PC Gamer - USA 2019-09)

I

n the new CGI trailer

for Cyberpunk 2077,

unveiled at

Microsoft’s Xbox E3

Briefing, main

character V is having a bad day. His

partner, Jackie Welles, is dead. His

fixer, Dexter DeShawn, has

betrayed him. When he regains

consciousness, he’s lying in a

garbage dump. “Wake the f *** up

samurai,” says a voice. “We have a

city to burn.” The source of that

voice? It’s Keanu Reeves.

Cue rapturous applause as Reeves

appears on stage to talk about his

appearance in CD Projekt Red’s next

RPG. It was an exciting surprise in an

industry event that rarely keeps a

secret for long.

But who is Reeves’ character, and

why is he so interested in V?

“Keanu Reeves in our game plays

the role of Johnny Silverhand,” says

Paweł Sasko, lead quest designer for

Cyberpunk 2077. “Johnny Silverhand

is the frontman of Samurai, a chrome

rock band from 2020, from the

original [pen-and-paper RPG] book.

Now, Johnny Silverhand is a primary

character in our game, and the player,

V, has him on a chip in his head as

this digital ghost.”

Johnny will be a presence

throughout the game, although it’s

not clear what his motivation is for

helping V. “The thing is that Johnny

Silverhand has his own agenda,” says

Sasko. “He used to be a fighter for

freedom, but in the eyes of

corporations he would probably be

called a terrorist.” Sasko characterizes

Silverhand as someone with a strong

vision of how the world should work,

“He’s a true cyberpunk. He’s the guy

who goes against the system, against

the corporations, and against the city

that’s just an embodiment of this.”

Which brings us back to his line in

the trailer. Silverhand clearly wants

something, and is trying to influence

V to help achieve that goal. “It starts

this interesting dynamic between

them,” says Sasko. “And he has his

own role that develops throughout

the game. ‘We have a city to burn’. He

means something very specific by

that.”

The damaged biochip implanted

in V’s head does more than just allow

him (or her) to commune with a

digital ghost. It also supposedly

contains the secret to immortality.

This is one of the driving plot points

of the brand new behind-closed-

doors E3 demo—a 50 minute

developer playthrough of a never

before seen chunk of the game.

To find out more about the chip, V

travels to Pacifica. Planned as Night

City’s luxury tourist destination, the

district sits decrepit and

impoverished after the corporations

pulled their support. It’s now the

home of the Voodoo Boys, an insular,

secretive gang obsessed with

cyberspace. V wants to meet their

leader, Brigitte, in the hope that she

can reveal more about the biochip.

The demo starts as V walks up to

a mirror—letting CD Projekt Red run

through some of the character

customization options. As revealed

last year, Cyberpunk 2077 doesn’t

have a defined main character. You

can pick their gender, their

appearance, and even their origin

story. “You start by picking your life

path, so Nomad, Corporate, or Street

Kid,” explains Sasko.

“That gives you some predefined

number of things— your equipment

and background and so on.”

Your life path also affects how you

interact with characters. Some

dialogue choices are locked to a

specific life path. Others are locked

behind skill proficiency, meaning a

character adept at hacking will have

different choices to one who’s very

ABOVE: V rides his

bike into Pacifica, a

district of Night City

filled with

gang-ravaged slums.

BOTTOM LEFT:

Despite the name, by

day Night City is

much brighter and

sunnier than most

videogame dystopias.

good at punching. “That helps out because it opens a new

branch in the story. Sometimes it’s a small thing. Fairly

often it’s something bigger, because we always try to make

sure there’s enough meat that the players are rewarded

for investing in it.”

Customization done, V steps away from the mirror.

“Really think they give a rat’s dick about how you look?”

quips Silverhands.

URBAN SPRAWL

Later in the demo, V meets up with a Voodoo Boys

contact, Placide. He leads V through the streets of

Pacifica towards the gang’s HQ. The district itself feels

different to the dense urban skyscrapers showcased in

last year’s demo. You can see the rough shape of its

original purpose—a suggestion of vibrancy that never truly

materialized.

Cyberpunk 2077

COVER FEATURE

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