CD Projekt Red (CDPR), the name behind the highly rated Witcher series, new project departs from a vivid (And at the same time, bleak) world inspired by European legends and folk lores to dive deep into the far future. The new game - Cyberpunk 2077 - now narrates the stories in a dystopian world where corporations had taken over the globe, the population plunged into crimes and poverty, and society never truly escaped the funky and retro style of the 80s in spite of the technological advancements.
CDPR is known for its approach to game design being a massive open-world that is narratively driven and is choice based. Meaning the players will be able to construct their own stories based on how they see fit. In fact, choice is the core element of the game: Indeed, revealed during CDPR’s conference at this year’s E3, you can complete the game without killing anyone at all if that’s how you want to do it.
Pacifist Approach Is Possible
Though you are given with a wide range of weapons, skills, and lethal body modifications like robotic blades that extend from your arms, and more than once during the game you are faced with shady and dangerous characters: The choice of sending your enemies to the graves or to the hospital can influence how the game will play out.
While it would be heavily disappointing if Cyberpunk 2077 was to adopt Dishonoured ‘Chaos’ system and punish players for spilling blood. Fortunately, Pawel Sasko - lead designer of the game - said during an interview that how you deal with enemies will not matter most of the time. Instead, during key sections of the game how you conduct yourself can influence the story.
“This is more of a personal choice of the play style of the player,” Said Sasko. “However, there are cases when it's taken into account because it's important. It's important that you knock down the dude or you kill the dude, and so on.” But, he re-iterated, if you were locked up in a gunfight and have to face 40 Animals (A hostile gang in the game), killing most and sparing a portion of them won’t make a difference. So if you're the type to love blasting your way through the enemies but still would love to have a ‘Good’ ending, rest-assured, the devs had got you covered.
Many Ways to Approach the Game
During CDPR’s presentation at E3, the gameplay demo portion lasted for almost an hour and the devs did their best to show off the gameplay mechanics to the audience during that time. By using special abilities of the devs, they switched back and forth between a male Netrunner (Hacker) and a female with enhanced strength to showcase how you can approach the game. The Netrunner prefers stealth and indirect combat: Sneaking around and hacking into turrets to turn them against their masters. Meanwhile, the ‘Brute’ can charge headlong into the enemies and rip the turret from its base, turning it around and letting it rip against the enemies.
Although not much of the stealth system is shown during the Netrunner portion of the demo, the studio made it abundantly clear that stealth is an option and furthermore, it is possible to play the entire game peacefully - without killing anyone - if you want to by sneaking and hacking your way through the game and avoid direct combats. Though we’re not sure if there is a way for you to escape the combat if something goes wrong along the way (Which definitely will) like when you’re spotted while sneaking around.
For now, only when the game is released on Xbox One, PS4, and PC on April 16th, 2020 will we know.
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