So, you've finished The Witcher 3, as well as its subsequent expansions, which has left a rather large hole – the exact shape of a CD Projekt RPG, in fact – within your sinking heart.
In such a situation only one thought can console you: Cyberpunk 2077.
But what is Cyberpunk 2077? Why does the mere mention of the name make us tremble with excitement? We know there have been trailers, but can we see some gameplay yet? Why on earth does it keep getting delayed? And will it be available for PS5 and Xbox Series X when those consoles launch?
Here, we'll attempt to answer all these questions and more regarding CD Projekt's next enormous RPG.
Cyberpunk 2077 release date: Please say it's not 2077
Thankfully CP77 will reach us well before this century's eighth decade, even if there has been a bit of a setback from the original March 2020 date.
In January 2020, we were told that the game will now have a September 17 release date, so a delay of only a few months, but now we know it's going to be a few more months before we get stuck into the new world from CD Projekt Red.
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In a Twitter post on June 19, the developers told us the game has been delayed *again* to November 19, (basically, by another two months). Sad cybernetic noises. - However, gamers will know this is the exact UK release date for the next-gen PS5, so it's sounding a lot better than we first though.
"We are currently at a stage where the game is complete and playable, but there's still work to be done," said studio bosses Marcin Iwinski and Adam Badowski.
"Night City is massive – full of stories, content and places to visit, but due to the sheer scale and complexity of it all, we need more time to finish playtesting, fixing and polishing.
"We want Cyberpunk 2077 to be our crowning achievement for this generation and postponing launch will give us the precious months we need to make the game perfect."
Supposedly, Cyberpunk 2077 is complete in terms of the actual game. The story, quests, cutscenes, skills and items are all swell and working, but the developers are clearing out potential bugs and game-breaking mechanics.
Development has come along nicely since the game was announced back in 2012, after CD Projekt started dumping more resources into it post-The Witcher 3.
The developer has maintained its narrative that it will release CP77 "whenever it is ready", so maybe these delays aren't actually *that* much of a surprise...
Cyberpunk 2077 PS5 and Xbox Series X: The next generation
To be honest, we aren't surprised to learn that Cyberpunk 2077 will release on the launch-day of the PS5 on November 19, given the sheer size and complexity of the game.
The Xbox Series X and S are releasing to the UK nine days earlier on November 10, but we already know that, if you buy any version of CP2077 on any version of any console, it will automatically be upgraded to the latest generation you play on, free of charge.
"We are happy to confirm that Cyberpunk 2077 will be backwards compatible with both next-gen consoles!" a tweet on the official account announced.
"Your PS4 copy of the game will work on PS5 on launch day. Anyone who buys the game on Xbox One will be able to play their copy on Xbox Series X when the console launches too!
"A later upgrade to Cyberpunk 2077, taking full advantage of the next-gen hardware, will be available for free."
Cyberpunk 2077 trailer: Is the future looking good?
The first teaser trailer for Cyberpunk 2077 is now four years old, and was little more than a concept piece. The CG short showed off a futuristic world of human augmentations and hyper-violence, but actually gave away very little about what to expect.
Luckily, we got a new cinematic trailer, with stealth Keanu Reeves rocking up in a celebrity cameo that nobody expected, in June 2019.
We weren't shown that much at E3 from the Xbox conference, but we did get some more gorgeous details about cutscenes, character motivations and some more awesome body modifications.
We also have more detail thanks to a huge 48-minute gameplay walkthrough that shows more about the RPG elements, character creation, combat and interaction with the world.
Check out the walkthrough below – it features both nudity and gore, though, so watch at your own discretion.
On June 25, 2020, another gameplay trailer dropped (and again, as you'd probably expect by now, it's NSFW).
It's got new footage showing off the game's characters, story and the world of Night City. You'll also get to know V, the cyber-enhanced mercenary whose shoes you'll be stepping into come November.
Cyberpunk 2077 gameplay: What will I be doing?
Cyberpunk 2077 will be a AAA RPG, but now we have a clearer picture of how it will actually play. For example, we know that most of the game will be playable in first person.
While some of the game does switch to third person – driving and some cutscenes – we can expect to be living through the eyes of our punk character for most of the game.
It was confirmed recently that the devs don't have the time or resources to animate more of the game in third-person perspective – which is a shame, but totally understandable.
A few other things that we do know:
• It will be big. "Cyberpunk is far bigger than anything else that CD Projekt Red has done before," CD Projekt VFX artist Jose Teixeira told MCV. Apparently its scale far exceeds that of Geralt's last adventure, which was a whopper in its own right.
The trailer we saw showed a massive, sprawling, breathing Night City that feels lived-in and dirty. We love it.
• Shooting and gun fights look a hell of a lot of fun. The gameplay trailer showed off a *lot* of guns, and the combat system looks to be tight and responsive, yet very fluid in how you control your character.
Damage numbers burst out of your enemies upon impact – a la Destiny 2 – but the combat is visceral enough to feel realistic.
Our hero even has special abilities, including bullet-slow-mo and upgraded cyber-enhancements to make them faster, stronger and better. Get out the way Deus Ex, a new contender for the ultimate cybernetic shooter approaches.
• It may feature flying cars. Two years ago, CD Projekt was spotted advertising for a coder whose responsibility would be "creating the whole architecture of vehicle-related code and the physics of driving / flying in those vehicles". We saw mostly ground-based vehicles in the trailer, but that may still be subject to change.
• It's an open-world, sandbox game. Expect the same, if not greater levels of freedom than those in The Witcher 3.
• Character creation seems pretty endless. We only got a brief look at the character creation screen during the demo, but it seems pretty exhaustive, letting you choose everything from your gender, your hair and skin colour, tattoos, piercings and scarring.
You can even choose your base-stats at this point, similar to the S.P.E.C.I.A.L system in Fallout. These break down into Strength, Constitution, Intelligence, Reflexes, Tech, and Cool. We can't wait to max-out our Cool points. Because that's what cool people do.
You can also change the origin story of your character, setting up how they may have grown up to potentially shape how people interact with you throughout the game. Street urchin or fallen city-slicker, you're back story will determine your relationships and how people treat you, so choose carefully.
• It's set in Night City. A fictional metropolis on the west coast of America. The location is taken from the Cyberpunk pen and paper RPG.
• There will be a multiplayer component. But the focus will still predominantly be on an engaging single-player experience. We recently heard rumour that CD Projekt Red was developing another game alongside Cyberpunk, but now we know it was actually a multiplayer mode – who knows how that will shape up, but consider us excited.
• Mechanics will be based on the Cyberpunk pen and paper system. But exactly how this will be translated remains to be seen.
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