HUMAN AFTER ALL
Cyberpunk 2020’s ‘cyberpsychosis’ mechanic, in which players who overly augment themselves with cyberware start to see a negative effect on their mental health, will form part of the game – though CD Projekt won’t go into details. As a quest designer, the Faustian bargain behind transhumanism is fascinating to Patrick Mills. “All the travails of the flesh fade away, and you become a perfect machine of chrome. But you had to buy those body parts from someone, and now you’re in debt to them; if you need parts, you’ve got to go to their store. You have this very utopian idea of being liberated by technology. And it’s like, not so fast – you haven’t solved the problems. The problems are still there, and technology actually makes them worse. ‘High tech, low life’ is one of Mike’s mottos.”