E3 2018 has seen a relentless barrage of awesome and highly-anticipated titles, keeping the gaming community’s excitement level high even though we are getting quite late into this console cycle’s lifespan.
Kingdom Hearts, Fallout, Elder Scrolls, and Last Of Us might be getting the most coverage, but for a certain breed of gamer who saw that amazing CGI trailer a full five years back, Cyberpunk 2077 is the only game reveal that mattered.
For those not familiar with the genre, cyberpunk is a very specific kind of dystopia, like Shadowrun (minus the elves and magic) colliding with Black Mirror. Urban sprawl and decay are on full throttle, while the rich and corrupt live high on the hog as gang warfare consumes the peons at the bottom of the social totem pole.
After five years of silent buildup following that killer trailer, it seemed like Cyberpunk 2077 couldn’t possibly live up to its own hype for an increasingly frustrated fan base. Then there was the *beep* heard round the world in an obnoxious tweet from CD Projekt Red, which stoked the flames but also ticked off more than a few people who had been following the project.
All that fan fury changed in an instant when the E3 reveal trailer arrived, however…
My one and only reservation after seeing that trailer is that the world seems weirdly bright for taking place in a metropolis called Night City. That issue aside, what we are seeing here meets or exceeds expectations.
There’s technology run amok, the haves separated from the have-nots, gangs in the lower city making life miserable for those who don’t have the resources to be up in the sunlight, and a balance between bleak despair and high octane action.
It appears there will be vehicle chases and vehicular combat of some kind, adding a new layer to already-solid gameplay we know from Witcher 3.
We still don’t have an official release date, but its now seeming more like CD Projekt Red has what it takes to transition the Cyberpunk 2020 tabletop RPG to a video game as successfully as Baldur’s Gate managed with D&D or how Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines translated World Of Darkness to the digital realm.
Visual aside, there’s another big reason to be excited by this trailer. At the very end at the 1:39 mark, go ahead and hit pause and then move forward frame by frame using the > key.
With a little patience, you will come upon a single frame flash of this hard-to-read message:
Yep, that’s a secret message straight from the developers to the fans for those who just had to re-watch the trailer over and over.
What’s contained within should get you very excited about the game’s impending release. The full text reads:
It’s been over 2077 days since we announced our plan to develop Cyberpunk 2077. We released a CGI trailer, gave some interviews and… went dark. Normal procedure for these kinds of things — you announce a game and then shut up, roll up your sleeves and get to work. We wanted to give you the Witcher 3 and both expansions first, which is why this period of staying silent was longer than we planned. Sorry for that.
As soon as we concluded work on Blood and Wine, we were able to go full speed ahead with CP2077’s pre-production. But we chose to remain silent. Why? At some point we made the decisions to resume talking about the game when we have something to show. Something meaningful and substantial. This is because we do realize you’ve been impatiently waiting for a very long time, and we wouldn’t like anyone to feel that we’re taking this for granted. On the contrary — it gives us a lot of extra motivation. The hype is real, so the sweat and tears need to be real, too 🙂
But to the point. Today is the day. If you’re seeing this, it means you saw the trailer. – our vision for Cyberpunk, an alternative version of the future where America is in pieces, megacorporations control all aspects of civilized life, and gangs rule the rest. And, while this world is full of adrenaline, don’t let the car chases and guns mislead you. Cyberpunk 2077 is a true single player, story-driven RPG. You’ll be able to create your own character and… well, you’ll get to know the rest of what show at our booth at E3. Be on the lookout for the previews!
Before we finish, you probably have some questions,
- When?
When we told you we would only release the game when it’s ready, we meant it. We’re definitely much closer to a release date than we were back then 😉 but it’s still not the time to confirm anything, so patience is still required. Quality is the only thing that drives us. It’s the beauty of being an independent studio and your own publisher.
- How big?
Seriously big, but… to be honest, we have no bloody clue at this point in time. Once we put it all together, we will openly tell you what you can expect. And we promise we’ll do this before we start talking about pre-orders or ask anything of you.
- Free DLC/Expansions/DRM
Expect nothing less than you got with The Witcher 3. As for DRM, CP2077, will be 100% DRM-free on PC.
- Microtransactions?
In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?
Once again, thank you for your patience. If you have a minute, do visit cyberpunk.net and share your opinion (about anything) with us. We read everything you posted we treat it very seriously.
Yours,
CD PROJEKT RED Team
After years of nothing, this is exactly the message we needed to hear from the development team.
Acknowledging the misstep of going entirely silent after releasing that vertical slice of the game in the first CGI trailer — which seemed far too polished for a game that was still 6 or more years away — has officially quelled this critic’s complaints.
Unlike Bethesda’s insistence on chasing monetized online mutliplayer trends with Fallout 76 and Elder Scrolls Online, CD Projekt Red is giving the fans what they actually want: a full single player RPG experience.
The announcement of DRM-free and revelation about expansions offers some much need reassurance for a fan base that was losing patience with the whole affair. Considering how well received the Blood And Wine DLC was for The Witcher 3, I’m officially getting stoked for what’s in store with Cyberpunk.
Impatience officially tempered, at this point I’d be willing to wait another 5 years so long as they get it right and don’t maintain radio silence. For fans of Shadowrun or classic ’80s roleplaying systems, it seems like we’ve got a new classic to look forward to… when its ready.
What do you all think of the game’s evolution from that first CGI trailer five years back to the E3 2018 reveal this week? Are you excited to finally get more news on this long-overdue project, or is the endless wait still killing you?
Sound off with your thoughts on how the game should play and when you hope to see a release date in the comments below!
