New concept artwork and screenshots for Cyberpunk 2077 have been released at Gamescom. The new images (both stills and demo screenshots) highlight the grit that permeates Night City both in terms of environment and population.
Kyle Rowley, Associate Design Director, shared some of his thoughts as part of the Gamescom proceedings. He acknowledged where the studio has had to take the successful elements of The Witcher 3 and apply them to a much grander scale.
“It’s been a learning process for sure, the switch from dark fantasy has been quite difficult. Scaling the city elements (of The Witcher 3) up to Night city is challenging. We’ve greatly enhanced our crowd and community tech, with lots more pedestrians, gangs and other NPCs moving through the world in their own unique ways”.
A day / night cycle and weather systems have been highlighted as key elements that will make the city feel like a living entity. The concept of “jacking in” to the network that permeates the game is highlighted again and is one of the most interesting things I’m looking forward to. Rowley also spoke about the three play styles that the game revolves around; Netrunner, Technical and Solo. These play archetypes sound as if they will be flexible and co-existent, which will only compliment what we’ve seen thus far. The concept of cyber psychosis was also touched on and confirmed as a tonal element, but remains uncertain as a gameplay element given how complicated it could make things.
Alongside the release of the new content, CD Projeckt Red came under fire for a comment made on Twitter from the official game account:
The comment was met with mixed reviews, some passing the trope off as a harmless statement, others indicating that it was made in poor taste. The Tweet was subsequently taken down and an apology made:
We already know this game is going to have gender customisation as a pillar of its character creation, and gender expression is something to be respected and supported. We also know that interactions with other key characters, as well as NPCs, will occur differently based upon the gender chosen by players. I feel like CDPR did the right thing by taking the original response down and taking ownership of any harm done.
The studio continues to refer to the demo that has featured at both E3 and now Gamescom behind closed doors. As we mentioned previously as part of the E3 trailer release, what we need now is for this demo to become publically viewable. The new screenshots only provide a static glimpse into the world of Cyberpunk 2077, what we need to see is how it lives and breathes from the player’s perspective. Given the already extensive development timeframe, I hope we don’t have to wait too much longer, interest and hype can only tide us over for so long.
About the Author
Jakob Quilligan
Jake hails from Bendigo where his console of choice is the PS4, closely followed by the Nintendo 3DS. Anime and volunteering tend to keep him occupied, though his staffy/ rotty/ husky cross named Iris keeps him busy first and foremost.
