After revealing braindances and an anime spin-off, CD Projekt Red returned with a fresh round of Cyberpunk 2077 news. Weapons and news on character classes was the focus for the second Cyberpunk 2077 news dump, and futuristic katanas, semi-machine guns and corporate hardware, we received.
We already knew about the backstories for the three main classes — Corpo, Nomad and Street Kid — and some of their general attributes. If you play as Corpo, your life effectively starts after losing out in an internal Arasaka power struggle. If you’re a street kid, you’ll run into Jackie when trying to boost a car — only for you both to get arrested. Similarly, you’ll run into Jackie during the Nomad playthrough and both be involved in a high-speed chase.
Some of the weapons were also shown off during the preview, although it was mostly limited to the fully automatic pistol which you acquire during the first mission, and some basic melee weapons (bats, katanas) available in the prologue. The stream also provided some details on how Swedish punk rockers Refused came on board to star as SAMURAI, a chrome rock band that appears in Cyberpunk 2077.
The stream began by teasing two new gameplay trailers, quickly showing off Johnny Silverhand singing into a microphone, and a shot of some of the “smart weapons” — guns with advanced abilities teased initially in the very first Cyberpunk 2077 gameplay reveal, but not shown off in the recent round of previews.
The stream started by going through the backstories of each of the three main classes, outlining why each of them ended up in Night City Wire to begin with.
After exploring much the basic stories, revealed in the hands on previews given to press two months ago, CD Projekt Red explained each of the classes would have various opportunities “until the game is over”. An example given of the dialogue choices that pop up during gameplay was during the first mission shown off in the Cyberpunk 2077 gameplay, where you’re trying to recover a prototype Militech bot.
CD Projekt confirmed that the Badlands, the starting area for the Nomads, can be visited by all characters at any point later in the game. Players will be able to drive out of the city whenever you want — although CD Projekt Red developers indicated that the Badlands NPCs will be a particularly high level.
The stream also introduced one of the game’s fixers, which serve as some of the quest givers in the game. Dexter DeShawn was the first fixer shown off during the preview, but in the Street Kid gameplay shown CD Projekt unveiled another fixer Padre, who looks after the Heywood district within Night City.
Interestingly, the gameplay also showed a first-person segment from Johnny Silverhand’s point of view, including a banging guitar:
The new point-of-view was part of a behind-the-scenes with Swedish band Refused, outlining the difficulties of playing as Johnny Silverhand’s stage segments. “We are spending a lot of time to get this right, to sound like SAMURAI would sound,” the lead vocalist of Refused said.
The musical interlude — which ended by announcing that the fourth SAMURAI song would be uploaded by the end of the stream — then transitioned to weaponry.
Wakako Okada was shown talking to V, before we got a look at some sniper attachments, shotguns, throwables, smart weapons, and more:
Pawel Kapala, a gameplay designer at CD Projekt Red, explained that there would be offensive and defensive cyberware. Power weapons have the ability to ricochet bullets, while tech weapons rely on electromagnetic power to break through cover or walls. Smart weapons rely on guided missiles, letting them track enemies who are fleeing or hiding.
It was then explained how V becomes more experienced over the course of the game, improving accuracy, faster aiming time, reload speeds, movement speed, and so on. (As outlined in our Cyberpunk 2077 preview, the player levels up with each of their skills as they use them in-game.)
Legendary weapons will have unique attributes that can’t be replicated by other means — and usually this will involve having to spare or kill a character to acquire such a weapon. The Tsunami Nekomata, for instance, is a sniper rifle with enough stopping power to punch through walls. Smart shotguns are also available, allowing players to track multiple enemies with a single shotgun blast.
The stream ended with a nod towards a third Cyberpunk 2077 livestream, although as before, there was no date given other than “soon”
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