Cyberpunk 2077 Interview

Russian website GameStar has cranked out an interview with Cyberpunk 2077 game director Mateusz Kanik, covering such topics as how The Witcher series prepared them for this game’s development, their focus on high tech/low life, the classes we’ll be able to pick from, and more. And as fate would have it, there’s an English version:

Cyberpunk 2077 this is an open world, non-linearity . How free can player feel in this dark world of the future? Would it be possible to play the game without killing anyone with your own hands? How many endings do you plan?

It’s too early to talk about the endings. I can promise you that the gameplay will be diversified and will depend and each goal will have its own means. Not only the story will be driven by your decisions, but also how you play the game. Each class will feel different and even while replaying the game with the same character, you’ll find different approaches.

We want to have a completely new level of non-linearity, achieved by combining freedom in playing your own character, free-roaming the environment and also having choices that have real consequences after you make a decision.

What classes are you going to create? Which ways can we develop our character (brute force, stealth-fighter, hacker etc.)? What skills and abilities can we expect? Will it be hi-tech crafting or hacking?

I think the classes in the game should satisfy every Cyberpunk® fan. The abilities which you’ll develop will craft the way you play the game dramatically. Also most skills you can imagine from a game like this are a must.

It’s actually hard work to choose what can stay from the pen and paper system. That’s why we are working on many prototypes. The handbooks describe for example a skill: knowledge about fashion. A GM can simulate this in an RPG session, but how will it work in an video game? Well, we have found solutions for that. But for example things like geology had to go away, because they didn’t present much gameplay value.