using throwing knives, broken bottles
and, when all else fails, just her very
lethal robo-arms. Where the
Netrunner V hacked the turret
guarding the van that he was sent to
investigate, the Solo V just rips it out
of its mounting and uses it to gun
down everyone in sight.
“In The Witcher III we did
focused, branching storylines in the
open world,” says Sasko. “In this
game, we’re actually adding to it with
branching gameplay. And that also
impacts the story.
“You can go through the quest
and do the choices the same way you
can do in The Witcher III, but that’s
the basic level for us. The
character you
attempts to parlay, explaining that Placide is just using V
to stop the agent’s cyberattacks from taking out Brigitte
and the gang—perhaps the reason for the commotion
back at Voodoo HQ. Worse still, the agent suggests that
Placide is planning to kill V after the job is done. There
are a lot of ways this could go—including joining up with
the agent. But, in the demo, V decides it’s better the devil
she knows.
She attempts to put a stop to the NetWatch attack, but
is immediately double crossed by Placide. He uses his
connection to V to shut down the attack himself—killing
everyone connected to it in the process. But V doesn’t
actually die—possibly due to that chip. At Silverhand’s
suggestion she goes to confront Placide. Instead, she
meets Brigitte. The final sequence of the demo sees
Brigitte fulfil her end of the bargain, leading V into
cyberspace and to the Black Wall that acts as a bridge to
the deep net. Brigitte explains that
nobody has returned from beyond
the Black Wall, but that Alt
Cunningham—Silverhand’s ex-
girlfriend, and the first Netrunner to
become a fully digital entity—will be
the first. The wall buckles from the
other side as something crashes into
it. And then the demo ends.
When I first saw Cyberpunk 2077,
it seemed beyond impressive, to the
point that it felt like something that I
wouldn’t be playing for many, many
years. This year, with this demo, it
seems more achievable in its size and
scope. Its RPG systems are familiar.
Its immersive sim combat is easy to
understand. It reminds me of Deus
Ex, but with more choice, freedom
and Keanu Reeves. That’s an
excellent thing to be.ABOVE LEFT: The
detail in the chaotic,
overcrowded Night
City is remarkable.BELOW: The problem
with being part
human, part machine
is that people can
hack you.are—your
life path and your
build—impacts the story, and impacts
the paths you’re taking when you’re
playing in a given part. For instance,
you saw, in the Grand Imperial Mall,
you could go through different
barriers different ways. And when
talking to characters, having different
skills impacts what I can pick. So that
even branches out. It’s like natural
evolution from the first Witcher
branching story and open world.
Now it’s also branching gameplay.”
What’s most interesting to me
about the different builds shown is
that it’s not an either/or situation.
Classes are designed to be fluid—
another example of CDPR’s
philosophy of freedom—meaning
that if you want to play as a Solo that
can use a cyberdeck and hack into
access points, you can. The classes,
skills, software, and cyberware
installations offer incredible scope for
defining your preferred playstyle.CHOOSE WISELY
Of course, your actions and dialogue
choices will impact the outcome of
quests and your relationships with
the people you meet. Even your
relationship with Silverhand will
change based on your actions.
After reaching the van, however
players ultimately choose to do it, V
discovers that the person arming the
Animals is an agent of NetWatch—a
government agency looking to
destroy the Voodoo Boys. The agentCyberpunk 2077
COVER FEATURE
“YO
U (^) C
AN
(^) GO
(^) TH
RO
UG
H (^) T
HE
WH
OLE
(^) TH
ING
(^) KI
LLI
NG
(^) NO
BO
DY”