Cyberpunk 2077 and the Art of Open-World Storytelling

CD Project Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 was, without a doubt, the most hyped game of the past decade. Since its reveal trailer in 2013, gamers have been anxiously waiting to dive deep into the world of Night City. The subsequent 48-minute gameplay trailer in 2018 only furthered the hype train. It promised gamers an extremely immersive RPG experience and one that would allow you to, “play it as you would like to play it,” said Quest Director Mateusz Tomaskiewicz to Gameinformer. But as with any big project, delays are inevitable and for a game of this scope, it was very much needed.

But to say Cyberpunk 2077’s release was a mess is an understatement. Crashes, game-breaking bugs, lack of content, glitch compilations netting millions of views on YouTube, it was so bad the game became a meme for months. These criticisms were valid and cannot be ignored especially when talking about the last-gen consoles, however, the game’s narrative and the criticisms surrounding that seemed to have taken a back seat.

Starting off on the right path

Right away, the player has to decide what life path they want to have for their V. Corpo, Street Kid, and Nomad. On paper, this idea is great as it offers an aspect of replayability, but anyone who’s played all three knows how insignificant these paths are to the overall narrative. Cyberpunk 2077 at its core, as described on its Twitter page is, “an open-world, action-adventure story.” However, using the Wayback Machine we can see that the game was originally penned as, “the role-playing game of the dark future.” After beating the game as a Corpo and watching the intro sequence for the Nomad, I believe both of these paths are remnants of that role-playing game we were once promised.

It’s actually so strange how irrelevant the pre-montage content is for the Corpo. For one, you know Jackie right off the bat, a merc from the streets that I assumed a Corpo wouldn’t want to associate with. And second, the mini-story about being a part of Arasaka’s counterintelligence and taking care of Susan Abernathy goes absolutely nowhere. Where is the player agency? What happened to role-playing as a corporate elite, doing whatever it takes to climb the corporate ladder? You don’t even get a chance to see Abernathy in person, and according to the wiki she ended up committing suicide. The game wanted me to get to the actual game as soon as possible, thinking I could actually be a Corpo outside the dialogue was a mistake.

Tonally Questionable

In Night City, Corpos are the 1% of the 1%. They’re rich and would never dare be seen walking in the same filth as the rest of the population. Why then, is Corpo V tonally so disgusted by them? I would assume, someone like V who literally worked their way up to Arasaka’s counterintelligence unit would know this and embrace it, even after being caught by Abernathy. Corpo V was once this backstabbing Eddie bootlicker. It's almost like the main story forgets V was once working for Arasaka after the prologue. It would’ve been interesting from a storytelling perspective to see a lamentful V who regretted their choices as a Corpo.

The central dialogue, the ones that push the story forward, fits the Street Kid aesthetic the best. This idea of doing whatever it takes to become a legend in Night City is believable if you came from nothing, like a Street Kid would. But is it reasonable that a Nomad would, a person by definition who is always on the move? What about an ex-Corpo? Would they really want to risk being betrayed again all just to make a name for themselves? Night City is a really fascinating place with a lot of fascinating characters and groups. With these questions in mind, it would’ve more than possible to explore V as a character no matter their background path. It had the potential to be something more than extra dialogue options. What prevented it was the main narrative.

A Ticking-Time Bomb

What ultimately prevents any sort of role-playing is the main story. V is dying, and you are constantly being reminded of it. There is no time to play around, even though you can hold off on completing the final mission for however long you want. That’s why from a narrative point of view it felt odd having so many heart-to-heart scenes with Judy, River, Kerry, Panam, and even Johnny at times, even though those missions were my favorite parts of the game.

I wish the main story could’ve taken a back seat. I think it would’ve opened more avenues of role-playing and give players unique ways of interacting and exploring Night City as a Corpo, Street Kid, and Nomad.