d, ‘Oh look, that is the new cyberware, what do you suppose?’ ‘Oh yeah, that’s fairly good, that works right here,’” he stated at the time.
After which, the morsel on the sequel: that it includes a model new metropolis along with the Night time Metropolis we all know from Cyberpunk 2077. Pondsmith described this new metropolis as “like Chicago gone incorrect.”
“I spent lots of time speaking to one in every of the surroundings guys, and he was explaining how the new place in Orion, as a result of there’s one other metropolis we go to — I’m not telling you any greater than that however there’s one other metropolis we go to. And Night time Metropolis continues to be there. However I keep in mind taking a look at it and going, yeah I perceive the really feel you’re going for this, and this actually does work. And it doesn’t really feel like Blade Runner, it feels extra like Chicago gone incorrect. I stated, ‘Yeah, I can see this working.’”
It’s value mentioning that Pondsmith’s feedback don’t essentially counsel the Cyberpunk sequel will characteristic a future Chicago, relatively a metropolis that has the really feel of a dystopian model of the metropolis. It could be a take on future Chicago, however that isn’t confirmed based mostly on these feedback. There’s additionally some debate about whether or not Cyberpunk 2 will broaden upon the Night time Metropolis that’s in Cyberpunk 2077 or characteristic a brand new model, and the extent to which it’s playable.
It feels like we’ll have to attend a while to search out out. CD Projekt is after all focusing on The Witcher 4, and CD Projekt co-CEO Michał Nowakowski has steered Cyberpunk 2 received’t be out till at the very least 2030.
Wesley is Director, Information at IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You may attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.