The first installment of CD Projekt Red’s Night City Wire featured highlights for fans both new & old.
Well, it happened. We got the longest look at Cyberpunk 2077 gameplay and features since . . . a while ago. Admittedly, I was more of a Shadowrun kind of guy back in the day, only dabbling in Cyberpunk 2020 when I found someone willing to roll dice and not deal with dwarves, swords, and Gandalf. However, this recent live stream has converted me. I’m no longer reining in my expectations; I have succumbed to the hype.
Let me show you why.
Examining The Cyberpunk 2077 Official Trailer: The Gig
Colorful hair and diction abound. Despite the sense of an overarching plot delivered by the trailer, The Gig provides some snippets and sneak peeks of Cyberpunk 2077’s prologue, so it’s relatively spoiler-free. We witness our protagonist beat up some b-ballers and eviscerate a local miscreant with his twin arm blades (he also beats up literal twins in Kotaku Australia’s recent vid). Hmmn, our main man is starting to seem a bit like Adam Jensen, and that’s a good thing.
Speaking of tall, dark and handsome dudes who wear their sunglasses at night . . . Keanu Reeves makes a brief appearance in the new trailer. This time, though, instead of giving us something breathtaking to remember him by, he has a single utterance: “fuck.” Once again, Keanu captures the sentiment of all Cyberpunk fans in light of the recent Cyberpunk 2077 news. All joking aside, the trailer is nigh-perfect and stokes your excitement without giving away CD Projekt Red’s hand too much.
“Witness Me”: Go Mad Max in The Badlands
Did you think you were just gonna hang around a cool, future-tech city for the whole game?
Well too bad, you’re getting a blasted desolation of a desert too, punk. It looks like CD Projekt Red wants to give us the Mad Max experience we’ve all been waiting for, and I have no reservations about this. Expect lots of car crashes, Borderlands-style baddies and dust in your engine.
Gunther Hermann’s Long Lost Brother, Adam Smasher, Is Revealed
Adam Smasher, a cyborg from the original Cyberpunk 2020 game, made his grand entrance in Cyberpunk 2077 sporting a fashionable, full-body chassis with red-tube highlights. Smasher embodies the “man+machine” motif to the core, having replaced his entire body with metal and circuitry in lieu of feeble flesh and blood. He will surely dog the main character through the corporate storyline, presumably trying to thwart our attempts to delve into Arasaka’s secrets.
CYBERPUNK: Edgerunners — We’re Getting A Cyberpunk 2077 Anime!
Cyberpunk 2077 is shaping up to be more of a cultural event than just a simple video game, as evidenced by the mounting promotional materials and concurrent media arising alongside the title. The latest, and dare I say the coolest, of which is the freshly announced “Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.”
The anime series will showcase a narrative set in Night City, but with characters and plot completely separate from the game. What a time to be alive.
They’ve entrusted this project to Studio Trigger, who emerged from former Gainax employees and have created works such as Kill la Kill, Little Witch Academia and Darling in the Franxx.
If these fellers can create a loveable robo-dinosaur waifu, then I’m positive they’ll treat Cyberpunk 2077 with the loving touch it deserves. Check the series out on Netflix when it releases (sometime) in 2022.
Brand Spankin’ New Feature: Braindance
Us Shadowrun players called it something else, but the concept has been with us since William Gibson published Neuromancer. Braindance, or “BD” is the voyeur’s wet dream: the ability to experience life in another’s shoes (or uh . . . brain, in this case). BD is everything that detective mode should’ve been, as you can slip into memories and examine the external world of an NPC’s experience.
You scan for clues of course, but you also receive new perspectives on the wider story. As Patrick Mills said during the stream, Braindance is a storytelling device first and a game mechanic second. I’m looking forward to seeing how they use these pseudo-experiences to explore the nature of perception, avatars, and surrogate reality in the narrative.
Night City Has No Sweeter Name Than . . . Judy
Is this a highlight for Cyberpunk 2077? In my eyes, absolutely, and I’m the one behind the keyboard so we’re counting it.
Judy has more than just shiny blue highlights in her hair (though that may be the dynamic lighting at play); she guides you through your first Braindance experience, clearly taking a mentor-like role for the protagonist. And I, for one, am certainly hot for teacher.
It’s rumored that Judy is a romanceable character, but perhaps only for female main characters. I’ll find out on November 19th . . . whatever it takes.
Night City Wire: Episode 2 Coming Soon
Perhaps my favorite bit of news, is that Night City Wire will definitely be back for a follow up appearance.
Our host gave the vague-but-precise timeline of “within the next couple weeks,” so this lucky cyberpunk enthusiast might be back with an update in July! Be sure to visit CyberPunks.com for future highlights, tidbits, and other newsworthy excerpts as soon as the next episode drops.
Truth be told, this Night City Wire delivered even more than a humble listicle can contain. We saw Viktor Vector (everyone’s favorite ripper doc), the fixer who gets you started in Night City’s underworld (it’s good to see Three-Dog get some work), and Pavel’s adorable notebook which will be used as the inspiration for a psychopath’s scribblings in the actual game. For everyone in meatspace who was a little discouraged by the recent delay, I highly recommend checking out the stream to inject pure hype into your veins. Until next time, chummer.
