At this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo in LA, game developer CD Projekt Red (CDPR) formally announced their highly anticipated, “Cyberpunk 2077.” The trailer was shown first at Microsoft’s press conference and was rendered in engine. The trailer was accompanied by a press-only live gameplay demo of the current build of the game. Together, these two presentations netted, “Cyberpunk 2077,” a substantial amount of Game of the Show awards.
CDPR caught a lot of flak for limiting the gameplay demo to press only, but they cited that they, “Didn’t want to show off the game in such an early stage.” While this was a satisfying response for most, fans still wanted the gameplay demo to be shown publicly. On August 27th, CDPR teased a live stream event themed around the game. By the time they officially showed off the demo on the stream, it had 500,000 concurrent viewers (a figure rivaled only by Drake’s Fortnite stream with Ninja earlier this year.) If you couldn’t catch the stream, you can find the entire demo here.
The demo itself is a 48-minute long session of gameplay that takes us through a mission “close to the beginning of the game.” CDPR was showing off the game’s role-playing elements, heads-up display, characters, and a giving a small glimpse at the environment. Speaking of the environment, Night City is massive. Even in the short demo, we really get a feel for just how realized this city is. The NPC’s (non-playable characters) have day and night cycles, there are random encounters based on the decisions you’ve made in the game, and the visuals of the city really have to be seen to be understood. CDPR put an incredible amount of work into Night City, and it’s impossible to miss.
There’s also no load screens. Anywhere. Before the gameplay begins, however, the developers make it a point to say that this demo is from a very early build of the game, and literally everything featured is subject to change (and given how CDPR develops their games, something certainly will).
While CDPR first teased the game back in 2014, they’re still reluctant to set a release date as they fear it’ll strain production. It’s a fair concern, considering how Witcher 3 had to be delayed due to them setting a release date too early. I’m hesitant to give into the Get Hype™ mood for this title, but it’s difficult to not get excited for this one based solely on how exceptional their past release of Witcher 3 was.
Because of their pedigree and what they’ve shown off already for the game CDPR’s, “Cyberpunk 2077,” is a title worth keeping your eye on.
Editor’s note: Photos courtesy of steamXO on Flickr (Public Domain).
