CD Projekt RED’s latest huge open-world game Cyberpunk 2077 has been on a real journey to launch day. Like Geralt’s adventures that came before, it will let you dive into a detailed world full of story missions, side quests, and memorable characters. Unlike The Witcher, Cyberpunk 2077 takes place in a futuristic world: The dense Night City and its surrounding areas based on the tabletop Cyberpunk 2020 game. You can drive around in and outside of Night City, explore buildings, and hack, shoot, or negotiate your way through a main story involving Keanu Reeves (as dead rockstar Johnny Silverhand), memory thieving, and human augmentation.
Or, you will be able to do all that when Cyberpunk 2077 finally releases. After several delays, it’s scheduled to come out this December.
We’ve dug through what feels like a decade of announcements, interviews and demos to bring you all the important details about character creation, combat, Keanu, the story, and the world. Here’s what we know about Cyberpunk 2077 so far:
Cyberpunk 2077 release date
The Cyberpunk 2077 release date is December 10, 2020. On PC, it’ll be on Steam and GOG.
Cyberpunk was originally going to release on April 16, 2020, but CD Projekt RED announced in January that it needed “more time to finish playtesting, fixing and polishing”. The release date was pushed to September, and then another delay was announced on June 18, and Cyberpunk 2077 was moved to November 19. At the end of October, it was delayed yet again, and will now release in December.
Recently, we learned that employees at CD Projekt Red are working extra hours as they take on bugs during the lead-up to launch.
Latest Cyberpunk 2077 news
Cyberpunk 2077 overview
- What is Cyberpunk 2077? An open-world sci-fi RPG from the creators of The Witcher 3. It’ll be even bigger than that game, with driving and explorable buildings in a fictional California sprawl called Night City.
- Can you create a character? Yep. It’s similar to the Mass Effect series in that respect. You’ll be playing as a specific character named V, but you can customize how they look and choose from one of two voice actors, Cherami Leigh or John Flanagan. You’ll have stats, too, and dialogue options that affect outcomes.
- What’s the combat like? It looks like there are lots of conflict resolution options—eg, talking, hacking, sneaking—but Cyberpunk 2077 is in part a first-person shooter. It looks similar to immersive sims like Deus Ex.
- Can you do a non-lethal run? Yes. This wasn’t always true, but after feedback in 2018, CD Projekt RED gave “pretty much every gun” a non-lethal setting, lead quest designer Paweł Sasko told us.
- Who is Keanu Reeves’ character? Reeves is playing Johnny Silverhand, a well-known character from the original 1988 Cyberpunk tabletop game. He’ll be hanging out in V’s head as a “digital ghost,” so you should see lots of him throughout the game.
Our latest 15 hour gameplay preview
Andy got to take another crack at Cyberpunk 2077 just weeks before launch and says that if he was hungry for more after his summer preview, he’s ravenous now.
He says that some missions cut close to open-world simulation territory in the vein of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. “In true Deus Ex style, there are countless ways to get in and out of the building. I wait outside near the front gate until I see an Arasaka truck approaching. I boost it and drive confidently through the main entrance. Guard even waves me through. Sucker. I could have used a maintenance tunnel or hopped the fence, but neither of those methods are as cool as just casually breezing in,” he says. “When you play this mission yourself, you’ll probably do it a completely different way, such is the sheer scale of the place and the ridiculous depth of the game’s character customisation.”
“There’s stuff in here to rival The Witcher 3’s best quests, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much of an emotional punch the story packs,” Andy adds, noting that, contrary to Cyberpunk’s action-packed marketing campaign, there are also quiet and warmer moments to the story.
You can read his full Cyberpunk 2077 preview here.
The June 2020 gameplay demo
In June 2020, we finally got a chance to play Cyberpunk 2077. You can watch footage of a similar demo (recorded by CD Projekt) above, and read Andy’s impressions of the experience here. Part of the focus is on “braindancing,” which puts you into someone else’s recorded experience so you can relive it from their perspective and investigate whatever information their senses picked up.
As part of the unveiling of Nvidia’s new 30-series video cards, the company showed off a brief glimpse of Cyberpunk 2077 running with all of the bells and whistles. With Raytracing, DLSS, and a bunch of other settings cranked up, it’s going to look very good. Just don’t expect raytracing to work on AMD’s fancy new cards at launch.
Consider we are talking about a game also launching on 7-year-old consoles, Cyberpunk might not flex your PCs as much as you’d think. That much can be seen in the official system requirements, while you’ll find below.
Here are a bunch of other Cyberpunk 2077 gameplay videos
From newest to oldest, here are all the videos of Cyberpunk 2077 in action.
Just weeks before launch, CDPR published a new gameplay trailer for Cyberpunk 2077 featuring more Johnny Silverhand, combat, and characters. Do beware, this one has some spoilers for early in the story that Andy omitted from his impressions on his first 15 hours playing.
In an Xbox One X and Xbox Series X comparison video, CDPR walk through a quest called Automatic Love. It’s cut up quite a bit to dodge spoilers, but there’s some new Johnny Silverhand lines here.
During their first Night City Wire livestream, CD Projekt Red showed off 7 minutes with Braindances, the brain-hacking investigations that let V see through the eyes and ears and other senses of another person. After the gameplay CDPR answer some additional questions about Braindances.
CD Projekt livestreamed a 15-minute gameplay demo in 2019, which includes parts of what was shown at Gamescom that year.
After the video premiered, a few of the developers had a chat about world design, sidequests, and character creation on the livestream. Find that VOD here.
If you’re looking less for gameplay and more for the low-down on the city, CDPR have also published plenty of videos ahead of launch walking you through everything from Night City’s gangs, Cyberpunk 2077 weapons, the three lifepaths, and more on YouTube.
There’s also a longer, 48 minute demo that was first shown at E3 2018 and later released online. Beware, this is one of the first gameplay videos of Cyberpunk 2077, so you may spot some old things here that haven’t made it to launch day.
What kind of weapons will Cyberpunk 2077 have?
Cyberpunk 2077 is a first-person RPG with a serious lean towards FPS gameplay, so there are lots of guns—but you’ll have melee options too. Here are the three classes of guns, each of which have variants you’ll be familiar with like pistols or shotguns, followed by the up-close weapon types:
Power Weapons
Power Weapons are the closest to current-day guns. The big difference is that they’re capable of ricocheting bullets off surfaces so you can shoot enemies hiding behind corners and cover. You can see how your bullets will bounce with a handy preview line as you aim.
Tech Weapons
Tech Weapons are supercharged guns that use electromagnetic technology to fire solid metal projectiles. These super-powerful munitions can punch through walls, meaning you can hit an enemy before you even break down the door to their hideout.
Smart Weapons
Smart Weapons have enemy-tracking tech that let you bullets chase down targets even when you aren’t aiming directly at them. Like power weapons, it’s a handy trick for hitting targets around corners.
Melee Weapons
Melee weapons may not be futuristic guns but they’re not low-tech either. So far we’ve seen options like a Thermal Katana, a super hot blade for slicing and dicing, in the new weapons trailer above.
Cyberware
For a more serious commitment, you can also turn your body into your weapon of choice with cyberware implants. There are horrifying Mantis Arms, super-strong Gorilla Arms, and a Projectile Launch System that’s basically a grenade launcher in your hand.
Cyberpunk 2077 system requirements
The Cyberpunk 2077 system requirements might be a bit more generous than you were expecting. Overall, it seems like the game is swinging high and low, supporting high-end features while keeping its baseline requirements low enough to run on a PS4 or Xbox One.
Minimum (1080p, low settings)
- OS: Windows 7 64-bit
- CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K or AMD FX-8310
- RAM: 8GB
- GPU: Nvidia GTX 780 or AMD Radeon RX 470
- VRAM: 3GB
- Storage: 70GB HDD
Recommended (1080p, high settings)
- OS: Windows 10 64-bit
- CPU: Intel Core i7-4790 or AMD Ryzen 3 3200G
- RAM: 12GB
- GPU: Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB/GTX 1660 Super or AMD Radeon RX 470
- VRAM: 6GB
- Storage: 70GB SSD
High (1440p, ultra settings)
- OS: Windows 10 64-bit
- CPU: Intel Core i7-4790 or AMD Ryzen 3 3200G
- RAM: 12GB
- GPU: Nvidia RTX 2060 or AMD Radeon RX 5700XT
- VRAM: 6GB
- Storage: 70GB SSD
Ultra (2160p, ultra settings)
- OS: Windows 10 64-bit
- CPU: Intel Core i7-4790 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600
- RAM: 16GB
- GPU: Nvidia RTX 2080S/RTX 3070 or AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT
- VRAM: 8GB
- Storage: 70GB SSD
Ray Tracing Minimum (1080p, RT medium settings)
- OS: Windows 10 64-bit
- CPU: Intel Core i7-4790 or AMD Ryzen 3 3200G
- RAM: 16GB
- GPU: Nvidia RTX 2060
- VRAM: 6GB
- Storage: 70GB SSD
Ray Tracing High (1440p, RT ultra settings)
- OS: Windows 10 64-bit
- CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600
- RAM: 16GB
- GPU: Nvidia RTX 3070
- VRAM: 8GB
- Storage: 70GB SSD
Ray Tracing Ultra (2160p, RT ultra settings)
- OS: Windows 10 64-bit
- CPU: Intel Core i7-6700 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600
- RAM: 16GB
- GPU: Nvidia RTX 3080
- VRAM: 10GB
- Storage: 70GB SSD
What do we know about Cyberpunk 2077 character creation?
It seems like every few weeks we’re learning about some new minutia of your character that Cyberpunk 2077 will let you customize. There’s expected things like hair, tattoos, clothing, and skin color. Then there are the less obvious ones that CDPR seem to delight in teasing like nipple and penis varieties, pubic hair, the length of your nails, and type of teeth.
At E3 2019, quest director Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz explained to Gamasutra that Cyberpunk’s character creation won’t be limited by gender. “We have put a lot of thought into this. One of the things we want to do in the final game (which we couldn’t show in the demo yet, because as you mentioned it’s a work in progress) is to give the players as many options of customization in the beginning of the game as we can.”
It’s an RPG, so naturally you can change your stats. There are basics like Strength and Intelligence, but also a ‘Cool’ stat that determines how well you handle stress, which affects weapon accuracy. The full list from what we saw in the demo is Strength, Constitution, Intelligence, Reflexes, Tech, and Cool. There are some stats from the tabletop Cyberpunk not represented here, like Empathy.
You can also change your backstory, referred to as a Lifepath, choosing from Nomad, Corpo, or Street Kid, which each have their own origin story and starting location in the world. Each Lifepath unlocks unique dialogue options that can alter how quests play out.
However you customize your character, you’re still one specific person: V. You’re a mercenary, and that’s most of what we know so far.
What does Night City look and feel like, and how do you get around?
Cyberpunk 2077 takes place in the year 2077—which you probably didn’t need us to tell you—and it’s set within Night City, a fictional city between San Francisco and LA (as described here) that already exists in the Cyberpunk pen and paper RPG created by Mike Pondsmith. Punks and corporate stooges of all varieties wander these foggy, once Mob-ruled streets, and by 2023, corporations are openly warring for them. Cyberpunk 2077 will show us what happened to the city in the aftermath of that war.
Thanks to some awesome crowd technology, Cyberpunk 2077’s Night City is bustling. In our first demo of the game, we were impressed by the hundreds of characters walking, playing, talking, and fighting in the city.
The city features six districts with no loading screens between them. To help you get around, there are vehicles you can drive in either first or third person. It was hard to get a sense of how realized this part of the game is—we’re not sure if there will be all the depth of simulation you see in something like Grand Theft Auto V’s driving and traffic. But it did look impressive and smooth.
Speaking to VG24/7, CDPR said the autonomous function allows you to summon your car at will, instead of trying to remember where you parked. Let’s hope it’s better at finding its way than Geralt’s horse, Roach. You’ll also have access to a garage to store the cars you own, but it’s unclear if you’ll be able to own them all or if a cap will be set.
In a different interview with VG24/7 at E3 2019, lead quest designer Pawel Sasko went into more detail about the districts outside of Night City.
“Players can leave Night City and just explore that area—an area that is mostly sort of destroyed basically after all the droughts and everything that happened in the 50 years from 2020 to ’77,” he said. “And you can explore that, there are specific quests prepared for that, also open-world content, so that’s definitely covered. It’s not only the city that you’re visiting.”
Who and what’s cameoing in Cyberpunk 2077?
It all began with Keanu Reeves appearing at E3 in 2019, but CDPR is cramming lots of other real people and vehicles into Night City. Here’s a list of the appearances we know about so far:
Will there be romance?
Like in The Witcher 3, you’ll be able to pursue romance as V. Because Cyberpunk includes character creation, these romance options will be more diverse than they were in The Witcher series.
“There are a lot more options. You know, you’re defining your own character here, which means defining their sexuality any way you want,” quest designer Patrick Mills said in an interview with Game Informer. “With Geralt, you had a character whose sexuality was very well defined by the novels and the short stories and the previous games. But in this one, it’s up to you to decide. We’ve got NPCs that are gay, we’ve got NPCs that are bi, we’ve got NPCs that are straight, because we want them to feel real and that they have preferences as well.”
In June, CDPR said that romantic plot lines will be “similar” in scope and detail to Geralt’s relationships, despite there being more of them. CD Projekt Red clarified to us further: “Romancing is something heavily present in Cyberpunk, and players will be able to form meaningful connections with other characters as well as go for one night stands.”
That’s all fine and good, but unfortunately, you can’t smooch Keanu. “Keanu plays a crucial role in the game, but as for the option to romance him, I don’t believe you can,” level designer Max Pears told VGC at Tokyo Game Show 2019.
Will there be multiplayer?
Yes, eventually. CD Projekt officially confirmed that Cyberpunk 2077 will have multiplayer, but the mode won’t be introduced until all the free DLC is out the door.
This is no surprise, as multiplayer has been teased as a possibility for years now. We first heard about multiplayer features back in 2013, but CD Projekt RED clearly knew the word could agitate its fans. “It will be a story-based RPG experience with amazing single-player playthroughs,” reassured managing director Adam Badowski in a 2013 talk with Eurogamer, “but we’re going to add multiplayer features.”
In 2017, CD Projekt CEO Adam Kiciński said that multiplayer features would ensure Cyberpunk’s “long-term success,” which caused some concerns given the recent kerfuffle over microtransactions.
CD Projekt responded to the concerns with a tweet meant to reassure fans that they’ll still be getting a Witcher 3-style singleplayer story. “Worry not,” it said. “When thinking CP2077, think nothing less than TW3—huge single player, open world, story-driven RPG. No hidden catch, you get what you pay for—no bullshit, just honest gaming like with Wild Hunt.”
Will there be microtransactions?
Not in the singleplayer part of the game. The E3 2018 trailer contains a little Easter egg on the topic. (Enlarge the image and read the red text, in which CD Projekt responds to the question: “In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”)
However, Cyberpunk 2077 will have microtransactions in the multiplayer part of the game that’s coming after the singleplayer launch. CD Projekt considers multiplayer “a separate project.”
Can you mod Cyberpunk 2077?
“We have no plans to share at the moment,” CD Projekt global community lead Marcin Momot said in a Cyberpunk forum thread dedicated to the topic of modding. “Obviously, we would love to support the modding community in the future, but for the time being we want to focus on releasing the game first. Hopefully, this clears things up a bit.”
In other words, don’t expect any mod tools, at least at launch. However, the lack of official tools rarely stops modders from tinkering, so we’ll just have to see.
CD Projekt Red on issues with crunch
In 2019, CD Projekt RED made note of all the crunch culture stories uncovered at other large studios and attempted to get in front of talks about its own crunch policies.
Speaking in an interview with Kotaku, CD Projekt RED co-founder Marcin Iwiński said the studio wants to take a more “humane” approach to late-stage development by leaning more heavily into a “non-obligatory crunch policy.” They aren’t attempting to eliminate crunch practices altogether, but claim they want employees and the public to hold them accountable so that Cyberpunk 2077’s final stretch (and months leading up to big milestones like E3) will be less soul-crushing than they were on The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
However, in a question-and-answer conference call, CD Projekt’s co-CEO Adam Kiciński admitted that the development team will be required to put in longer hours as the game’s launch approaches. “[They] try to limit crunch as much as possible, but it is the final stage,” he said. “We try to be reasonable in this regard, but yes. Unfortunately [the team will be required to crunch].”
CDPR later told employees that they will be required to work six-day weeks in the month and a half leading up to the game’s release.
“I take it upon myself to receive the full backlash for the decision,” studio boss Adam Badowski wrote in an internal email to staff. “I know this is in direct opposition to what we’ve said about crunch. It’s also in direct opposition to what I personally grew to believe a while back—that crunch should never be the answer. But we’ve extended all other possible means of navigating the situation.”
https://t.co/Ie5W0O7iiv pic.twitter.com/IJBZ3IIT6mSeptember 30, 2020
Badowski later justified the decision by saying that the “majority of the team” understands the need for extra work, and that the developers are “well compensated for every extra hour they put in.”
Payment is an issue related to crunch, although accounts from Rockstar employees, as one example, have also focused on the mental and bodily toll of crunch stress.
Concept art
More Cyberpunk 2077 tidbits
- CDPR went ahead and got real-life Keanu Reeves in a Cyberpunk ad
- Hideo Kojima has been Cyberpunk’d, but no word if he’ll be an official cameo
- Cyberpunk 2077 is getting a comic series in September
- In an investor Q&A call translated from Polish by VGC, CD Projekt president Adam Kiciński said Cyberpunk 2077 will have “no less DLC” than The Witcher 3
- There’ll be tall, explorable buildings with “a lot of activities.”
- There’ll be a photo mode.
- There will be multiple endings.
- In 2018, CD Projekt acquired a new developer to support Cyberpunk development.
- Witcher 3 composer Marcin Przybyłowicz is working on the soundtrack.
- Cyberpunk 2077 will support GeForce Now streaming.
