Cyberpunk 2077 Interview

The fine folks over at Rock, Paper, Shotgun have doled out a Q&A with Cyberpunk 2077 project lead Mateusz Kanik, and while most of the responses aren’t very revealing, we do at least hear more about the city and other environments we’ll be exploring in the game, how braindances will factor into the gameplay, the influences they’re pulling from when implementing various themes, and more.

The concept of Braindances and the potential for people to get totally lost in them struck me as a potential allegory for games. You seem to be treating them similarly to the current debate over game addiction, too. One side says they’re just entertainment, the other panics about the dangers of addiction, immersion in violence, and whatnot. Are you attempting to say something with that parallel?

Mateusz Kanik: Again, if we said, yes, that was our intention, we would make it too shallow. It’s good that you find analogies with the modern world. Just like the fantasy setting of The Witcher covered real life problems, the same can be said for Cyberpunk. Your thoughts and interpretations are your own, but we pose questions and won’t give you an answer.

Are braindances like games? I think they are even more controversial if you look at it. They’re a next step forward in entertainment immersion. But it is also curious: If we have problems now, what will happen in 60 years? Will legislation follow tech advancement? Searching for parallels between braindances and today’s media, you will encounter many more problems than a simple violence debate. It’s also good to know that braindances are mentioned in the pen-and-paper Cyberpunk 2020. So you can’t say that we saw the whole debate around us and said, let’s make a parallel in our game! Not to sound like I’m boasting, but really, we’re much more deep than that.

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RPS: Why’d you decide to work so closely with Cyberpunk 2020 creator Mike Pondsmith on this one? I mean, Witcher came from pre-existing material as well, but author Andrzej Sapkowski hasn’t even played it. Why did you feel like Cyberpunk necessitated the original creator’s input where Witcher didn’t?

Mateusz Kanik: In The Witcher we didn’t go far forward in time with the books. We were raised both on Sapkowski and Pondsmith, we know how their worlds feel. But the collaboration with Mike helps us move the world 50 years forward and know that we didn’t go too far. Usually, we don’t, but this feels much safer.

What’s more we are not only transitioning the setting in time, but also transitioning the mechanics. And no one knows it better than Mike. Mike has a different approach to this game, he was approached by many gaming companies to make a videogame adaptation. But those didn’t meet his standards, so he really wants this to be a success.