Good news for pacifist video gamers: Cyberpunk 2077 won't require players to kill anyone within the game. The title is the latest project from The Witcher developer CD Projekt Red, who pretty much won E3 2019 with a gritty new Cyberpunk 2077 trailer that featured actor Keanu Reeves.
Set in a futuristic world where everyone has some kind of cybernetic augmentation, Cyberpunk 2077 is an expansive open-world RPG that makes The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt look like child's play. The world of Cyberpunk 2077 is grim, brutal and rough. It's a dog eat dog kind of place where every person is only looking out for number one. Throughout its development, Cyberpunk 2077 has gone through many changes, but one thing remained consistent: killing would be necessary to complete the game.
However, after playing a demo of the game, Game Informer reports that this is no longer the case. Cyberpunk 2077 will now allow players to set themselves up as pacifists and play through the game without having to kill anyone. Some might wonder where the fun is in that, but this little detail adds another level of complexity to the overall gameplay. Of course, those players who prefer to kill their way to glory still have the option to do so, and they will have a variety of weapons and skills at the ready to take down anyone who gets in their way.
Creating a pacifist character would also affect how character creation works. The game's class system allows players to choose abilities from different classes for the protagonist, known as V, rather than specialize in just one class, allowing for a more customized experience. That will affect how players deal with combat, meaning that they don't necessarily have to kill anyone as they make their way through missions and regions. It also affects how they interact with other characters.
The setup of Cyberpunk 2077 seems similar to other games, but one thing that will always set it apart is CD Projekt Red's opinion of microtransactions. Where other games will nickel and dime players to death, CD Projekt Red has always stated that it prefers to "leave greed to others." With The Witcher 3, the company offered 16 free pieces of DLC post-launch, only charging for two post-launch expansion packs that were worth every penny. That attitude remains with Cyberpunk 2077, and it is a refreshing one in a day and age when other companies want to charge players for everything.
Source: Game Informer