CYBERPUNK 2077
Arm-blade runner
Format PS4 ETA 16 Apr Pub CD Projekt Dev CD Projekt Red
Beautiful symmetry: the game based on Mike Pondsmith’s tabletop RPG Cyberpunk 2020 is going to be releasing in that very same real-life year, though with the setting shifted forward a positively futuristic 57 years (picking up some threads from the original setting). Given the dev’s The Witcher 3 credentials, we fully expect CD Projekt Red’s take on the neon-’80s gritty projection of the future to be massive and sweeping, packed to the brim with story quests and different ways to spec your character.
Taking place within the densely inhabited walls of Night City (and its outskirts), you play as V, a mercenary who you can customise however you want. Not only does that cover things like their body and hairstyle, but also their cyberware. This is Cyberpunk, after all. Which means you can trade parts of your body for cybernetic replacements to give yourself various bonuses. These range from the subtle, like eye implants that help highlight things in the environment and translate languages, to full-on arm-blades that fold out of you ready to cut up enemies and penetrate solid walls.
V DAY
There are three classes to choose from: NetRunners are great at hacking; Techies know their machines; and Solos are experts at combat. That said, it’s a fluid system and you can mix and match abilities or specialise in one class, but how you body-mod is going to affect how your missions
play out – whether you quietly hack and sneak your way through a gang hideout or go in guns blazing, for example.
Your customisation choices can greatly affect what missions you take on and how they unfold. It’s possible to fail missions, but the story will carry on. It’s only really Game Over if you die. There are plenty of stories to uncover in the sprawling streets of Night City.
“THINGS SPIRAL OUT OF CONTROL AFTER A JOB GOES WRONG AND V IS LEFT FOR DEAD.”
Although you can explore the vast space in vehicles, you’ll want to make sure you stop to take in every detail, and don’t miss out on quests.
While you choose a background for V (Street Kid, Nomad, or Corpo), which affects where you start, whichever you choose your goal at the beginning of the game is simple: to become the most renowned mercenary you can be. Things begin to spiral out of control after a job goes wrong and V is left for dead, a strange piece of cyberware in their head resulting in them meeting the digital ghost of Johnny Silverhand (as played by Keanu Reeves). Not only is Silverhand the legendary Rockerboy frontman of the popular band Samurai, he’s a key personality in Cyberpunk 2020’s lore, a fighter against the corporations that rule over Night City. Throughout the game he’ll chip in with advice that only you can perceive, and unravelling the mystery behind why he’s in your head, and the tech behind it, will be a core part of the game. But it’s Keanu leading us on – he doesn’t need to ask twice.