Cyberpunk 2077: Everything you need to know about CD Projekt’s M-rated game – gameplay, trailer, location, characters, demo, multiplayer & more

The latest effort from CD Projekt has been a long time in the making, with the very first teaser trailer popping up way back in 2013!

We’ve taken all of the precious Cyberpunk 2077 details and condensed them into one master article for your eyes to feast upon.

Here you’ll be able to find information on the new gameplay demo, the release date, details about the location, story, characters, and the skilled team that brought you the Witcher series.

Release date

16th April 2020 is the release date that Keanu Reeves delivered in the flesh at E3 2019. The Mature-rated RPG is coming to PC, PS4, Xbox One and Google Stadia, but not to Nintendo Switch.

While our hopes for a 2019 release have been crushed, we now know that we are merely 6 months away from playing the iconic RPG.

Johnny Silverhand

The gaming world exploded with excitement when Keanu Reeves turned up in the E3 2019 trailer. He will be playing the iconic Johnny Silverhand, a well-known character from the original 1988 Cyberpunk tabletop game. CDP’s interpretation of Silverhand will take the character in a new direction (considering Silverhand is already dead and lives on in V‘s head as a digital ghost).

In the 1988 game, Silverhand’s character was a “Rockerboy” – a subclass of street poets, social consciences and rebels of 2000s. Silverhand’s original design was rooted in the tabletop game’s 80s cyberpunk aesthetic, but 2077’s Silverhand has a much rougher aesthetic, still featuring the iconic cybernetic arm.

Is it a First Person Shooter?

The ‘Trauma Team’ arrive in the first gameplay reveal

Although some scenes and driving scenarios switch to third-person view, Cyberpunk 2077 involves an awful lot of first-person shooting. It’s chaotic, fast-paced and exhilarating nature was shown off in the opening moments of the demo, where the main character, V, peeks from behind cover and showers a gang of organ scavengers with bullets from their machine pistol.

Each shot carries a numbered indicator, showing the player the amount of damage that has been dealt (like in Bungie’s first-person shooter Destiny 2).

There’s quite a bit of speculation over what abilities V has, as they were made out to be swift and agile in the 2018 gameplay demo. V had the ability to run and slide to cover whilst triggering a slow-motion ‘bullet-time’ mode.

We also saw a ton of cool weapons, and yes, this includes an awful lot of guns. A modified ‘Tech Shotgun’ can penetrate enemy cover, which can be used in combination with V’s upgraded optic implant. Alternatively, a ‘Smart Rifle’ will lock onto multiple enemies and fire bullets that track their intended targets.

This is a CD Projekt open-world RPG, but with all the perks of a first-person shooter.

Where is the Night City?

Cyberpunk 2077 takes place in the year… you guessed it… 2077 – and as mentioned it’s set within Night City, a city between San Francisco and Los Angeles that already exists in the Cyberpunk universe. Punks once wandered these foggy streets, but Cyberpunk 2077 will show us what happened to the city in the aftermath of the war.

Thanks to the inclusion of some new technology, Cyberpunk 2077’s Night City feels alive and bustling with crowds, however, it’s unclear how dynamic this world really is.

The city will be absolutely massive. It features six districts that seamlessly blend into each other without any loading screens. The driving aspect of the game also looked brand new, and although we’re not sure if there will be the depth of simulation you’ve grown to expect in RPG’s like Grand Theft Auto V, it did look smooth.

In an interview with VG24/7 at E3 2019, CDP’s leading Quest Designer Pawel Sasko answered some questions regarding the districts outside the city:

“Players can leave Night City and just explore that area – an area that is mostly sort of destroyed”, following all of the wars, droughts and famines that fill in the 50 years between Cyberpunk 2020 and 2077.

The new Dialogue system

In the case of a lot of RPG’s, dialogue sections usually put the game on hold while characters talk stiffly to each other. Cyberpunk 2077 has made massive improvements in this area, as this is far from the best way to deliver a greatly anticipated storyline.

All dialogue appears to happen in real-time, and you can continue interacting with your environment while it goes on, so when you focus the camera back on the character, dialogue options re-appear on screen. This new system feels fluid and natural as it has removed the distinction of entering and exiting a conversation with someone. Everything flows better.

Multiplayer

CD Projekt responded to fans’ concerns with a tweet, reassuring them that they’ll still be getting a single-player story as well as the option for multiplayer

It was officially confirmed by CD Project that Cyberpunk 2077 will have multiplayer, but the multiplayer mode won’t be available until all of the free DLC is released.

This comes as no surprise, as multiplayer has been teased as a possibility since 2013. We first heard about multiplayer features back in 2013. ”It will be a story-based RPG experience with amazing single-player playthroughs,” said Managing Director Adam Badowski in an interview with Eurogamer, “but we’re going to add multiplayer features.”

This was backed some years later in 2017 by CD Project CEO Adam Kicinski, who said that multiplayer features would ensure Cyberpunk’s viability and “long-term success”.