During a closed-door CyberPunk 2077 presentation at E3, members of the press were shown the fabled 50-minute gameplay demo and VG247’s Matt Martin, got the chance to interview the games lead cinematic animator Maciej Pietras. Pietras was more than willing to explain some of the details of the new game, including how the game moves between cinematic moments and gameplay, calling it a “directive scene system”
While it was already known that Cyberpunk 2077 wouldn’t feature any loading screens to keep players immersed, a blending of cinematics and gameplay is something similar to the critically acclaimed God Of War from earlier this year. Of course, this being CD Projekt, this blending is being taken even further, allowing players to alter and interfere with cinematics if they so choose. “You can actually pull out a gun there. It’s a super-challenging thing for us, but it’s also really, really cool.” Pietras explained, “It gives this visceral feeling of being there, that this matters and you pay the consequences of your actions.”
The next thing Pietras discussed was combat, more specifically the importance of keeping elements from the RPG on which the title is based in the game’s combat so it doesn’t descend into the realm of first-person shooter. Much like any RPG, CyberPunk 2077 will be a numbers game, so when an enemy is hit, they will take damage that will be represented as numbers floating in the air. It can be compared to the combat system in the Borderlands series, a mixture of slaughter and statistics.
This statistical approach to first-person combat gameplay forces the player to adapt to situations based on a enemies attributes, like defense or strength. To adapt players will need to cycle through the games three different weapon types and use the correct one for the situation as well as search for vulnerabilities and attack particularity body parts accordingly. One of the weapons mentioned by Pietras that players will get to use to cut down some of the enemy factions was a Katana.
It goes without saying that CyberPunk 2077 is shaping up to be a truly unique and formidable gaming experience, both for those who will play it and for CD Projekt. Of course, if anyone is going to pull off such an ambitious undertaking it will be them with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt proving that the studio can put walk the walk. While it may still be years before players get their hands on it, the more we hear about CyberPunk 2077 the clearer it becomes that the wait will be worth it.
Cyberpunk 2077 is currently in development without a release date or confirmed platforms.
