Cyberpunk 2077 won't be a "dark and hopeless world" like Blade Runner

News by Stephany Nunneley-Jackson Former News Editor

Published on May 1, 2013

Cyberpunk 2077 won't rely on the pen and paper mechanics inherent in the Cyberpunk 2020 table top game it's based on, because according to CD Projekt Red, mechanics such as those don't work when translated into video games. In fact, such mechanics would make the game "super boring."

Speaking with IGN, Cyberpunk's game director Mateusz Kanik said the original system based on dice rolls doesn't work when translated into an action RPG full of shooting and "a lot of explosions."

"We want to make it more action-like – there will be a system that lets you use active skills actually in the gameplay in a shooting sequence or something like that, rather than just passive skills like in the books," he said. "But also it’s important to still keep the mood and the original feel of Cyberpunk – we don’t want to just create a science-fiction game. It’s easy to do that.

"We still want to balance it with those main features and the mood from the Cyberpunk original. This is a huge task, I think.”

According to Cyberpunk 2077's creative director Sebastian Stepien, the game also won't just use the term cyberpunk as aesthetic. Instead, it will harbor the actual philosophy behind the term, and allow players to create their own story within the genre with characters imbued with their own personality.

"This is very, very important. The style and mood and atmosphere of this world, what you do at the bar, what do you drink, how you react with other people, what dialogue you choose –all these things let us keep the Cyberpunk atmosphere all the time," said Stepien.

“There are lots of cyber games around, but there’s not a lot of punk in those games,” Mateusz added . “We want to put more punk into ours. We do not want to make a dark and hopeless world. We are not doing Blade Runner. It will be full of rock and roll.”

“It’s more like a Tarantino approach,” added Sebastian.

Cyberpunk 2077 is a ways off, and expected on PC sometime in later 2015 or possibly 2016. Or whenever it's ready.