Get your 28-baud modem, your spiky hair, and your futuristic spectacles, because someone plans to do justice for the cyberpunk genre.
CD Projekt Red, the developer of The Witcher and The Witcher 2, revealed it’s working on a new role-playing game based on the classic pen-and-paper Cyberpunk RPG from Mike Pondsmith.
Pondsmith is working with the developer to accurately translate his creation into video game form.
“The team has to love the material,” Pondsmith said. “The team has to want to be faithful to the material. The team has to have the skills to execute the material and see that vision through to the end. They have to be on fire with the desire to make an extraordinary game. And that leads to why we hooked up with CD Projekt Red.”
Cyberpunk 2077 takes place in Night City. Denizens of the city rely on advanced technologies to survive, but like any decent science-fiction story, that technology is also a curse.
Cyberpunk is a sci-fi genre that explores worlds where low-life citizens use high technologies in dystopias. Notable works in the discipline include Ridley Scott’s film Blade Runner, William Gibson’s novel Neuromancer, and Warren Spector’s Deus Ex video game.
Pondsmith’s Cyberpunk pen-and-paper RPGs focused heavily on the high-tech weaponry and cybernetic enhancements that are staples of the genre. His Cyberpunk 2020 revision serves as the mechanical backbone of CD Projekt Red’s reimagining.