The next time fans see Cyberpunk 2077, it will look a lot different than the game that wowed onlookers at CD Projekt Red's E3 2018 presentation just under a year ago. In a recent interview, Cyberpunk 2077 quest director Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz revealed that the game has evolved significantly since the last time fans were given a lengthy look at its progress.
Cyberpunk 2077 is the latest effort from Poland-based studio CD Projekt Red, the developer most famous for its trilogy of Witcher games that culminated in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, a title that many still consider to be one of the best RPGs ever created. Although the studio has since released a few different games based on Gwent, the card-playing minigame that originated in The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077 will be the first open-world RPG effort from the developer since the success of Wild Hunt in 2015. Fans got a glimpse of the upcoming sci-fi adventure at E3 2018 and the reaction was largely a positive one despite such a drastic shift in tone from the studio's prior efforts, but apparently things have changed in the interim.
In an interview with Area Jugones translated by WCCF Tech, Tomaszkiewicz indicated that the game is noticeably different from what was shown last year at E3 2018. He states that the changes occurred because the team didn't have a clear picture on how everything it wanted to include would fit into an open world—as such, there were a number of elements that have undergone redesigns and innovations, as well as many new things that have yet to be shown.
Tomaszkiewicz also indicated that the combat in Cyberpunk 2077 would have an emphasis placed on allowing players to succeed with a wide range of weapons. That would be a similar balancing act to the way CD Projekt Red successfully implemented several different viable builds in The Witcher 3, although it could be even more difficult should there be more weapons paths and styles of combat, like the previously indicated stealth- and hacking-based skill trees from previous presentations would imply the existence of.
Tomaszkiewicz's comments aren't uncommon for members of development teams while a game is still being worked on. Things change a lot during development and if the Cyberpunk 2077 that was shown at E3 2018 was still before the team didn't know how all of its ideas would fit into it, then it makes sense that elements would evolve or outright transform from what we previously expected. From the sounds of it, though, Cyberpunk 2077 is still very much in the development stages, and any rumors about it releasing later this year can probably be firmly put to bed with the revelation that the title has changed so much over the span of less than one year. According to the developer itself, CD Projekt Red's E3 2019 will be the most important in company history, so if nothing else, we'll likely get a release date in a few months, and if we're lucky, a lot more on top of it.
Source: Area Jugones (via WCCF Tech)