Cyberpunk 2077's gun culture is an extreme version of America's obsession with guns
Cyberpunk 2077 modelled its in-game gun culture after the real thing, but pushed it into the absurd.
As a cyberpunk game, CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077 almost has to, by default, be an extreme, dark version of modern trends and concepts. This is also true in how the game portrays gun culture.
Guns are everywhere in the world of Cyberpunk 2077, but that is not just because it's a video game, CDPR went to great lengths to justify the abundance of weapons. Speaking to the Official PlayStation Magazine UK for the October issue, the developer explained how it went about doing this, and what that means for players.
Concept art coordinator Ben Andrews said that you could draw parallels between how guns are perceived in the game's world and how they are today in America.
"One of the things we thought about with the weapons is that in Cyberpunk, we have a very overt weapon culture. It's very different to the way weapons work in our world. This is like American gun culture just gone crazy, you know?" he said, as reported by Altchar.
"Everybody has a gun because violence has been taken to the extremes. The idea that you may be mugged on your way home from work is extremely common, or your apartment might be broken into at the weekend. So, everybody's carrying a gun."
This is not only reflected in the art and culture, such as the gun ads targeting pregnant women and families, it also manifests itself in gameplay. One manufacturer offers a disposal gun that's useless once all the included ammo runs out.
"The idea that you can pick up a gun for like five euro," Andrews explained. "And you pick it up when you're shopping in the 24/7, you use it to defend your home at the weekend, and then you just throw it away and you buy a new one."
We recently spoke to senior gameplay designer Pawel Kapala about how the developer went about differentiating the different weapons and weapon manufacturers in the game.
In case you missed it, CDPR revealed that Cyberpunk 2077 will receive free DLC much like The Witcher 3 did. The game will also let players tweak the size and colour of subtitles.
Cyberpunk 2077 is out November 19 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X.