SLICK_ _CYBERWARE

_ Ben Andrews tells us about what it’s like to upgrade yourself

The future Cyberpunk 2077 presents is one in which it isn’t only what’s around you that matters, but what’s inside you, as cyberware has advanced beyond being quality-oflife-enhancing prosthetics to a common feature.

“In order to get a job in this really harsh world, you’ll have to work for a corporation, and corporations kind of forcing you to take the cyberware – maybe they are subsidising it to you, and the corporation is kind of owning you, in a way,” says Andrews, explaining how cyberware came to be a part of this world’s history. “As you move through time and technology improves, this is when it starts to become a status symbol,” says Andrews. And by 2077 it’s fractured between those who have the money for internal, Real Skin-covered cyberware, gangs who flaunt and style their enhancements, roboticised military who are more mechanical than flesh, and those just trying to get by.

The way it’s become commonplace is represented in the ripperdocs who perform surgeries. “We try to design things in a way that they should be functional and logical within the world, but they should also say something about the larger themes of the game,” says Andrews. “This thing is so common, this technology is so prevalent and normal, that you can just go and get it done as easy as you would a tattoo. That’s the reason why ripperdocs are [more often] found in back alleys and basements. They talk to you in a way that you know, they’re talking to you about football and things while you’re having your hand replaced and stuff like that. It’s very casual. Extremely casual.”

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It’s one thing to portray cyberware through images in an RPG rulebook, but another entirely to make items realistic in motion. “[Our job was] to bring these very gritty, grounded mechanical cyberwares, and bring them up to date to a point where they can be represented in a modern Triple

A game, where the player is gonna be able to look at every nut and bolt and figure out how this thing works,” says Andrews.

Part of that was looking at real-life modern advancements in prosthetics and working with that together with the source material. “We’re looking at all the contemporary stuff for sure. We want things to be credible and we wanted to have this layer of authenticity about it,” he says. “But at the same time, we’re still making a game, so we don’t want to be limited by these things. We’re not making simulations, we just take what we need in order to add this credibility and believability to the designs that we make.”

“YOU CAN JUST GO AND GET IT DONE AS EASY AS YOU WOULD A TATTOO.”

Cyberware is commonplace enough that it’s more unusual not to have it. Check out what everyone around you is rockin’.

“The mantis blades were kind of where we began,” says Andrews about how the team revitalised the cyberware.