"Let's do cyberpunk, but conveniently brush over some anti-conservative touchstone's that define the genre."

That's our CDPR.

I hate being reductive, but my first thought after reading that bullet point list was "Huh, so it's a combination of Oblivion and modern Deus Ex". Those are two of my favourite games so no complaints there.

Really did not expect first person, but not really against it. In my mind, this thing was going to be Witcher 3: Sci-fi Edition (which I was more than happy to play) but it sounds like they're really doing something unique.

Man. Assuming that neon-collared jacket in the trailer is starter gear, just imagine how cool the endgame jackets will be!

Love the looks they shared. So damn awesome, and makes me so exited.

The more I've thought about it, I really don't mind the first person. I trust that they will actually follow through with the "plenty of opportunities to see your character" and it will be done in a great way.

Eurogamer had a long breakdown of the closed door demo. Sound exceptional.

As someone that lives their life in the 1st person perspective I have no problem with Cyberpunk being 1st person, in fact I welcome it. Games are always more immersive in 1st person as far as I'm concerned even though I enjoy both 1st and 3rd person games in general.
Everything so far sounds great, read about and watched some interviews about the behind doors demo and everyone seems to by hyped as all hell.
I do feel for people that can't handle playing games in 1st person due to motion sickness or whatever but turning your nose up at it just because eew "another fps" is just silly. Sure CD Projekt Red will knock it out of the park.
Can't wait!

@brendan: How does it remind you of Oblivion?

It looks and sounds straight-up Deus Ex to me. I'm curious to see where they delineate from it, besides the world/tone.

@indure: Reading the Eurogamer impressions I didn't really get many Deus Ex vibes either. The game is sounding to be entirely its own thing. Which is exactly what I am hoping for.

Read a few stories to come out after some publications have seen the demo. Apparently this game is blowing people away. Really hope someone from GB sees it and talks about it soon.

I recommend listening to Austin talking about the demo on the latest Waypoint Radio. The man is glowing.

I love that we're still getting things like "buying soda from a vending machine" in demos.

I did not know there'd be wallrunning. Bullet time drugs, sliding, wallrunning. Everything else makes the sound like an open-world game you can easily just get lost in (lost in the good way). In that sense I get the Besthesda game comparison, but really only in the sense that they're both immersive first-person worlds, but Cyberpunk really seems like some next-level shit. Like, capital "W" open-World.

Between the Eurogamer and Game Informer article there seems to be enough information out there that illustrates a pretty interesting picture of what the game will be like. I like what I'm hearing so far and it puts me more at ease that they're trying to do something unique, but also taking from other similar games like Deus Ex. The dialogue system in particular seems interesting. In the Game Informer article at one point, it sounded like the player's character could die by saying the wrong thing. At the very least, it sounds like dialogue is going to have dramatic twists and turns, which is great. Can't wait to hear and see more.

@theht: I havent read the eurogamer thing but bullet time, wallrunning and sliding are some of my favourite things.

Oh and this.

Hopefully there are drug vending machines too! (Looking forward to seing the names they come up with for them)

@qrdl Yeah hearing Austin and Patrick talk about the demo they saw make it sound awesome. And Austin is like the only person I've heard talk about this who's also familiar with the source material so hearing his positive impressions is cool.

I’m also really glad it’s a first person game. I’m kind of tired of every open world game being third person.

I expect some Eurojank, but I'm worried that this is going to be their first attempt at FPS. For such a big project with immense hype, FPS seems a rather odd choice to undertake and base their biggest game on, particularly given how the genre is brimming and saturated with advances and improvements year after year that it is hard to keep up while keeping down any awkward jank or bugs, even before any RPG elements are laid on top of it.

CDPR hasn't done "eurojank" since the first Witcher. The Witcher 3 was 10x more polished than any game Bethesda has ever made.

https://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/article/j5kkvg/anthem-cyberpunk-2077-battlefield-v-and-much-more-from-e3-2018

Here's the link to the Waypoint reaction. skip over to about 01:55:00

@boonsong:@the_tribunal: @qrdl: Yeah, listening to Austin talk about it took this game from, 'wow, this sounds super good' to, 'holy fuck my guy, how am I possibly going to wait for this???' Like, I genuinely can't remember the last time I was this excited about a game.

I've got a time-stamped link to the Cyberpunk segment, by the way--scrubbing on that podcast player with over two hours on the clock is kiiiinda shitty.

For anyone who hasn't heard it yet, I'd strongly recommend giving it a listen--nothing else I've read or heard from the people who've seen the demo has done a better job of getting across exactly how it felt to see the game in motion, or why it's shaping up to be something so special.

@kirkyx: it's really something. it seems to be embracing the political dimension of cyberpunk stuff and centering class dynamics in both the story and the worldbuilding. i feel like a little kid again being this excited.

@the_tribunal: Yeah, exactly. I mean, going by what Austin said, it sounds like they're doing pretty much the opposite of what @rocketskates suggests up above, and weaving the politics and class dynamics of cyberpunk into everything from the written story, to the absolute fundamentals of the gameplay, like the camera perspective. Now, as he says, you can only tell so much from a 50-minute demo, so it's impossible to say if the final game will stick the landing... But holy hell am I excited to find out for myself!

This segment, where they contrast the response Polygon got in that Division interview, with how a designer on Cyberpunk was willing to explicitly discuss the game's politics, is really encouraging as well.

The segment on Cyberpunk was the first time I've listened to Waypoint's podcast, and other than it being exactly what I thought Waypoint would be from minute one, it was a pretty excellent description of the game and why we should all be excited for it. Patrick saying he feels bad for other games, and Austin describing the UI as the next step forward making all current games feeling dated doesn't sound like hyperbole like it would for most games. The Witcher 3 really raised the bar and still hasn't been even approached in my opinion. Playing Fallout 4 after The Witcher was a very....interesting experience. With Bioware's downfall and Bethesda's lack of any real evolution, CDPR is totally unparalleled in the big budget RPG space. I do wonder if Cyberpunk and Starfield will come out around the same time and how things will look then.

@luchalma: i think their evaluation lends itself to more authority because Austin, like Jeff, tends to be very sparing with banner praise, so when they do freak out over a game, like austin with this demo and jeff with mario maker, it adds something to the equation.

The lack of classes really disappoints me. I was expecting this game to be Vampire: The Masquerade but with a cyberpunk aesthetic and an open world. Now it looks like we're just getting another FPS-RPG loot'em up with rail roaded TellTale dialogue choices, with the open world being a static backdrop. I guess that's all you can do with the RPG genre when budgets are far too massive to not make visuals, animation, and art your marketing tool.

I personally prefer first person when it comes to shooters but I know that for some it can cause motion sickness. Obviously it would be great if you could have both perspectives but they seem to have pretty sound reasons for there choice of first.

For those of you who would have preferred third person, I was wondering how it is you tend to play Bethesda games?

@l3ga: I prefer 3rd person, but Bethesda's 3rd person modes are pretty lackluster to straight up bad, so I still spend most of my time in first person.

I more or less only switch out to 3rd person when traveling across the map, because I like seeing my character in the world. If CDPR's promise of seeing your character in cutscenes and stuff is true that's probably good enough for me to be satisfied.

But if Bethesda games actually had 3rd person modes that felt like a good 3rd person game I'd almost certainly use it almost exclusively though.

@tru3_blu3: I think you've misunderstood what they mean by there being no "classes". They just mean you don't pick a single class (aka Paladin, Cleric, etc) and play that for the duration. "Solo", "Techie", "Netrunner" basically are the classes though, and you mix and match skills from those categories to make your own unique class that fits your playstyle.

An example that comes to mind would be a bit like Dark Souls, where you could start as a "Knight" but end up playing a mage character by the end if you want, depending on how you decide to build your character. Except there seems to be much more depth to each of those categories than just assigning different stats to use a certain weapon type.

@the_tribunal: Definitely. I haven't had much exposure to Austin, but what little I did has left me with a good deal of respect for his opinion on games. I bought Invisible Inc. immediately after that GOTY podcast, and that is not something I generally do. To hear the kind of praise we heard from him regarding a game I'm already super excited about is just going to make this wait unbearable.

Um, what?

This game is literally about a bunch of punkish gangs going against oppressive corporations. If that doesn't speak anti-conservatism, I don't know what can.

I always play Bethesda games in first person, but I don't play those games for the same reason I would play Cyberpunk. Bethesda games generally have pretty bad stories and character development, with core appeal being to explore and inhabit an incredibly detailed world. When the main experience of a game is being immersed in a location rather than being immersed in a story and getting to know characters, I feel like first person works very well.

However with a game like Cyberpunk, while I have no doubt the world will be incredible, the core appeal is a narrative one, be it talking to other characters or experience the core plot. For that type of game, especially when the main character is able to feel more like a real person (which Bethesda has never accomplished), I definitely prefer third person.

So yes, I prefer Bethesda games in first person, but I'd never want to play Mass Effect or The Witcher 3 in first person.

You kinda answered your own question there. It's a character driven RPG, I want to be able to see my character. I also want them to be MY character. Video games are a visual medium, if I'm supposed to be getting into this character, caring about them, investing in them, spending time with them, I want to see them. I don't connect to characters I can't see. I don't even remember who I took in Borderlands 2 and played that for 20-30 hours or whatever. (Steam says 4 so I must've been offline most of the time because I finished it.) Put CoD characters in front of me and I can't tell you which one is Soap and which one is Price. They also put all that emphasis on how important it is your character looks only for you to not be seeing them all the time? Also because it's an RPG, a lot of personality goes into the look. Even in a basic 'My character is goth and wears black all the time' way, that's going to be lost in first person when you only see what they're wearing every 45 mins.

I've heard and read enough now that there are many many reasons to be in first person. Seeing through walls, having crazy AR or scanning going on. The UI being a major part of your character's actual vision and not just things drawn out in the world. Being intimate and close to a world and space just not the same outside of first person. I completely respect the choice. Also, it seems like you see your character a lot in cutscenes and such, so there's that.

I need this game, like now; unfortunately we all get to wait.

That is good to hear. It's stuff like this on why I can't stand closed door demos on highly anticipated games.

@penderton: I totally understand and appreciate the logic, and I feel the same way, to a degree.

What I mean is that it isn't something that would stop me from wanting to play the game. Deus Ex is a character driven RPG and I've always loved that game. The last two Deus Ex games had 3rd person cover but I reckon Cyberpunk will go down a similar path.

My point is essentially that the things that appeal to me about Cyberpunk 2077 are in no way liked to the camera perspective.

Have there been any rumors about the release date?

@mattchops: Something about one of their funds from the government making it due like next june? That seems so unrealistic and if it was a year away I feel like they would've said as much, or atleast "2019". It seems to be wishful thinking with a grain of truth involved, so no, not actually any hard set date. It really appears to be 2 years out minimum.

Leaked audio from the demo. Really only interesting as an addendum to the detailed descriptions of the demo that can be found everywhere, and the quality of the voicework and sound effects.

Part 1 https://vocaroo.com/i/s0fbiFWRw5Ne

Part 2 https://vocaroo.com/i/s09KXDSxxIkF

Cannot stand first person RPGs myself(of course there are exceptions like SMT Strange Journey), but when it comes to western RPGs. I prefer to have a camera with a broad overview of my character and everyone else, especially in the combat. I love Cyberpunk though, it's such a fascinating sci-fi genre. So it's gonna be a wait and see for me.

@mattchops said:

I bet dollars to donuts it will be sometime in 2020. The co-marketing opportunities with the source material are just too good.

@thechris: While having a good perspective is imperative to most RPG combat systems, the fact that this will most likely be a very firearm centric combat system will most likely diminish its importance. What I think most people don't realize about the first person perspective though is how much room it gives them to play with the cybernetics. While they could do AR in a third person perspective it could quickly feel very "gamey". However in a first person perspective they can do a lot of stuff with simulated UI and filtering options that becomes much more impactful because of the perspective. Like say you get flickering effects like the one they used at the conference when you get badly hurt. In third person that would just look stupid.

@hnke: this is actually surprisingly engrossing. The dev commentary combined with the music and sound effects made a real nice theatre of the mind experience.

@ares42: This is such a ridiculous oxymoron to me. Why is it a bad thing that a video game feels like a game? If the game is fun then that’s all that matters. They’ve could’ve easily implemented a turn based system in vein of Shadowrun, or offered a third person alternative akin to Alpha Protocol. Granted, that game had far from perfect combat but I liked how your stats really did affect your combat effiency on top of your dialogue checking skill as well as hacking.

Ok but like...it's first person. You can have a debate on whether you'd like it more or less or think it's better or worse that way, but you don't know specifically about this game quite yet because it's not out and the decision has been made. They thought it was better this way and have reasons to back up their choice.

The perspective argument has been such a surprise to me. I get why people are disappointed but as soon as I heard it was in first person I thought thank god. So often playing The Witcher 3 I wished I could pull the camera in and feel what it was like to walk the streets of Novigrad or Beauclair. I feel like it's so much easier for me to stop and smell the roses in first person. And people assuming the combat being in first person somehow means this is going to be a dumbed down CoD RPG just baffles me.

What I'm worried about more than anything is the create-a-character. What I enjoyed about The Witcher compared to every other WRPG is that Geralt is a fuckin' dude. You can make him say one thing or the other, but he is who he is. That may limit role playing potential but it sure as hell ties the narrative and cutscenes and idle chatter in a way that no other RPG can. Even Mass Effect's Shepard still seems mostly like a blank slate nobody.

But I doubted CDPR when The Witcher 3 was announced to be open world. I was sure that a linear game was required to tell a compelling story, and felt like everything that I liked about The Witcher 2 was going to be thrown out in favor of exploration for exploration's sake. Then they went out and made was has become my favorite game of all time. So I don't think I can really doubt them anymore.

This game looks like a worthy successor to the original Deus Ex.

@vortextk: I’m gonna assume this post is aimed at me. I made a note that the game is a “wait and see” for me, as the first person perspective turns me off it. Haven’t written it off completely.

Yeah, when I heard that it was first person, I thought they misspoke, but that's cool. I love third person games, but to be honest, I'm very excited to see what this game looks like even more now. The titles that people are comparing it to has me excited, like weaponry almost feeling like the first Crysis, or Starbreeze games' fps' with world detail of things like Deus Ex but on a much grander scale. It seems like they're pushing the immersion to the next level, where it's still an open setting that you can explore, but has the detail of the best linear single player games. Plus, I love The Witcher so almost everything is pointing to a game that I would love. I can't wait to see the gameplay.