Microsoft’s E3 2018 conference was jam-packed with scintillating trailers, but perhaps the coolest one was for Cyberpunk 2077, the next game from Witcher-developer CD Projekt Red.
The trailer was preceded by a neat command line boot sequence, similar to what Bethesda used at E3 2016. While we previously saw an extremely brief glimpse of the science fiction RPG, the trailer shown on Microsoft’s stage was our first in-depth look at the epic adventure.
Cyberpunk 2077 has a somewhat on-the-nose title. It’s certainly cyberpunk, but it’s set in a retro-futuristic 1990s inspired by the role-playing game Cyberpunk 2020. It takes place in Night City, a sprawling metropolis entrenched in technology. People have implants attached to their body, but as these things go, the implants can go rogue and attack their wearers or other people. This chilling effect is shown in the trailer, along with the task force assigned to stop the self-created threat, the Psycho Squad.
We learn in the trailer that Night City has become one of the worst places in America in terms of violence and poverty. Despite the perceived peril of the city, the narrator — we think he’s the currently unnamed protagonist — remarks that people still want to live there because it is a place of opportunity.
What the trailer does best is show off the scope of Cyberpunk 2077. If you’ve played a CD Projekt Red game, especially The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, you know that the worlds created by the Polish development studio are absolutely massive and rich with detail. In the trailer, we see people fight, engage in small talk, play some pool, and square off against robots. There are also some pretty cool-looking rides that will surely help players travel across Night City in style. The cars even fly!
While the trailer looks amazing, it’s important to note that none of it was gameplay. Still, the world of Cyberpunk 2077 looks like a fascinating place that will appeal to fans of Neuromancer and Blade Runner.
We still have no idea when Cyberpunk 2077 will launch, but we imagine it’s still a ways off. It’ll be interesting to see if it arrives before this current console generation ends.
