Source

In other words, it was running at high-end consumer level PC hardware at a very high resolution.

The demo was fully playable, running at a native 4K at 30 FPS. For a game most assumed wouldn't be out for quite a while, that is pretty impressive, especially considering the open world nature of the game. It hints at a release date much earlier than (I assume) most have anticipated, as the demo wasn't just a super polished vertical slice.

I'm really hopeful for a 2019 or very early 2020 release now.

Why are people expecting it to be so far away and out of reach of current hardware? It doesn't look to be any better than Metro Exodus to me.

If it comes out in 2020 then they have been working on it for around 6 years or more so that would be a little long, hopefully it does come out sooner.

@therealseaman: Yeah, it doesn't look any better than God of War or The Last of Us 2 from what I've seen, it might just have more things on screen at once than them, but I'll believe that when I see it.

@deathstriker: where have you guys seen actual gameplay because I’d live to see footage from the behind closed doors demo.

As everyone mostly talks about, seeing like 30 detailed characters on screen going about their day and then just the dense packed city plus the fact that it does look as good as all those games in all facets seems to be why it's such a big deal.

It is funny to see everyone saying "oh it looks the same as all the good games" compared to the people that were there though.

this could be the game that gets me to upgrade, especially considering that they’re releasing new cards this summer.

My takeaway is this: I (probably) won't have to buy new hardware to play this at 1080p.

That works for me.

That hasn't been shown or leaked yet, I'm basing it off the E3 trailer they showed, which I would assume is supposed to be in-game graphics. I believe the game is supposed to look like that, or if anything, the gameplay will look worse than that trailer, not better.

Oh well if it's just discussion based on the trailer then it looked really good to me. It's hard for me to compare those three games to one another really. Like God of War and Last of Us both look very good in different ways. Cyberpunk is supposed to be more stylized and I like that about it, but I'll have to see it actually running to pass any judgement.

That's what years of hype, mystery and secrecy does to peoples expectations.

"Yo did you hear about Cyberpunk? It's years away, so it must just melt computers, bro!"

The press demo must’ve looked damn good because I’ve heard several journalists I follow say with absolute certainty that it must be a next-gen game and that what they saw would not be possible on a PS4 or XBOX One.

@dokaka: I would update your post, unfortunately the article you linked to states the hardware but not the settings for resolution and fps. 4K res and 30 fps deduction seems to be an assumption on the part of the person who wrote that very short article.

It doesn't surprise me at all that CD:PR are aiming for using high end hardware for Cyberpunk. All their games have had high requirements to get a decent experience. It has been that way since at least Witcher 2, which had graphics settings way beyond what most PCs were capable of.

Frankly, at this point I'd be disappointed if a 1080Ti was even good enough to reach minimum requirements.

If the trailer is anything to go by, there's simply going to be way more stuff going on at once. The more stuff you have going on, the harder it is on computer hardware. Especially when you have stuff going on that has nothing to do with the player character. God of War looks fantastic but it doesn't really have all that much stuff going on, really, and The Last of Us Part II (again, from what we've seen in the trailer) doesn't have much going on either. Almost everything happening happens to and around the main character.

That the game can run at 4K on a 1080ti gives me a sigh of relief. I currently have a 1080p monitor and a 1070ti. I'll need a processor/RAM/mobo upgrade at some point but that's going to happen pretty soon anyway. If maxed-out settings for an E3 demo at four times my resolution is playable, then I likely won't have any problems running it with a few of the bells and whistles that don't do anything turned off.

It's also probably a lot more detailed and full of features than Metro Exodus. All we've seen for each game is a trailer, but just going by details from E3, Metro Exodus is going to be made up of a bunch of small, controlled open areas and Cyberpunk will be one huge open area chock-full of NPC's, dialog, events, and so on and so forth, and all of those things can have variance depending on who your character is and what you've done. That takes more time, money, people, and computing power than "a shooter with small open areas".

Also Metro Last Light was a 2013 game, 4A has had longer to put its full focus on Metro than CDPR has had to put its full focus on Cyberpunk - remember, Witcher 3 came out in 2015.

Still, if they had 45 minutes worth of gameplay to show the press, then a 2020 release date doesn't sound like an unreasonable hope. 2019 feels too close.

All of is speculation and I could be wrong about any of it. Just my two cents.

None of their games have been easy on the hardware and always top notch graphics, there is no mystery here.

What makes you belive it wasnt a vertical slice?

CDPR has straight up said they were aiming for the game to be a next-gen game. I said this in some other thread as well, but with the way remastering was a success this generation I expect plenty of games releasing in 2019-20 to be cross generational and aim for a next gen release that they then scale down to run on the current consoles. Even if optimizing for two generations is a good amount of extra work it's still way less than having to remaster the whole game.

John Linneman from Digital Foundry mentioned how the demo included lots of roaming around the city, showing off the open world etc. I assume the missions they showed off were further ahead than others (as the game isn't finished, obviously), but vertical slice demos are quite different than what they showed. You could ask questions, they showed things off on the fly to answer those questions etc. Not to mention it was almost an hour's worth of gameplay.

Contrast that to the gameplay we saw from The Last of Us 2 or Ghost of Tsushima, which were clearly highly polished, structured short vertical slices.

It certainly would've looked better than what is possible on a console. An i7 8700k and a GTX 1080Ti are miles ahead of what current consoles are capable of. Hell, it's miles ahead of what the next generation is going to be capable of. But that's where console specific optimization comes in etc.

The resolution and framerate is from Digital Foundry. They were allowed to get a close look of the demo and confirmed it was definitely running at a native 4K, with a (somewhat unstable, mind) 30 FPS cap.

@dokaka: I'm not sure where I heard this (might've been the gamespot stageshow), but when asked something about the length of the game or how close to release it was or something like that they said "we don't know yet", which seems to be a very CDPR approach. Iirc at some point near the end of the Witcher 3 development they decided to add the entire Skellige section of the game. Danny also said something similar to "they aim to make a 20 hour game, then end up making a 50 hour game" somewhere.

@dokaka: I've seen the analysis for the trailer but I don't see their analysis of the hands off demo? Is it available somewhere? Their site is paid wall in spots.

Well, I'd hope it is optimized when it comes out. There's no reason a good, recent PC could should not be able to play this game well at 1080p. It should not be that far away.

This article paints quite a picture of the game, tech wise.

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3281374/e3/cyberpunk-2077-preview-e3.html

"I’m deadly serious when I say: I didn’t think Night City was possible. Not yet, at least. I literally didn’t think the technology existed. What I saw during CD Projekt’s demo was astounding."

I've read quotes about the demo saying the PC it was playing on "would make Skynet blush", and that it was "very clearly a next gen game". Then to hear Vinny describe it, it just looks like a game. So I don't know what to think.

I know, but I haven't seen anything that makes me think current hardware will struggle. They have not shown the scale of Cyberpunk very well yet so it doesn't seem anything special, outside of the aesthetic.

Closed demos for stuff that isn't extremely early is so lame.

Now that is some Grade A hyperbole, sounds like it was written by a tabloid newspaper lol. Nice to know my own PC could also make Skynet blush if the specs of that PC are truly just an 8700k and a 1080 Ti.

Even if CDPR are saying it's a next gen game, that might be right. High end PC hardware like the 1080 Ti is a big leap over the consoles and could be considered next gen as consoles go, but the question is will they release Cyberpunk on PC before new consoles come out? That would be a nice PC perk but I guess they will keep working on it until the mid-range PC GPUs catch up and new consoles come out.

It's still down for a PS4 and Xbox One release, so what gives? I hope the new consoles use same architecture but with better hardware. This should be the last generation of backwards compat not being expected... there's no need for convoluted architectures (CELL) and closed off systems, x86 is the way forward.

@justin258 said:

Yeah, of course the more stuff involved the more processing power and other aspects going on. I think we'll need to wait for gameplay to get a sense of scale, but going by the trailer, it's not that much better look than some of the current good looking open-world games like Horizon Zero Dawn (on a technical level, I'm not talking art style since that's more subjective). CD Projekt Red has said it's a PS4, Xbox One, and PC game. Developers usually show a multiplatform game off on a high-end PC. It might look "unbelievable" on an expensive PC, and just "very good" on a regular PS4 and Xbox One.

Did anyone expect the demo to not be running on a high-end PC?

The game is so far off. Optimization is not the first thing you do. It would probably push systems when it comes out anyways. Zero surprise about any of this.

It would take a big jump to make a legit cyberpunk open world in a game so I am expecting this game to be a beast.

I gotta agree with most of the folks here the trailer, Graphics wise wasn't anything mindboggling it looked like a modern AAA game. And i am gonna guess Metro Exodus is gonna be the harder game to run on older hardware to there studio implementing a lot off "experimental" lighting models.

Wasn't this already confirmed to be released for PS4 and XBO? (https://gematsu.com/2018/06/cyberpunk-2077-coming-to-ps4-xbox-one-and-pc-debut-trailer)

Cyberpunk 2077 will be released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, CD Projekt RED announced during the Microsoft E3 2018 press conference.

I wouldn't be surprised if they go the GTA V route and release a "remastered" next-gen version afterwards (maybe even with a third-person perspective option.)

Based on the trailer I have no idea what games people are playing to consider that a standard "AAA" looking game, but I don't believe that trailer is what the game will look like on release regardless.

God of War is pointed out in this thread but I personally found that game to be extremely inconsistent visually. It went from stunning at times to actually downright ugly in some areas. Time will tell if Cyberpunk 2077 will be able to hold up enormous amount of art asset variety on display in the trailer.

I mean look at this shit:

There's more varied character detail in these 2 shots than most entire games.

@ivdamke: Yeah but varied character design doesn't mean current hardware destroying

God of War was definitely ugly at times but when it looked good, it looked really good

I think it's a little early to talk specs - you figure that once they're feature complete, there's going to be at least several optimizing passes where they pick their target frame rate and target hardware, and see what they can hit. On the other hand, if they are aiming for a 2020 release (which would be appropriate, given the source material), the next gen of graphic boards should be out from both Nvidia and AMD, and they should at least have an idea of what Microsoft / Sony next gen is, so they may push the envelope a bit. Having a 1080Ti as a minimum spec card would be a bit much (that's still a $700 graphics card!), but I can see anybody running Nvidia 9XX or low end 10xx or the AMD equivalents being told "Sorry, you're SOL."

Hell, given what they're trying to accomplish, and that they self publish, it wouldn't surprise me if they decide to go full Crysis on this -- "Yeah, this thing can look REALLY pretty - too bad the hardware to run it maxed out won't be widely available until 2025 or later."

I will say though, if the PC version does NOT release with HDR as an option, somebody at CD Projekt Red has made a big mistake.

@jaytow: Remember the first trailer for Witcher 3?

CDPR has gotten a proper internet witch hunt for their graphics "downgrade" from that trailer to the final game. Still its one of the best looking games this generation if not the best looking.

@ghoti221:I havnt seen HDR done good on any PC games and the monitors are crap, why is that a must have for Cyberpunk?

Also have you tried running Witcher 3 maxed out on anything but a 1080ti?

Running Witcher 2 maxed out is still a feat...

It seems weird that people are surprised at hearing the spec of a demo PC these days. Since Nvidia is in no hurry to put out new cards and Intel’s processor roadmap has slowed to a crawl, I would be more surprised if they WEREN’T using an i7 with a 1080ti. I guess people thought they would be using 3 of them in SLI?

Witcher 3 isn't that bad. Without hairworks, cause come on, 1080/60 on my 1070. Yes if you mean 4k, pushing 100+ frames or adding like 30 graphical overhaul mods and tripling the amount of grass my 1070 is not the card, but regular maxing that game is definitely attainable today.

It's cool that they have it running at that point and that the demo wasn't a vertical slice that many believed that it was. It had me believing that we really could see an early release date for the game. But after reading more on their own philosophy about making Cyberpunk 2077 from their latest on why the game is taking so long. It seems like it could be released anywhere from mid-2019 to almost never.

I'm glad that CDPR is going for quality and their version of the release date of "when it's ready" is such a great departure from the norm of games obviously getting released too early or in the rare case, too late. It just makes me worried that they are far enough to have a working build of the game, but are still willing to cut whole mechanics out and start over again. It just seems like a recipe for a game with a long development time that leads to people getting tired of waiting, fatigue within the studio, and mechanics that they finally settle on feeling archaic, if it does take longer then expected for the game to come out.

I have also have great faith in CDPR though. I remember playing Witcher 1 and seeing so much potential in what they were doing. Then to see all their mechanics get streamlined with 2 and now to see The Witcher 3 be such a mainstream game it's probably like a dream come true for a lot of them. So I may be worried, but I think that if anything they're just super cautious about when to drop the curtain on when Cyberpunk 2077 is going to be released. I would definitely feel more at ease if at Games Con they gave a release date though.

@whitestripes09: This isn't that much different than how they handled the development and release of The Witcher 3. Obviously this is a bit larger undertaking, but CDPR does not have a history of developing vaporware, so I have no worries about it being released as a finished product sooner or later.

Also, I'd say the chance of them revealing a release date at Gamescom is roughly 0%. Unless you mean the following Gamescom. Much more likely is that will be when they release the demo footage to the public.

@deckard: Kinda unrelated in here but Nvidias new cards are comming in a couple of months and intel is spewing out new cpus in full panic mode after AMD entered the market again full steam ahead with Ryzen.

@vortextk: well if you "max out" a pc game in 2018 i kinda expect it to be at least 2560x1440@60hz with all features turned on.

The Cyberpunk demo was running in 4k@30hz after all and thats aimed att consoles. I have no doubt you will be able to run Cyberpunk at 1080@60 with a few gimmick features turned off and a gtx1070.

@rethla: Yes, I know, but hairworks is just stupid. It's not a "feature", it's a framerate limiter. I'm sure I could play the game at 2k pretty damn close. You do not need a 1080ti for the witcher 3 end of story.

@therealseaman: Varied character detail requires a lot more unique assets that aren't modular, usually higher poly and consist of more complex shaders than most things in games. So yea, if there's a shitton of unique NPCs with high levels of character detail walking about (like a lot of people who saw behind close doors said) that does mean taxing on hardware.

@vortextk: and by the same criteria you wont need it for Cyberpunk either, end of story ;)

You should Check out Crysis 3 or any Crysis game they still look pretty good, I don't think this is pushing anything new, most of the graphic innovative technologies in games comes from engine builders them self's.

But yeah it still looks good it just ain't doing anything new.

Also the trailer is build in-engine doesn't mean it would look a 100% the same as those screenshots somebody posted. Take the word "in-engine" with a grain of salt.

@soulcake: well they build their own engines ever since witcher 2 and they like pushing it.

The lighting in that trailer certainly is hardware destroying. It's just not real-time graphics at all. You can fake many effects that will approximate the overall visual effect, especially in dim light with a few pronounced light sources (e.g. TLOU2) but you wouldn't use that lighting model in a game as-is.

I know it's a PC thing to hyperfocus on hardware specs and all, but this idea of games being playable on only one specific setup is just not really the case anymore. At this point, devs aren't focusing on one build; they're developing a scaleable game that tries to optimize varying hardware, from the lowest-end consoles to the highest-end PCs. This is a good thing.

Featuring it in the Microsoft show makes a lot of sense. The One X has already proven capable of delivering some damn impressive stuff visually and technically, and even though the demo here wasn't running on a One X, Cyberpunk 2077 should ultimately be a nice showcase for it, especially with the game currently looking like it's going to slot in the late parts of this gen with enough time to develop it well on existing hardware. It's certainly possible that CDPR eventually does the GTA V thing and gets a next-gen remaster way down the road, but what's to be gleaned from its appearance at the Microsoft show is that they're seemingly making 1) some kind of low-end version for the vanilla Xbox One (and PS4), 2) a mid-tier version for the One S (and PS4 Pro), 3) an upper-middle-end version for the One X (and decent gaming PCs), and 4) a high-end version for high-end PCs.

Smart money is on this game coming out in 2019 or 2020 and looking roughly as good as it can on whatever your hardware is capable of. PC optimization is still a thing and can always lead to some hiccups, but Cyberpunk 2077 seems to be slotting right now where it should. It's nice to hear that the demo they showed was eliciting oohs and aahs on the most beastly of hardware, but that doesn't mean it can't or won't look good or run well on anything else or that it can't be coming out anytime in the near future; it just indicates that they're doing some impressive things on the higher-end. CDPR has a good enough track record to trust in at this point, IMO.

@rethla: the E3 demo was done in Unreal, makes sense since REDengine isn't known for making FPS games.

We're getting a bit lost in the weeds talking about specs.

The important thing that I took from this is there is already a level of polish that usually doesn't present itself until late in a game's development cycle. I'm still holding out hope for a 2019 release.

What? Source?

I thought they showed the game in english.