Cyberpunk 2077: Most Revolutionary Jump in Gaming Since the 90s?
So CDProjekt Red showed off much more of their upcoming colossus of a game just yesterday. Due in November, Cyberpunk 2077 seems like a major shake up of the gaming industry that hasn’t been seen for 2 decades. Honestly, I welcome this with open arms.
For those out of the loop, here is the video that was livestreamed to all previously:
Anyway, I feel gaming as a whole just hasn’t evolved since the 90s. Sure the 2010s gave us eSports, massive online open worlds and virtual reality. However, the fundamentals of what a game really is has been burned into our minds for many years, specifically RPGs. CDPR seems like a perfect candidate to change the industry forever after their masterpiece “The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt”. Not only Cyberpunk seems like a significant step-up from their last game, it looks like a step-up of gaming in general, and here is why:
Actual Role-playing
Ever since the rise of Japanese Role-Playing Games (JRPG) the meaning of “Role-Playing” completely flopped. Nowadays, when we think RPG we think “Oh there are stats and lots of dialogue”. No, might as well call The Last of Us an RPG then.
As you can see from the media, creators and CDPR themselves; Cyberpunk 2077 wants to bring the RP back into the G and is doing a terrific job so far at it.
Even in its main questline, how you approach it is completely up to you. For example, if you want to go guns blazing to your objective or just climb there with your stealthy approach the game does NOT railroad you.
You can fail quests the first time and the world will shape to how you responded. The world just goes on and things are different each playthrough.
Now this has been done in games before(e.g Fallout New Vegas) but Cyberpunk takes it to another level.
Scope
The world is smaller than The Witcher 3, but with a sense of verticality and detail that has never been seen. Many buildings are accessible for example (much more than GTA) and just the small things you can do all over the world, horizontal or vertical.
All of the thousands of NPCs in the world have their own daily routine, plenty of dialogue to be had. For example CohhCarnage, a gaming content creator has recorded 80 voicelines for his minor character appearance. Who knows if all NPCs go into this depth but its likely!
Honestly, I have never seen a game this large and in-depth. Hopefully it keeps its promise of being revolutionary. After all, if it does Role-playing will return better than ever.
