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CD Projekt Red is starting to talk in high level terms about its planned Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, after wrapping up the original game with the ambitious and well-received Phantom Liberty expansion. Pawel Sasko, the associate director of the next Cyberpunk game, has spoken with Aftermath on how the team is approaching the sequel.
Known internally as Project Orion, the Cyberpunk sequel is still in very early stages of development, with a relatively small team spread across studios in Boston, Poland, and Vancouver. Sasko explained that many of the managers and directors who worked on Cyberpunk 2077 and Phantom Liberty are also on the new game, as well as some of the leads. “We want to make sure that whole DNA is preserved and still in the game,” he explained.
With the game in early development, it’s still unclear what the sequel will look like, but Sasko says he’s interested in expanding on the concept of reactivity that was more of a focus in Phantom Liberty, which he worked on as quest director.
“In Phantom Liberty, there’s this moment where the story splits almost, and that’s the structure that we used with Witcher 2, actually, and Blood and Wine with Witcher 3 as well–where you had a split in the middle [that leads to] completely different branches with completely different endings,” Sasko explains.
Sasko says there is still a balance to be struck, however. “Because at the end of the day, most players do play the game once. It’s awesome to know that there are other things, but they probably won’t see it … So it’s a matter of striking this balance.”
Another thing to keep in mind, Sasko adds, is that a game like Cyberpunk 2077 needs to validate its players’ choices. “If you in your story have made a certain choice and that’s the way you have decided to go with your V and your partners and whoever else you met in the game, that’s your story. It’s important when making those decisions not to invalidate what players have been doing because it is their story and the decisions they made.”
Earlier this year, CD Projekt Red revealed more information about Project Orion, including details on some of the key team members and how development was being handled across multiple studios. One of the developers working on the early stage project also took to Twitter to express how excited they are to be working on the sequel, saying they could make “something special” with Cyberpunk 2077 as a jumping off point.
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