CD Projekt Purple desires Cyberpunk 2077’s sequel, codenamed Orion, to bear an analogous evolution to that of The Witcher franchise.
Talking to PC Gamer, narrative director Igor Sarzyński in contrast the expansion between 2007’s The Witcher and its 2011 sequel, Assassins of Kings, with CD Projekt Purple’s hopes for its sci-fi role-playing sport franchise.
“Contemplate The Witcher video games and the way a lot they modified with every instalment. We wish an analogous evolution right here,” Sarzyński stated. “Cyberpunk 2077 was our first enterprise right into a futuristic-sci-fi world with a ton of recent gameplay mechanics, narrative tone, themes, and artwork path.
“A few of the stuff labored virtually proper out of the field, such because the artwork, metropolis design, music, interactive scene system, playstyles,” he continued. “Different elements took extra time to get proper, like character development, NPC interactivity, and optimization.
“That’s pure; it’s inconceivable to nail every thing in your first strive. Now with all the sport parts iterated and dealing nicely, we’ll deal with connecting them even tighter and making a coherent, whole immersion expertise.”
Little is thought about Orion, although it is to be led by Cyberpunk 2077’s Phantom Liberty enlargement director Gabe Amatangelo. Virtually every thing else, together with if CD Projekt Purple will make it first-person or third-person, continues to be up for debate.
A leap as outstanding because the one between The Witcher and The Witcher 2 will surely be formidable, in fact, as whereas the unique 2007 sport was well-received, CD Projekt made an enormous leap between it and its 2011 sequel, and much more so to The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which is mostly thought-about probably the greatest video video games of all time.
Cyberpunk 2077’s sequel continues to be years away, in fact, as CD Projekt Purple is at present specializing in the subsequent Witcher sport, Polaris, which might be launched in 2025 on the earliest. Orion might be developed on the firm’s new North American studios, that are nonetheless within the means of being constructed.
Growth on Orion has formally begun, nevertheless. CD Projekt’s chief inventive officer Adam Badowski stated throughout the firm’s 2023 Investor Day presentation that the sequel has entered a “conceptual design stage”.
The Investor Day presentation was a comparatively busy one for CD Projekt, although maybe not as busy as 2022’s when the corporate introduced 5 new video games. However, the developer did reveal a live-action Cyberpunk undertaking, confirmed Cyberpunk 2077 had surpassed 25 million items offered, and that CEO Adam Kiciński was stepping down.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll discuss The Witcher all day.