Cyberpunk 2077's sequel might not be first-person, according to CDPR

Cyberpunk 2077 - now redeemed and somewhat rebuilt after the car crash that was its initial launch - is looking ahead at the even further future. CD Projekt Red have expressed that they have “no regrets” about switching from a third-person camera to a first-person one in the transition from The Witcher to Cyberpunk, however, for future games in Night City, the studio are still undecided.

That’s according to CDPR’s quest director Paweł Sasko, who discussed the changing perspectives in an investor Q&A (Good spot, VGC.) When asked about the transition to a first-person view and about future possibilities, Sasko said: "As creatives, we also need to shift the mindset, not stay in a rut. I don’t want to give you examples, but you know there are many companies or IPs out there that are a bit like line production or copy-and-paste production. We didn’t want that to happen to us.”

Sasko continued to say that after three Witcher games, the team wanted to “do something different,” and overall, he calls the switcharoo a “very successful decision.” What’s interesting is that when talking about Cyberpunk 2077’s sequel - currently codenamed Orion - Sasko says “we’re yet to see.” That’s probably because the project is still on the “conceptual design level right now,” according to Sasko.

For those gagging for a third-person-only Night City sequel, I wouldn’t get my hopes up too high, since the team are also pretty attached to what they’ve done in Cyberpunk and Phantom Liberty. “I was one of the people who started developing the first prototypes of this system for Cyberpunk using the Witcher technology,” explained Sasko. “What we wanted to do was for Cyberpunk to have its own identity and to be noticeable as this different thing.”

Sasko went on to emphasise that point. “We put in a lot of work in preparing this body presence so that it would shine through this first-person perspective,” continued Sasko. “You can see the outstretched hand or outstretched limbs when you’re sitting in a car seat for instance, but that wasn’t what your question was about was it?”

Aside from the robotics and guns and everything generally, I do agree that Cyberpunk’s camera really gives it a different flavour from The Witcher. Maybe it’s that special closeness you feel when a car door yanks off its hinges a few inches from your figurative face. Or maybe (more likely) it’s just the effect of sitting across from Idris Elba’s perfectly rendered (and perfect) face.

CDPR will presumably return to third-person games in their upcoming Witcher trilogy. But how do you feel about a new perspective for Cyberpunk? A toggle between the two couldn’t hurt, could it?