Feel Lucky, Punk?
As if we weren’t already excited enough for Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt Red has sent the hype train into overdrive with the latest instalment of its deep-dive series, Night City Wire. Episode 2 expands on the different weapons you will have at your disposal, the creation of in-game band, SAMURAI, and the Lifepaths players can choose from along with a tonne of new gameplay footage.
Stemming from the game’s tabletop-RPG roots, giving your character their own backstory and lore is a crucial element of Cyberpunk 2077, and with three unique Lifepath options to choose from, CD Projekt Red is making sure every playthrough will feel different. At the start of the game, you will get to choose between starting life as a Street Kid, Nomad, or Corpo – each option presenting different pros and cons.
As a Street Kid, you will know the ins and outs of the Night City crime scene better than most, using your lingo and connections to turn some of the seedier criminals into allies. Nomads grew up in the outskirts of Night City, always on the move to keep themselves and their family safe. The Corpos Lifepath sets you up as an employee of the Arasaka mega-corporation, giving you access to a few more gadgets and toys, but dropping you in a far more cutthroat environment from the start. Each Lifepath will have specific missions and characters, encouraging multiple playthroughs.
One of the characters who will play a massive role in your journey, regardless of Lifepath, is Johnny Silverhand, the lead singer of chrome-rock band, SAMURAI. To help bring SAMURAI and Johnny to life, CD Projekt Red has pulled out all the stops, enlisting Swedish punk-rock legends, Refused, to write and perform tracks for the band. During the showcase, we get to see an in-depth look at how a real-world band embodies a fictional one and some of the challenges that presents. If you haven’t checked out SAMURAI (or Refused) on Spotify as of yet, I highly recommend it – they are fucking rad.
Wrapping up the presentation, we got a closer look at the combat elements in Cyberpunk 2077, with senior gameplay designer Pawel Kapala walking through the three distinct gun types we will be using to cause all sorts of carnage.
Power Weapons are similar to the standard weapons we see in most FPS games, with the bonus feature of ricocheting bullets to pop an enemy hiding behind barriers. If you want to just shoot through the barrier instead, Tech Weapons utilise electromagnets to propel projectiles straight through cover. Smart Weapons, on the other hand, do away with the pesky nuisance of aiming, using guided missile technology to track targets while they try to escape. As with most weapons in RPG games, each weapon type can be modified with attachments and come in different levels of rarity, with the top-ranked Legendary weapons providing a little extra boom. – such as the eight-barreled Kang Tao shotgun with smart-aiming. Oh, baby!
You will be able to explore Night City in just a few months with Cyberpunk 2077 launching November 19 on PlayStation 4, PC, and Xbox One, with Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X versions to follow some time next year.