Cyberpunk 2077 has come a long way ever since its troubled launch and overcame quite a lot of issues, so it’s a wild ride to imagine what the game looked like 12 years ago. On the other hand, The Witcher video game was pretty simple compared to the quick-paced and first-person world of Cyberpunk. Nevertheless, the game was still exciting, featuring a fantasy genre that stood out from the other RPGs of that time.
Later, 2011’s The Witcher 2 took a wild jump with its enhanced graphics that were absolutely amazing, whereas the standard of sidequests in the open world of The Witcher 3 made CD Projekt Red one of the best developers. Now, with the developers beginning to create Cyberpunk 2077’s sequel codenamed Orion, they might be thinking of taking the game on the same path as The Witcher. In an interview with PC Gamer, narrative director Igor Sarzyński said:
Consider The Witcher games and how much they changed with each installment. We want a similar evolution here. Some of the stuff worked almost right out of the box, such as the art, city design, music, interactive scene system, playstyles. Other aspects took more time to get right, like character progression, NPC interactivity, and optimization. That’s natural; it’s impossible to nail everything on your first try. Now with all the game elements iterated and working well, we’ll focus on connecting them even tighter and creating a coherent, total immersion experience.
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty and the 2.0 update might be the beginning of the evolution Sarzyński was discussing, especially since the game received major overhauls to the game’s loot system, completely new vehicular combat, player skill tree, and police AI. Not only this, but Phantom Liberty also introduced some new perks that add superpowers on top of a player’s pre-existing skills.
What's the development status of Cyberpunk 2077's sequel?
Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait quite a long time for Cyberpunk 2077’s sequel to launch since CD Projekt Red is busy working on the next Witcher game called Polaris, which is set to release in 2025 at the earliest. However, you'll be pleased to know that the development of Orion has officially kicked off.
During CD Projekt Red’s 2023 Investor Day presentation, the company’s chief creative officer, Adam Badowski, claimed that the sequel has entered a "conceptual design level." We’re also aware that the development of Orion will take place at the company’s brand-new North American studios, which are currently still under construction.
