Night City. Towering skyscrapers, neon lights, gang wars, corporate overlords… and us chooms wouldn’t have it any other way. Because what’s a city without its people? And what’s a game without its community?
Since the launch of Cyberpunk 2077, editors on Fandom’s Cyberpunk Wiki have been passionately covering every aspect of the game, from top to bottom. Ever wanted to learn more about the one and only Johnny Silverhand? They’ve got you covered.
And as a celebration of now becoming the official Cyberpunk Wiki, the wiki’s editors had a chance to ask the devs at CD PROJEKT RED some burning questions about the game prior to the launch of Phantom Liberty.
@ArasakaApart : “How much is the wiki used as a resource within CD PROJEKT RED, considering the many connections between the time periods of 2013, 2020, RED and 2077, and it being a community written and maintained resource?”
CD PROJEKT RED: “The Fandom wiki is a pretty good place to get an overview on topics and to help find resources for a deeper look at some subjects. The fact that it’s generally well sourced makes it especially useful for the latter. In terms of continuity we have our own internal guidelines and preferences as to how those things are handled, so in many ways we are less restrained by existing material than the wiki community is. It is a real pleasure to see how the Fandom community chooses to approach those contradictions and ambiguities.”
@ArasakaApart: “The game is getting major overhauls in terms of Skills, Perks and Equipment. Within CD PROJEKT RED, what were some of the favorite Perk/Skill/Equipment redesigns?”
CD PROJEKT RED: “The eye cyberware slot in the base game was, in our opinion, underused. So it’s been really nice to be able to return to this design and give some new functionality to this element — the ability to highlight turrets, cameras and other devices is really cool. On the other hand, if the player doesn’t want to have all that clutter, they can get an eye upgrade that simply doesn’t use that feature. This gives the player greater control over the HUD and UI in a diegetic way, something we’re always happy about when we can achieve it.”
CD PROJEKT RED: “There are, but I wouldn’t want to spoil them here. Finding those connections is part of the fun. As Cyberpunk continues to evolve as a franchise across multiple forms of media, these sorts of connections are increasingly important in fleshing out the world and making it feel real. On the other hand, too many connections can make the world feel small and implausible, so restraint is important.”
@ArasakaApart: “Idris Elba is the new big actor attached to the expansion. Are there any things that CD PROJEKT RED has learned from him that helped create the story of Solomon Reed?”
CD PROJEKT RED: “Idris was an early and- I’m happy to add- eager recruit or convert to the Phantom Liberty cause. But we went to him with a clear idea of who we wanted Solomon Reed to be, and of what we wanted Idris to bring to the role. In the early days of our coop with him, once we’d done the deal , we mildly toyed with the idea of incorporating bits and pieces of Idris’ personal story into Sol’s backstory.
Yet any sort of fame or even notoriety, beyond a very limited group of Sol’s foes, associates or allies, would simply not serve Reed’s profile as a sleeper FIA agent. All that said, there’s no denying Idris brought incredible added value to the role. Status, stature, inborn authority, toughness/harshness (though always principled – he is, after all, a Paladin type personality), vulnerability (when justified by personal bonds) and, of course, his increeedible dulcet tones and nuanced delivery.
I mean, that’s hardly an exhaustive list, either. I could go on. In any case, in terms of casting Solomon Reed, we could’ve searched far and wide and we honestly could not have landed any better.”
@ArasakaApart : “Which elements of Cyberpunk are CDPR developers most proud of in terms of working and pursuing their tasks and passion?”
CD PROJEKT RED: “I wouldn’t be able to pick something that every developer is most proud of, suffice to say that we pride ourselves on a commitment to delivering the highest quality we can. Phantom Liberty contains some of our best storytelling, environmental art, quest design, cinematics, and gameplay that we’ve ever done and every developer here can be proud of what they worked on.”
@ArasakaApart: “As someone also active in the modding community I am curious to know what are some of the favorite additions modders have made over the past 3 years within CD PROJEKT RED?”
CD PROJEKT RED: “Apartment Cats: Custom Cats is a great addition for any cat fanatic, which describes a lot of us here at CD PROJEKT RED.”
@ArasakaApart: “Best Rockerboy: Johnny or Kerry?”
CD PROJEKT RED: “Why not both?”
@Ryon21: “Of all the characters in 2077 and Phantom Liberty, which one would you want to share a drink with and talk about life?”
CD PROJEKT RED: “I think Alex would be great for this sort of chat, and thankfully, Phantom Liberty allows you the opportunity to do so.”
@ArasakaApart : “What were the biggest lessons CD PROJEKT learned from the reception of the base game and how were those applied during the development of Phantom Liberty?”
CD PROJEKT RED: “The biggest thing we learned between the release of the base game and the expansion is a better way to make and release games. We completely changed our production pipelines to facilitate smoother cooperation between departments, and built in more flexibility in terms of finalization and release.”
@ArasakaApart: “Did the addition of Vehicle Combat change the design perspective on vehicles? And if so, in what way?”
CD PROJEKT RED: “There were a lot of things to consider with the new vehicle combat system. For one, a lot of the cars were simply not designed with this feature in mind, like, for example, cars using crystal dome technology or vehicles where the windows can’t be rolled down. To accommodate this we had to come up with unique solutions for each vehicle, like opening the doors to shoot or adding mounted weapon systems.”
@ArasakaApart: “What is/are the reason(s) for Mr. Hands’ altered appearance and voice?”
CD PROJEKT RED: “For Phantom Liberty we wanted to use this character again, but felt like a new personality was a better fit for the story we wanted to tell. We altered the appearance and recast him to support that.”
@ArasakaApart: “With Phantom Liberty adding numerous new weapons, cyberware and fashion items – how many new iconic weapons and cyberware will be added to the game? And will there be any new iconic fashion with unique stats?”
CD PROJEKT RED: “With 2.0 the cyberware and clothing systems have been completely overhauled. Of course Phantom Liberty will also include new clothing, including some unique items that can provide some benefit or small stat boost. In general though, we’ve moved in the direction that clothing should be primarily cosmetic. It’s the end of the clown suit era.”
@ArasakaApart: “Phantom Liberty will be adding new vehicles to the game; so far we’ve only seen new cars. Will there be any new motorcycles?”
CD PROJEKT RED: “There is one new motorcycle available as a quest reward, but we wouldn’t want to spoil how to obtain it.”
@Faalagorn: “The shards in hidden gems in Cyberpunk are a great way to add more to the lore and easter eggs, however, some are bugged and don’t appear, the loot related to them (most notable perk shards and legendary clothing) sometimes appear twice, sometimes change between patches, sometimes don’t appear.
Some have spelling errors and they all fall into the “Others” category making it hard to find them. These, unlike other minor activities, are hard to track as well. Are there any plans to update them in upcoming patches?”
CD PROJEKT RED: “We’re always looking at ways to improve quality of life and fix small bugs like this, if you see something that should be improved or fixed, please check our technical support page and look for the form to submit an issue there: https://support.cdprojektred.com/en/”
Thank you once again to the editors for their questions and to CD PROJEKT RED for taking the time to answer them! Catch you chooms in Night City. For much more on the world of Cyberpunk, check out the Cyberpunk Wiki.
