Summary
Years after the troubled launch and eventual redemption ofCyberpunk 2077, the game is just about finished with its post-launch patch cycle, and developer CD Projekt RED has a sequel, codenamedProject Orion, in the works. But although I’m excited to see where a sequel could takeCyberpunkas a franchise, I’m also worried that the eventual release ofProject Orionmight end up overreaching, expanding the game in ways that don’t play to what I felt were the strong points of the original.
At this point,Cyberpunk 2077is one of the few games to overcome a completely disastrous launch, with several major updates, theEdgerunnersanime, and the excellentPhantom LibertyDLC all having contributed significantly to redeeming the game’s reputation from the time of itgetting pulled from the PlayStation Store. But, while I can agree that the game is now something that’s truly worth experiencing, I still have some doubts about whether the prospective sequel will build onCyberpunk 2077without biting off more than it can chew, and watering down the whole experience in the process.
“Electrifying, Emotional, And Full Of Twists” - Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty Review
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty’s unpredictable spy-thriller story is full of jaw-dropping moments, and it’s got the gameplay to match.
The Cyberpunk Sequel Should Build On Its Strong Points
I Want Project Orion To Keep The First Game’s Tight Focus
The first time I played throughCyberpunk 2077andPhantom Liberty, I was surprised to find thatthe game felt like it had a keen sense of focus, consistently placing the spotlight mostly on what I felt were its best aspects - its combat, story, and characters. For me, all ofCyberpunk’sbest combat encounters, story beats, and character moments can be found in the more contained main story and major companion quests, and content outside of that, for the most part, essentially acts as filler.
Calling it “filler” isn’t to say it’s bad, though, as Night City is an interesting environment to roam around, and many of the side quests and gigs do a good job of at least fleshing out the world - especially inPhantom Liberty, with its smaller number of more in-depth quests. But whileCyberpunk’s scope is already fairly limited for an open-world game, part of me feels like the game could’ve benefited from having an even tighter focus, potentially even cutting out some of the more tacked-on elements, like generic gigs or the crafting system.
Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher & New IP: Every CDPR Game Confirmed To Be In Development Right Now
CDPR has shared its updated pipeline, with 5 games confirmed to be in the works across the established Witcher and Cyberpunk series, and a new IP.
As CD Projekt RED looks towards a sequel, however, I’m worried that, instead, the opposite will happen- that the studio will feel the need to greatly increase the scope ofOrion, and, in an attempt to deliver on features that were missing from the first game, dilute the core experience. For instance, whileCyberpunk 2077’s lifepathsare justifiably criticized for not being the game-changers that they were promised as, I’m worried that focusing too hard on addressing that flaw would result in the story being more disjointed and weaker as a whole.
Similarly, althoughCyberpunk 2077lacks the kind of open-world sandbox activities that’s expected of games likeGrand Theft Auto,Red Dead Redemption, orSaint’s Row, I think that the game is actually stronger for it, and I would hope thatOriondoesn’t go out of it’s way to tack on a lot of mostly meaningless side content. Sections like the street races in Claire’s questline or the poker minigame inPhantom Libertyare mostly fine, but to try and expand them into more significant parts of the game runs the risk of taking resources and attention away from more important aspects.
Cyberpunk 2077’s Launch May Have Taught The Wrong Lesson
CD Projekt RED Could Have The Wrong Takeaway From Cyberpunk 2077
Admittedly, part of my concern is thatit’s difficult to know if CD Projekt RED has learned the right lesson fromCyberpunk 2077’s launch. From a more optimistic standpoint, the studio’s major takeaway should be something along the lines of avoiding the over-promised features, poor working conditions, and too-early release date that made the first game the biggest disaster of a release sinceNo Man’s Sky- and to the studio’s credit, it does seem like major steps have been taken to address many of those issues.
Being more pessimistic, however, there is another possible takeaway from the eventual redemption ofCyberpunk, which is thatit’s fine to release a broken game and only fix it “in post.” It’s too early to know what CD Projekt RED is going to promise forOrion- at this point, we’re probably still years away from even seeing the first trailers for the game - but given the lofty pre-release promises of the first game,it’ll be hard not to viewOrion’s eventual marketing hype without at least some skepticism.
Fortunately,what little we know aboutOrionsuggests that it’s at least starting off on the right foot. Although the game is being worked on by CD Projekt RED’s new North American studio, its development is still being led by many of the same head developers and writers asPhantom Liberty, which for me, at least, is the best of whatCyberpunk 2077has to offer. Combined with the relatively smooth launch of thePhantom LibertyDLC and the 2.0 update, it’s a good sign of what we can expect fromOrion’s eventual release.
Cyberpunk 2077 Sequel Leaks Already Show One Big Improvement
The first details of Cyberpunk 2077’s sequel have leaked, and it already looks better than its predecessor. There’s one huge reason why.
My biggest fear forOrion, though, is thatthe game will inherit the sky-high ambitions that2077seemed to have before launch, spreading itself too thin by trying to chase every promised feature and fix every perceived flaw. What I really want out ofOrionis a sequel that improves on the strong points of the original, fleshing out combat options and building a compelling main story and central cast of characters - but if the game tries to have everything, I’m worried that each of those elements will feel watered down, comparatively.
I don’t necessarily think thatCyberpunkfans should all be worried aboutProject Orion- not only is it too early for us to know even vaguely what the game will look like, but early development details also paint a fairly optimistic picture of the game’s potential. At the same time, though, I am worried that CD Projekt RED will try to expand the sequel “horizontally” instead of “vertically” - increasing the scope of the game by adding more elements to it instead of building on the things that already worked inCyberpunk 2077.
Cyberpunk 2077
Based on the 1988 tabletop game, Cyberpunk 2077 is a first-person action RPG game set in a dystopian cyber future developed by CD Projekt Red. Players will tackle the streets of Night City as customizable protagonist V, who struggles to keep their memories intact after receiving a strange cybernetic implant that slowly overrides their memories by a deceased celebrity known as Johnny Silverhand, played by Keanu Reeves.
