CD Project Red’s big reveal was overwhelming. That much we can agree on. To some extent, we all sat on the edge of our seats, mouths agape in awe, trying to take in what felt like an amphetamine rush of scenes, characters, gadgets, lore, and too many more details to list. But, who can devote multiple 48 minute long sittings to rewatch the demo to catch every last detail? Things to do, people to see, as they say. Fear not, we’ve done the heavy watching and narrowed down the five most important takeaways and listed them for easy digestion.
A Connected, Living City
Night City is possibly the most vibrant, detailed, and atmospheric virtual metropolis to ever grace our gaming screens. No small feat on CDPR’s part it must be said and one we can’t wait to delve into. In a fashion inspired by The Witcher 3, Night City is a melting pot of inhabitants with cloisters of different sub-cultures operating from select corners of this neon wonderland. From the scavengers to the corpos by way of intermediaries like the upgrade gurus known as the ripperdocs and a veritable swarm of NPCs marauding the streets with their own personalities, hopes and dreams, navigating Night City is primed to be a balancing act of proportions we’ve never seen before. Building alliances, making enemies, and forging friendships all in the name of completing quests appears to be the name of the game. Add to that different districts, destructible scenery responsive to errant gunfire, a full night/day cycle, and an unhealthy reliance on futuristic technology.
You’ll Need A Beast To Run It, But It Isn’t A Next Gen Game
The PC used to showcase the demo is by no means a run-of-the-mill potato, sitting nicely in the highest spec category. Though most of us only dream of such a beefy machine, the fact the components run the game in full 4K with at least 60 fps is reassuring. This means CDPR fully expect the finalized product to run on currently available hardware. Cyberpunk 2077 has generally been perceived as a next gen game, but this doesn’t seem to be the case. Check out the specifications below:
- Intel i7-8700K
- ASUS ROG Strix Z370-I Gaming
- Skill Ripjaws, V 2x16GB, 300MHz, CL15
- GeForce GTX 1080Ti
- Samsung 960 Pro 512 GB M.2 PCIe
- Corsair SF600 600W
Character Customization & HQ Apartment
Physically, character customization is a fairly established trope and Cyberpunk 2077 offers a myriad options to make V in your own image from gender, facial features, hairstyles, scars and tattoos. Where the game goes further is the option to style your character’s back story, abilities, and class stats, which will have an effect on your standing in Night City, affect relationships, and shape quests. You won’t be stuck in one class either with a fluid system allowing you to jump from one speciality to another – netrunner to techie for example – at will. Customization doesn’t end here. V’s apartment, a kind of central HQ hub where players can host various overnight guests, adorn different weapons and attire, is also a source of information about NPCs, targets, and the cultural going-ons of the city. We fully imagine free reign when it comes to decor and the like will feature in the same fashion Geralt’s vineyard in Blood and Wine
Cause & Effect
The demo made clear how pivotal dialogue choices are in shaping the Cyberpunk 2077 experience. Every decision opens or closes different narrative avenues, affects relations with various factions, and offers a variety of ways to complete quests. Say the right thing and completing a task can be done with little to no bloodshed, while appearing confrontational could potential make life difficult 30 hours down the line during another mission. Those who’ve sampled the delights of The Witcher 3 will be well versed with seemingly innocuous decisions having far reaching consequence further along in the story. Cyberpunk 2077 will take this to new heights with a multitude of tangents with fundamentally different outcomes. In other words, genuine RPG at its finest.
Serious Weaponry & Tech
The demo packs serious weaponry from automatic pistols to heavy duty shotguns, while the tech is the epitome of smart with targeted bullets that can divert their course to circumnavigate obstacles, and ricochet tech which allows bullets to be aimed at a wall to hit concealed targets. Beyond your classic ballistic weapons, the katana style deployable arms can carve up enemies and be used to traverse walls and ceilings as showcased in the demo. On the tech side, the shard trope opens up a world of options with the ability to hijack enemy abilities. We also have to mention the ripperdoc and his upgrades. Nestled in the tech-obsessed world of Night City, players will be able to essentially upgrade their human senses beyond the realms of their natural functions. Scanners able to analyze individuals to gauge their threat level, hone in on environmental details, hack, and provide detailed information about the Cyberpunk 2077 universe.
