Cyberpunk 2077 release date: Possible 2019 release date leaked

Unsurprisingly, Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt Red’s upcoming RPG, isn’t actually going to be released in 2077. In fact, despite the developer’s silence on the matter, it seems as if we may see Cyberpunk 2077 a lot sooner than many may have expected.

Previews and trailers shown at E3 2018 were overwhelmingly positive, generating lots excited . However CD Projekt Red has stayed silent on one crucial detail — its release date.

In a CD Projekt Red blog post, the developers announced that Warner Brothers would be the North American publishers. Fans quickly noted that Warner Bros were announced as NA publishers for the later Witcher games a year or less before release, hinting that Cyberpunk 2077 will be out before the end of 2019. So far, European publishers haven’t been announced.

In addition, Bandai Namco have been announced as the publishers in Europe. They too published The Witcher 3 in Europe, and since have published SoulCalibur 6 which featured Geralt from The Witcher 3, so clearly there’s good blood between Bandai Namco and CD Projekt Red.

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It remains to be seen if this speculation and pondering is well placed, or will simply turn out to be hugely misguided. Either way, if you’re as excited as us for Cyberpunk 2077, read on to find out everything we know.

Cyberpunk 2077: Everything we know

Cyberpunk 2077 release date: When can you play Cyberpunk 2077?

Although recent rumours could suggest a 2019 release, CD Projekt Red has remained deliberately vague on a release date. Since debuting the first teaser trailer in 2012, the developer has repeated that the game will be released “when it’s ready”.

Cyberpunk 2077 setting: What is Night City?

Cyberpunk 2077 takes place in the open-world environment of Night City, a neo-futurist metropolis based on the board game Cyberpunk 2020.

Night City is made up of six distinct districts, with the demo area at E3 simply showcasing one part of an area called Watson, where a fallen corporate giant once stood. Other areas include slums, lavish mansions and even some open space. “The districts should all feel distinct,” quest designer Patrick Mills explained to Eurogamer. “Some of them may feel a little bit more sedate. They aren’t. It’s just hiding. Those places are just as dangerous as everywhere else in Night City”.

In terms of scale, CD Projekt Red won’t really compare just how big Night City is to The Witcher 3‘s map. Mills explained that Cyberpunk 2077 is “very vertical. You’ve got a footprint in Witcher 3 and that’s it. But our game just goes up and up and up and up. So we can put a lot of stuff in there. It’s going to be really dense.”

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One intriguing aspect of Cyberpunk 2077 is that it could be in a variety of languages at once. In 2013 CD Projekt RED’s narrative and setting director, Sebastian Stepien, mentioned the possibility of having NPCs speaking in different languages – with the player needing a translator implant to interpret what people are saying.

Cyberpunk 2077 characters: Who can you be?

You play as “V” – an urban mercenary who takes on dangerous jobs for money. V is a custom-made character that offers you complete control over all attributes. You can put points into various skills to carve out a particular role in the world for your character, as you’d expect from any traditional RPG based in a wold of table-top gaming. So, it’s very much true to the series’ pen-and-paper RPG roots, tailoring in-game experiences to your decisions around the “life path” you pick for your character, along with your gender and appearance.

Because Cyberpunk 2077 plays out entirely in first-person, lots of options and menus appear as an overlay onto your vision. Some of these overlays come from the jacket V wears thanks to an embedded into the collar is a screen that relays stats back to you about how you’ve been playing and which tasks you’ve done in the world. By completing these Night City tasks you’ll earn “street cred”, which can be used to unlock extra content across the city.

Cyberpunk 2077: Features

There’s a lot of expectation riding on Cyberpunk 2077. Not only is it CD Projekt Red’s latest title since The Witcher 3 – widely regarded as one of the best video games ever made, its new project is also based on a tabletop roleplaying game that’s been capturing imaginations with tales of leather jackets and neon lights since 1988.

The Cyberpunk tabletop universe was created by Mike Pondsmith, who’s now a consultant on the project. Pondsmith’s RPG, mainly known by its second edition name of Cyberpunk 2020, is based in a sprawling fictional metropolis on the US West Coast, called Night City.

Cyberpunk 2077: First person gameplay

Unlike CD Projekt Red’s Witcher games, Cyberpunk 2077 is played entirely as a first-person game. Because of the use of guns, many are calling it an FPS RPG – something CD Projekt Red isn’t too fond of.

Many are wary about the first-person nature of the game, but as with The Witcher 3, it seems words can be as powerful as weapons, as dialogue trees and branching options are the main modes of conflict resolution.

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A 48-minute gameplay video released by CD Projekt Red shows off many elements of the gameplay, including dialogue trees, combat, stealth and more.

Cyberpunk 2077: Character customisation

Unlike CD Projekt Red’s previous games, you get to customise your character to your heart’s extent. This includes gender, appearance and motivation.

As in tabletop role-playing games, you have the ability to designate a certain amount of allotted points into traits at the beginning of the game, including “cool” and “reflexes”. Hopefully the skill trees and customisation will be fleshed out further in the future.