Cyberpunk 2077: 10 Things We Want

After a long wait, we now know a lot more about Cyberpunk 2077. Developer CD Projekt Red showed off a trailer during Microsoft's E3 2018 press conference as well as a behind-closed-doors demo for press. Now, that extended gameplay has been released to the public. While it's not final gameplay, it shows off some character creation, combat, how modding your character works, and more to give you an idea of what the game will be like.

We now have a better idea of what 2077's setting, Night City, is like and how combat will work, plus a little bit about cybernetic enhancements and romantic relationships. But there's still a lot we don't know, and that means our imaginations have been running wild.

We've put together a wishlist of things we'd love to see in Cyberpunk 2077, from character classes to cool clothes. This includes elements from Cyberpunk 2020, the pen-and-paper RPG 2077 is based on--creator Mike Pondsmith is working closely with CDPR on 2077--as well as our more general RPG hopes and dreams.

If you aren't familiar with Cyberpunk 2077, it's a first-person game with some shooting mechanics, but it's not a shooter--it's an RPG through and through with a focus on dynamic decision-making and robust questlines. You create your own character, a mercenary named V. You can select their gender and ethnic background as well as their backstory, including what brought them to Night City or if they're a local. According to associate design director Kyle Rowley, "The things you define in your life path, in your backstory, can modify or unlock things as you're playing through the game."

For more on Cyberpunk 2077, be sure to check out our roundup of everything we know so far. You can also read up on the districts of Night City and why 2077 is an even more ambitious game than you might realize. This is just a start, so be sure to let us know in the comments what else you want to see!

CD Projekt Red has said that there will be multiple ways to approach each mission, but we have to emphasize how much we want that flexibility. We want to be able to talk ourselves out of a situation, provided we have the skill, or find a way to handle things non-violently. And those decisions need to carry weight. From what we know so far, it sounds like that's the case.

Pen-and-paper RPG Cyberpunk 2020 has nine basic character classes. According to CD Projekt Red, you won't be selecting a class during character creation, since that doesn't allow for flexibility as you play. We're hoping that whatever customization options there are (like a skill tree) will really capture the spirit of Cyberpunk 2020's classes, like the rebellious Rockerboys and the Mad Max-esque Nomads, and give you the freedom to craft the exact class you want to play.

We know that there's romance and sex in Cyberpunk 2077, and while that's not new for an RPG, we're hoping that it's more nuanced. Rather than just picking the "right" dialogue options to seduce someone, we want something more emergent, complete with the possibility of being rejected. Not everyone needs to be into you, and the ones who are should feel that way for a reason beyond you saying all the right things.

As the Cyberpunk 2020 manual says, "It doesn't matter how well you do something, as long as you look good doing it." Style is a huge deal in the world of Cyberpunk, and we want to see a near-overwhelming number of options when it comes to looking cool as hell. Yes, it's a first-person game, but it's really the principle of the thing. You don't have to always be looking at your character to appreciate a sweet leather jacket.

In the extended gameplay demo, we got a look at the protagonist's apartment. We want to be able to decorate it however we see fit (and set it up with some cool tech) or even buy a new property, like in GTA Online. Maybe you want to live large, or maybe you just want to live above a ramen shop and lay low.

The Witcher 3 had Gwent. The Cyberpunk universe has Netrunner, a now out-of-print collectible card game designed by the creator of Magic: The Gathering. Cyberpunk 2077 could give Netrunner a second life in-game, and just like Gwent in The Witcher 3, it could be more than just a brief distraction in between quests. We'd also be open to something besides a CCG--the "streetslang" in Cyberpunk lore is a mix of major languages, so an amalgamation of classic games from different countries isn't a big stretch.

Cyberpunk 2077 will have romance (and casual flings), so it's not unreasonable to hope for a substantial nightlife. We want dive bars, clubs, and perhaps some shadier or more dangerous places to really fit the "dark future" setting. Maybe you can go to an NPC Rockerboy's concert. Maybe you can smoke a cigarette to increase your Cool stat...and probably drain your health. The possibilities are endless.

In the E3 2018 trailer, we saw a scene with passengers aboard a shuttle of some sort, apparently above Earth's atmosphere. There are two lunar colonies in Cyberpunk 2020, and considering there are two open world areas in The Witcher 3, it would make sense (and be really, really cool) if you could go to the moon in addition to Night City in Cyberpunk 2077.

Although Cyberpunk 2077 is based on a tabletop RPG that is, in turn, based on the pillars of the cyberpunk genre--like Blade Runner--we hope that it will subvert some of the genre's more tired tropes. Many cyberpunk stories have examined the humanity of AI, for example, while glossing over topics like consent and sex work. CD Projekt Red has certainly proven its ability to tell a variety of meaningful stories across RPG quest lines, and it has the opportunity to move the genre forward with 2077.

Okay, so this isn't the most serious thing on our wishlist. But dogs make everything better, and this official concept art even has a dog in it. Just because the future is grim doesn't mean we can't find something worth living for.