CD Projekt Red recently released a teaser trailer for their upcoming game Cyberpunk 2077. It is a very impressive CGi trailer showcasing the team’s vision for the future project. Given that it is only a teaser trailer, more to announce the game rather than provide an in-depth view of the gameplay or setting, we can’t really take everything shown too seriously or presume it will end up in the final product. Nevertheless, we can try and analyze the video to understand CD Projekt Red’s vision for the game.
Cyberpunk 2077 is obviously a future imagination of Earth with various technological advances and augmentations to the human body. One can assume that this has positive and negative effects. What is shown in the trailer is presumably one of the negative effects of augmentation. Most of the trailer is shown in slow motion, showcasing a female human with likely augmented features facing off against futuristic police officers. She seems to have killed or at least seriously injured a few other people, as we see blood and bodies lying around her. She seems to be in a final stand-off with said police force.
One of the police officers, seemingly someone from a team known as ‘Psycho Squad’ appears behind the woman and seems to be in a great position to apprehend her. Whether he chooses to simply arrest her or whether he has orders to kill on sight remain to be seen. Nevertheless, we get a glimpse of a future event after said shooting incident, where it seems like the female has actually been recruited into that ‘Psycho Squad’ police force. The ‘Psycho Squad’ is said to be a very high-level police force, brought in to deal with only the most dangerous of people who have essentially gone ‘psycho’ due to their augmented bodies. It seems that such a person could also be a valuable asset to the force, given the woman’s strength and capabilities.
Of course, the initial scene could be foreshadowing the future, where the female cop turns rogue and goes ‘psycho’ on civilians. Such a case would also be possible, albeit a bit too typical. No words are uttered during the trailer from anyone on screen, so the context of the trailer is really left up to the imagination of the viewer. Regardless, it does seem to show a future world where humanity is battling with accepting augmented technology as an important evolutionary step for humans. In this aspect, it reminds me very much of Deus Ex: Human Revolution and its core story.
Other than augmented technology, the trailer doesn’t really show any other futuristic technology aside from a hovering police vehicle and really tall towering buildings. Hopefully this will be expanded upon in the final release, and hopefully we’ll be given license to drive one of those hovering vehicles. It does seem like a rather cool mode of transport. It would also be interesting to race in them, ala Wipeout style.
One last mention I have for the video however, is a negative one. For all the beauty of the setting and visuals of the trailer, the music that accompanied the trailer is terrible. Granted this is personal taste, but it did take some gloss out of the trailer. I especially hate it when lyrics are repeated endlessly. It gives a feeling of lack of creativity and while I doubt CD Projekt Red would ever lack creativity after playing The Witcher 2, it doesn’t boost Cyberpunk 2077’s image.
A final note is that the game is unlikely to be released anytime soon. Since this was just a teaser trailer, talk has been that Cyberpunk 2077 might only see a release date in 2015 or 2016. That’s quite a while away. No wonder the trailer stated it would release ‘when it’s ready’. That is a bit underwhelming, but at least it also means a lot of time will be put into the game. The trailer also reminds us to check out other projects that CD Projekt Red are working on. More info will be released on the 5th of February, and many feel that this will be an official announcement for The Witcher 3. And you know what, if true, that was probably the best bit of news from the trailer.
If you haven’t watched the Cyberpunk 2077 trailer yet, watch it below:
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The repeated phrase “personal responsibility” is somewhat annoying from a musical standpoint, but in the context of the trailer, where the struggle is between augmented humans who have actually lost their humanity, and possibly non-augmented humans.
This conflicts with the “psycho” squad who must deal with these “monsters”, some of whom may be close to losing their humanity themselves, in the pursuit of protection of the innocent.