@TravMoody
E3’s best kept secret was Cyberpunk 2077, the long awaited alt-future RPG from famed Witcher creators CD Projekt RED. If you watched Xbox’s E3 press conference, they saved the biggest surprise for last.. a fun Mr. Robotesque moment that interrupted Phil Spencer’s well wishes.
Seemingly, Moody may have saved his best hands-off E3 demo for last as well…
While some were a little bit disappointed to discover that The Fifth Element–Deus Ex–Blade Runner like experience was first person, they didn’t catch the 50-minute demo that actually formed a line in the upper business concourse of E3. I’m certain that’s never happened before. The first person action of Cyberpunk 2077 is still sweet, as stats fly off the screen with every ringing gunshot that hits, and third person is still an option for driving. In order to feel and interact with the striking density and augmented reality of Cyberpunk, first person view seems like the only option that makes sense.
The game’s as open world an RPG can be, too, with an array of elements that make many of us geeks adore the genre in the first place: skill points (Strength/Constitution/Intelligence/Reflexes/Tech/Cool) which eventually leads to your own unique class (Solo/Techie/Netrunner) and bodily upgrades, vendors/vending machines, side quests, consequential Mass Effect-like dialogue options, and — best of all — fully customizing your merc protagonist, V, right down to your sex, sexual preference, appearance, gear and backstory.
And I stress the term sex. With hundreds of NPC’s flooding the streets of neon Night City, a massive “Californian” environment that has 6 districts (and day/night/weather system and all), it’s no surprise that your “V” will catch some thirst. As much as I wish I wasn’t– I’m kidding. Much of the sexual tension, or nudity found in Cyberpunk 2077 (and there appears a solid amount of it) slides along the beliefs of transhumanism–the idea of people transcending their own physical and mental being with technology. Expect some baddies named Scavengers to trigger with augmented humans, too, for body modifications, parts for sale, etc. That said, do expect some heavy one-night romance ala Witcher 3. It’s CD Projekt RED, after all.
As for Cyberpunk‘s gameplay itself, again like Deus Ex, requires a bit of stealth and hacking. Mantis blades and wall running are here, too, so there’ll be a sufficient amount of tecniques to take down cyberthugs. You can scan enemies, increase handgrips for weapon strength, and have V scan enemies with his/her T-800 eye. Watch_dogs scanning can be used to expose enemy weaknesses, an element that even has classes of its own: Physical/Thermal/EMP/Chemical. Throw in some Max Payne Matrix bullet-time, street slides, some pharmaceuticals and you’ve got yourself one tasty RPG. It didn’t even take an hour of footage to realize that this is already my most anticipated game of 2019. 5/5 CyberBibles.
-Travis Moody