After an impressive E3 2018 appearance, everyone has been eager to hear more about CD Projekt RED’s upcoming first-person role-playing game Cyberpunk 2077. Luckily, PC Gamer spoke with level designer Max Pears, who touched on the evolution of the game’s dialogue system (from The Witcher III: Wild Hunt) and how the ‘cool’ stat influences it.
“The cool stat! For example, it’s going to unlock certain things that you might not have been able to do, certain options when dealing with situations,” he said. “Or, another example, the vendors that you have, the ripperdocs, if you have that cool and street cred level, they might bring down certain weapon prices or unlock certain weapons you might not have had there. So it is an integral part of it. It’s also a throwback to the original tabletop game as well. So we are thinking of—forgive me for saying this—cool ways to use it. It’s going to be an important thing for sure. It’s definitely a way to help interact with people.”
“We’re still in the process of designing this, but we want to feel that continuous flow,” he continued. “Going back to the coolness points, that might unlock options in the dialogue system that you might not have had. We want to treat this definitely as important. The Witcher had a really good one as well, and the team, again, they’re looking at constantly taking it up a notch. So we’re doing some really nice things there.”
Pears also spoke on side missions that explore stories that overlap between main characters—which Witcher 3 was praised for—and the team’s plans to bring them back due to fan demand.
“It’s exciting to hear that’s what people want, as well,” he said. “Something you do in a side mission might impact a main mission. It’s not about establishing ‘this is more important, and this is less important’ because it’s main or secondary. All of these, especially from our writers’ perspective, are offering an insight into that world. So we really want to show that in all the ways. And again, try to elevate it from The Witcher. So we’ll be looking into things like that for sure.”
Cyberpunk 2077 is scheduled for release on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. No official release date has been confirmed, but CJ Projekt RED has assured fans that there will be constant updates for the highly anticipated game.