I have always wanted to seeCyberpunk 2077as a flawless masterpiece, but, alas, even the greatest games have their issues.Cyberpunk 2077, in fact, has several issues, all of which are minor enough that they don’t ruin the overall experience, but they do, eventually, start to add up. I’ve never felt like these bog down the game too much, but they’re noticeable, and often more frustrating than annoying. That’s becauseCyberpunk 2077’sbiggest issues are often just moments of missed opportunity or underbaked ambitious ideas.
Case in point,Cyberpunk 2077has a particular mechanic that it never quite fully commits to. It has irked me since the moment I started playing the game, because, with a more refined and in-depth version of this mechanic, it could be amazing. Similarly, without this mechanic,Cyberpunk 2077would be able to thrive in a whole other way. Even theSwitch 2 can’t fixCyberpunk 2077’sbiggest issues, despite its fancy new control options and upcoming updates. No,this issue can only be solved by the upcoming sequel, and it’s a tough one to crack.
Cyberpunk 2077 Is Barely An RPG
It Doesn’t Feature Much Roleplaying
Cyberpunk 2077is not really an RPG.It features what the majority of modern triple-A games call RPG mechanics, such as unlockable skills and stats to increase and tweak, but it isn’t a role-playing game. You take on the role of V, but you’re able to’t really shape them very much. Youcan’t make V a villainor do anything outside the preset narrative, which, while featuring multiple endings, is filled with meaningless choices that don’t affect anything, including the utterlyredundant lifepath system. It is disappointing, especially asCyberpunk 2077absolutely should be an RPG.
After all, it is literally based on a tabletop RPG that is all about role-playing, about creating your own character and choosing from an extensive list of unique classes like Rockerboy and Media.Prior to launch, CD Projekt Red andCyberpunk’soriginal creator, Mike Pondsmith, were drumming up hype for all the ways you’d be able to roleplay inCyberpunk 2077, from how your clothes affected your street cred to the ability to choose from those aforementioned unique classes. However, asCyberpunk 2077’sdisastrous launchproved, none of that made its way into the game.
In a 2017 interview withGame Reactor, Pondsmith explained that all the fun classes from the tabletop RPG would be there, and that he’d be working with the director, Adam Badowski, to find ways of implementing them “so that [players] get the most feel for [their] character.“It absolutely seems like the intention was to include more RPG elements, but at some point in development, they were pulled. Pondsmith explained in the interview:
“Yes. Yes you can. They’re all going to be there, but I can’t tell you more than- You’re going to find some surprises about how we’ve done it, and I think you’re really going to like it. There’s a lot of subtly going on there, and Adam [Badowski] and I spent literally, like I said, a whole week messing with some of the ways of implementing that, so you get the most feel for your character.”
Night City’s major limitationsare also proof of this, as there’s barely any way of interacting with it beyond completing side missions and occasionally getting into scrapes with cops. While many will point to the aforementioned unlockable skills and dialogue choices as the game’s implementation of RPG mechanics, I struggle to see how that gives you the same level of freedom, or even just a sliver of it, from the original tabletop experience.Cyberpunk 2077is a shallow RPG game at best, but it doesn’t have to be.
Cyberpunk 2077’s Sequel Doesn’t Need RPG Elements
They Hold It Back From Telling A More Structured Story
There is a lot thatCyberpunk 2077’ssequel must improve upon, from basic features to larger-scale aspects of the experience, but by far the most important isCyberpunk 2077’sapproach to its RPG mechanics. If CD Projekt Red wants it to be an RPG, if it wants it to resemble the tabletop experience, then it needs to give players a more flexible character, actual classes, meaningful ways of interacting with the world, and the ability to make choices on the fly, much likeBaldur’s Gate 3did. Essentially,it needs to turn intoBG3with lots and lots of guns.
However, as much as I respect the ambition to become like the tabletop RPG, I’m not sure CD Projekt Red is cut out for it. Were Larian handed the reins and told to make aCyberpunkRPG, I’d have every faith it’d deliver.CD Projekt Red, on the other hand, is far more adept at creating specific narrative-driven games with preset characters and linear story beats, with surface-level RPG mechanics guiding the experience. It is absolutely the best in the entire industry at doing that, and that’s what makesCyberpunk 2077such an incredible game.
CD Projekt Red should stick to what it does best and offer handcrafted, narrative-driven experiences within theCyberpunkworld, much like what the expanded media does.
So,CD Projekt Red should stick to what it does best and offer handcrafted, narrative-driven experiences within theCyberpunkworld, much like what the expanded media does. There is nothing wrong with a more curatedCyberpunkexperience over a video game adaptation of the tabletop game.Cyberpunk 2077doesn’t need to be a free-form, sandbox RPG like what Larian Studios offers; it also doesn’t need to pretend it is one.
It can just be more akin to a JRPG, offering a more static experience within an open-world FPS framework, focusing on a preset narrative, the kind it is an expert at delivering. Yes, the sequel could improve upon the RPG mechanics, and I suspect it probably will in some capacity. Or, and this is the path I believe it should take, the RPG mechanics could just be one of the manyfeatures Cyberpunk 2 should abandon.
Cyberpunk 2 Should Have A Predefined Protagonist
It Should Be A Character Players Don’t Have Agency Over
V is an incredibly interesting character, but that’s not a result of choices I made. They are rash and abrasive, but also kind and vulnerable to those they let get close. These are predefined traits, not ones I chose at the start or even throughout the story.CD Projekt Red’s amazing writing teams crafted Vand merely allowed me to point them in one of a few predetermined directions. That linear approach works well within this context, as it allows CD Projekt Red to write a more concise story, rather than attempting to predict every wild move the player makes.
Cyberpunk 2077’ssequel can use this same framework to explore another facet of theCyberpunkuniversethat those who’ve never touched the tabletop may not know about. A more heavily scripted narrative, rather than one that encourages roleplaying and active decision-making, can more deeply analyze the themes theCyberpunkuniverse touches on, offering a more richly detailed story seeped in fascinating world-building.
Of course, all the superficial RPG mechanics like skill trees and builds can be kept as they help to add gameplay diversity. However, when it comes to narrative, and specifically the role-playing part of an RPG, CD Projekt Red should take control and guide us through a curated experience. I’d rather, with a CD Projekt Red game specifically, be taken on a beautifully designed rollercoaster than attempt to build one myself.Cyberpunk 2077’ssequel is in safe hands, but it would be far better off if CD Projekt Red ditched the RPG mechanics and focused on delivering another heartbreaking story.
