Here's what we learned about 'Cyberpunk 2077' from the 50-minute gameplay demo held behind closed doors at E3 2018
Dave SmithJun 17, 2018, 20:00 IST
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Fans finally got to see the latest trailer for "Cyberpunk 2077" at Microsoft's E3 press conference on Sunday - after a 5-year wait since the last trailer - and it was one of the highlights of the whole multi-day expo.
But unless you were physically in Los Angeles and attending E3, you didn't get to witness CD Projekt Red's apparently jaw-dropping 50-minute uncut gameplay demo of "Cyberpunk 2077" that was held behind closed doors and away from cameras. According to those who were there, the demo revealed several major aspects of the mysterious game - and journalists from Eurogamer, Gamespot, and other outlets were there to take notes on what they saw. Here, we've gathered the most important details from those reports.
Here's what we learned from the "Cyberpunk 2077" gameplay demo held at E3 behind closed doors:
YOUR CHARACTER
In Cyberpunk 2077, you play as V, an urban mercenary and cyberpunk who takes on dangerous jobs for money.
You create your own version of V: You can choose to be male or female. It's unclear if your gender changes the story you experience, but it does affect who you can romance. Many characters are bisexual but not all of them are.
You can also choose your haircut, tattoos, and put points into various attributes like Strength, Constitution, Intelligence, Reflexes, Tech, and something called "Cool."
You can also choose your character's backstory, and the reason they're in Night City. You can decide if you're there for romance or revenge.
There are no set character classes to choose from when creating your character. You can customize your class as you play through the game.
There are three classes in the game — Solo, Techie, and Netrunner — and you can choose to focus on one skill set, or a combination of the three. The Solo class is focused on combat; Techies are focused on gadgets and machinery; and Netrunners can hack into computers, robots, or even into people's heads to manipulate or kill them.
The game is a non-linear role-playing game played from a first-person perspective. You'll be shooting weapons in traditional first-person style as well, similar to "Destiny." Also like that game, enemies have life bars, and damage numbers pop out of them when you shoot them.
You can approach different encounters in different ways: You can go in guns blazing, talk your way out of a problem, or turn parties against each other, for instance.
When you talk with the game's non-playable characters (NPCs), dialogue options will appear on screen, and each choice you make will have consequences.
SETTING
"Cyberpunk 2077" takes place in Night City. It's difficult to say how big the city is, but the game's developer CD Projekt Red says it's huge, packed with people, and has no transitional loading screens (like "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" and "God of War").
Unlike the company's last game, "The Witcher 3," which featured a very flat map, "Cyberpunk 2077" is very vertical with buildings that just keep going up.
If you don't like traveling on foot, you can drive vehicles around Night City, including cars and motorcycles. You can even fight from your car, by leaning out the window and shooting. And yes, like "Grand Theft Auto," you can run over pedestrians.
There are six distinct, dense districts in Night City, and they all have their own unique vibe. One district featured in the E3 demo was called Watson, based around the derelict campus of a fallen corporate giant.
Night City is interactive: You can interact with advertisements, which can tell you where to buy a certain product. Different vendors sell goods and services in exchange for EuroDollars, or "Eddies" as they were called in the demo.
There's a day-and-night cycle in Night City, and an ever-changing weather system.
You'll be spending a lot of time in V's apartment, where you can suit up, check your computer, access your arsenal of weapons, and take friends back for some "adult fun." Through the course of the game, you can buy additional locations to use as bases.
SKILLS
You can unlock skills in the game and use them to your advantage. With a high enough engineering skill you can disassemble panels in walls to open up new paths, for instance.
"Cyberpunk 2077" has an inspection system that lets you learn about objects, lore, and other useful information. You can use this system to link with a spider-like bot, which looks to be your companion in the game. The robot is useful: It can scope out environments, climb walls, pass through vents, and be stored in the trunk of your car when not in use.
By doing things in the real world, you gain Street Cred, which helps you unlock new dialogue or vendor prices throughout the city. It's likely that some side quests will only be available if you have a certain amount of Street Cred.
V wears a special jacket that plays an important role in the game; it also gives you an initial 5% Street Cred boost.
Combat is a big emphasis in the game: The E3 gameplay demo featured 3 to 4 different guns, all with very different perks for using them. The demo featured an "epic" weapon called the Smart Rifle, which has bullets that track and follow your targets. You can use mods to customize all the weapons in the game.
Combat also features a cool ricochet-targeting system that lets you bounce bullets off walls. You can see the path your bullets will take when aiming against walls. You also have a scanner so you can find enemies hiding behind cover.
In addition to your weapons, V is also equipped with twin Mantis Blades, which you can use to climb walls and chop up enemies. V can also mantle and wall-run, and use the Mantis Blades to hold onto walls before jumping down onto unsuspecting targets.
V can also hack into bad guys and send malicious software to the rest of their squad. Once that's done, you can deploy a virus to jam the connection between the bad guys and their weapons, preventing them from being able to shoot you.
The world isn't fully destructible, but windows and bodies are. So you can blow off arms or legs strategically, assuming you're a good enough shot.
Violence isn't the only mature aspect of Cyberpunk 2077; it also features lots of swearing and full-frontal nudity. You can also hook up with NPCs and have one-night stands with them. You can also visit brothels.
Drugs can also be found and used in the game, and you take them via inhaler-like devices. In the demo, V used a reflex booster to enhance her reactions. Drugs can also be used in social contexts: If a gang member offers you a hit of his inhaler, choosing whether or not to accept could have consequences.
Most quests in "Cyberpunk 2077" come in the form of jobs, which can be acquired in different ways. Sometimes you get them by talking to fixers, who arrange for mercenaries like V to come in and solve problems.
For other quests, you'll see things happening on the street and choose whether or not to get involved. CD Projekt Red says it wants missions and quests to feel organic.
"Cyberpunk 2077" will be a single-player game at launch with no multiplayer, although one of the game's designers Patrick Mills says a multiplayer mode is in development and may make it into the game at a later date.
"Cyberpunk 2077" is a single-player game, but not all missions are solo. This isn't a game with a party system, but you'll occasionally be joined on jobs by other characters in the game.
The game's release date still doesn't exist yet. CD Projekt Red doesn't know which year it'll release the game, but says it will arrive "when it's ready." It will be available for Xbox One, PS4, and PC "at the moment," which means it could still come to other consoles — perhaps the next-gen consoles rumored to be coming from Microsoft and Sony in the next few years.
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