Well folks, as you see from the title I’m a fan of the idea of the cyberpunk genre. In a previous article, Transmetropolitan And The Loss of Cyberpunk Comics I had discussed the loss of the comic book, and incidentally, for quite a few years, cyberpunk in general. I personally thought of the CyberPunk genre as a great, and in some ways, superior to the normal fantasy or dystopian future story-lines. I find that in this format it allows more freedom of invention and story-line then either 2 could ever find. I mean it’s futuristic steam punk, how is that not cool?
So CD Projekt Red felt the same way I do about CyberPunk and the limitless potential of story and world that was contained in this awesome and little known pen and paper RPG Cyberpunk 2020. I unfortunately cannot speak to playing the pen and paper RPG but this writer is definitely on the search for this and give it a run through. I know with what CD Projekt is doing it’s gonna be probably pretty fun. I have always loved the Shadowrun idea for an RPG the idea of piloting a flying car through a mega city oddly appeals to me. And don’t even get me started on firearm and team tactics.
So, here we have a leap forward it what seems to be a couple different genres. The genre had died in literature as a popular subject, switching to more of a zombie apocalypse or just dystopian survival in general. But with this emergence of such a boundary pushing game, my hope is people will begin to really take this future seriously. I mean, in a lot of ways, the cyberpunk future is the one most likely to happen. In Transmetropolitan, they discuss matters like the people who froze themselves to get woken up and cured, or people who turns themselves into NanoBots and are thus immortal. All very interesting, and in some way really possible.
So this game, and company, both have been on the most unorthodox of items in the gaming world. Firstly, the company scooped up an almost defunct RPG and are investing a massive amount of time and scope to a game that 2 weeks ago, people wouldn’t have even known more than that it was being made. Now I search on the internet, and sweet Jesus, let’s reel the hype back in just a little bit. Now this game-play video was boss, don’t get me wrong, but the extent to which reviewers are taking this 48 minute “game-play” video a little too far. Remember that awesome super wicked great game No Man’s Sky? Exactly.
I’m impressed by everything that I have seen of course. This game is trying to actually create a living city in a way that we won’t understand until we see it. I know I’m being cynical, but damn, somebody has to pull these reviewers away from their drool puddles. And I’m not saying CD Projekt Red is lying or going to pull some type of fast one on us. I believe the opposite actually. But it needs to be looked at objectively, because this has happened so many times before. Because, not only did the reviewers say that NMS is hyped up, but also they were for sure “hyped up for a good reason”. I also believe everybody was a little too hard on old NMS. But that’s another article completely.
I actually liked the fact that they repeated over and over that “this is not the final look of the game.” And I remind all those that read this, don’t even expect that mission in the game. We really don’t how “scripted” that mission really was, and who knows, maybe Projekt doesn’t want people to see the same mission twice. So not tricking us, but they do need to showcase their world in a way we get excited, so did they pick and choose? Obviously.
Now back to the drool worthy parts. They are stating crowds that are living real lives with unique conversations and action happening that doesn’t involve us. That’s the first thing that impressed me. If they can make a city act like a city, they got something impressive. So that’s the first thing when I play, I’m paying the most attention too. The graphics goes without saying are amazing, you can’t have a triple AAA game like this with anything but. According to BusinessInsider.com, CD Projekt had a secret message in the gameplay trailer. I’m not going to say what but feel free to find out here. It’s an awesome surprise.
Now, I’m not really super interested in non-multiplayer games. It’s a giant flaw, ADHD and being controlled in my choices don’t really mesh well. This game is one of those that will keep me involved. Before I continue, I will remind my dear reader that a lot of these same things were said about Fallout 3 and it’s genius work with story driven campaigns. So, we know from The Witcher series they can tell a pretty good story with semi-limited choices, this time they are leaving it completely up to you. I mean, living in a giant city, every choice you make really will effect every other choice you make. It’s weird that a lot of rules for small towns work for cities also. Even a place like LA can seem just too small and complicated.
So, with this crowd dynamic they are trying to achieve, I wonder if in the city crowds things you do just walking around will affect your future. Like if you will be able to trigger major events in the beginning by talking to the wrong person. Or if you kill somebody walking down the street when you’re driving, you find out later they were instrumental in whatever raid they were going to do. And he was just a random NPC you thought. That would be epic, and really hard to succeed, I forget occasionally that we play games to escape reality. Not just embody all it’s struggle and problems in digital forms. So limits might be good.
Oh, they are including nudity. Big deal there folks. Well, not actually, CD Projekt wants to keep the fanfare about that limited. They don’t want people to dissect if it’s ok or not. It’s a mature game and it should be allowed, I thought we were past are puritanical thoughts about the human body. And that’s exactly what CyberPunk is all about. This writer’s article can explain this idea of the Cyberpunk genre much better than I. Making the actual reason of this worry hilariously ironic. Check out the article it’s worth the read.
So that’s the synopsis of what everybody knows. Not much. 48 minutes of some of the coolest game-play seen in some time. As the single player FPS genre was beginning to stagnate with the old favorites growing old. Far Cry wasn’t progressing right, we’ve seen everything COD could throw at us single player wise, and the new Fallout is really a dice roll at this point. So the industry needed this, and couldn’t choose a better subject to bring the life into it. Adding a new bionic limb to the body that is single player campaigns. I will continue to watch and update as we find out more about this game.
Oh and by the way, it still doesn’t have a release date.