Game developer CD Projekt Red has announced yet another delay in Cyberpunk 2077’s release. Despite having been in development for eight years, the game’s official Twitter account has posted an important update on the game, saying “we won’t ship something which is not ready”. Citing numerous glitches needing to be patched and various game mechanics in need of rebalancing, the release date has been moved from September 17 to November 19. After this eight-year-long wait, how will Cyberpunk 2077 live up to the hype?
The Next Generation of Open-World RPGs
Cyberpunk 2077 is an open-world RPG in a future dominated by technology and body modifications. People are generally biologically connected to an online network, and you’re able to ‘plunge’ into a virtual reality called the deep Net. The deep Net contains lots of information, networks, and a few superintelligent AIs that have been locked away from humanity due to the threat they pose. Various factions are vying for dominance in the deep Net and in the world of Cyberpunk - only one can prevail. Uncover the truth for yourself and choose whether to set the dangerous, sentient AIs free or leave their nefarious computations behind the Blackwall.
Gameplay and Mechanics
So far the developers have released two potential playstyles for the upcoming game: strong solo and netrunner. The classes are not set in stone - there’s a variety of abilities to choose from that enable you to customize your playstyle. The RPG also features full character customization and lets you choose your character’s background. Your past affects available choices in dialogue among other things, and there are always non-lethal options for abilities if you want to roleplay a character who doesn’t kill.
Eight Years of Development
Fans are split about this issue. Some would prefer they draw it out as long as they need to in order to produce a game that works well. Others say they’d rather have the game already, as preorders have been stretched a lot. Ultimately, it comes down to the tradition in today’s gaming industry: releasing the game when the story and mechanics are done, and getting rid of the glitches and unbalanced mechanics through patches over the course of a few months or years. Projekt Red is breaking the trend and presumably making sure they’ve made the necessary changes to the base game before release.
