CD Projekt Red was somewhat of an industry underdog before and during The Witcher 3’s release in 2015. Times have drastically changed since then, and many gamers are furious with the company for the broken state Cyberpunk 2077 released in on December 10th.
It is difficult to tell what the future holds for the company, but we have no doubt they will make another large-scale RPG sometime in the next several years. When they do announce and star working on their next project, here are five things from Cyberpunk 2077 we hope they utilize, and five things we hope they leave behind.
10 Hope They Use: Nonlinear Story Quests
Cyberpunk 2077’s second act lets you tackle the main missions in any order you desire. This helps you feel like you have more freedom and it also makes sure you do not grow bored in case one particular quest line becomes stale. Whatever the developers do next, we’d like to see them expand on this mission design even further. Imagine if the order in which you tackle main missions had a bigger effect on the main story and the other missions.
9 Leave Behind: Meaningless Side Quests
Quality over quantity is great advice for any given discipline. Cyberpunk 2077 is full of things to do, but a good chunk of the activities do not feel too involved. Taking out enemy encampments should be an open-world activity of the past. Fans of the company want side quests with real depth that develop the side characters and give you a deeper understand of the world.
8 Hope They Use: Keanu Reeves Or Other Celebrities
It is hard to tell if Johnny Silverhand will show up again in future Cyberpunk fiction, but most commend Keanu Reeves’ performance in the role.
With this in mind, we would not mind seeing him return either as Johnny Silverhand in a Cyberpunk 2077 sequel or as a different character in a new game. If Reeves is not available, then another celebrity with interest in the project would also pique our interest.
7 Leave Behind: Driving
The driving in Cyberpunk 2077 is pretty atrocious. It is serviceable, but it is not smooth or enjoyable in any way, especially compared to other open-world games like Grand Theft Auto 5. When driving is involved, it should be fun enough for players to prefer it over fast travel. If CD Projekt Red is not going to pour more effort into making a better driving mechanic, the team should eschew it altogether for the next game.
6 Use: Dense Open-World
One of Cyberpunk 2077’s biggest strengths is its dense open-world. Such an environment is par for the course in action-games, but RPGs of this caliber usually take place in fantasy settings modeled after the distant past. Regardless of the time period, we hope CD Projekt Red continues exploring the gameplay possibilities of RPGs set in denser environments with more detail packed into every corner. Even Cyberpunk 2077 still includes open deserts, however, for those who miss the giant plains.
5 Leave Behind: First-Person
This one is a little tricky and less of a definitive entry. Because it is the company’s first foray into first-person gameplay and combat, some of the jank is forgivable. However, a sequel will not get away with mediocre first-person controls again. One of the biggest offenders is the melee combat. The whole system needs to be reworked if the company’s next project plans to be a first-person RPG on a similar scale.
4 Use: Life Paths
The idea of life paths is pretty cool and encourage at least playing the intro three times to see how it plays out differently. Even V’s relationship with Jackie Welles changes based on your choice. Hopefully this idea continues on into future games and even goes deeper.
Ideally, life paths should make for an entirely different experience, effecting gameplay in addition to the narrative. This would make a new playthrough feel more unique as well.
3 Leave Behind: Genital Customization
The ability to customize V’s genitals seems like the developer trying to be progressive, but it ultimately ended up feeling misguided. It does not play a part in the game, so the feature comes off as entirely unnecessary, and this says nothing about the larger variety of options available for one set of genitalia over the other. There is really no reason for it to exist in Cyberpunk 2077, so just take it out of the character creator next time around.
2 Use: Combat Variety
Even though not all aspects of it are great, one has to commend the combat variety available in Cyberpunk 2077. Melee combat, firearms, stealth, and hacking are all viable ways of dealing with enemies. This choice is something we hope to see continue and refined. Even though it means certain players will not take advantage of certain mechanics, an RPG like this is about choice and crafting a unique experience, so not everyone’s time with the game is uniform.
1 Leave Behind: Misguided Marketing
This one is not a problem with the game, but it is also one of the most important things that needs to change. People had insane expectations going into Cyberpunk 2077, and this was not helped by the marketing. Announcing the game eight years ago was the first mistake. Then announcing a release date well before it is ready only makes things worse as delays come through. And we haven’t even mentioned the advertisements sensationalizing and misrepresenting certain problematic elements that feel infinitely worse when shown without the context provided by the setting.
