Did ‘The Witcher 3”s great quest design and plot make the story of ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ seem more lacking? CDPR’s quest director gave his opinion on the linearity of the game.
On the 23rd (local time), ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ quest director ‘Paweł Sasko’ had time to play the game and answer various questions from the players during a regular live stream. Director Sasko, who answered various questions through the chat window before playing the game, gave an in-depth story about his opinion on the ‘criticism that the game is linear’.
Director Sasco made the game linear. In other words, it is a legitimate criticism to criticize that it is a form of simply following a set story rather than player intervention. At the same time, he said that although there are events that affect the main story, main events that lead to branching, and endings that vary depending on the branch, players’ expectations are at a higher level.
Along with this, he talked about the concept of non-linear play that developers have, and the deeper non-linear elements that players want.
An example of this relationship is Goro Takemura, a character in the game. During the game, he is on the verge of death and can be killed or saved depending on the player’s choice. Also, since the story can progress whether he dies or not, the part that decides his life or death is obviously the part where the player’s choice is involved.
However, Goro Takemura is one of the few corporate characters in the game who has a deep relationship with the protagonist V. He is also a popular character who leaves a great impression on players through various dialogues and events. In the end, if there is an option to save Takemura, players will immerse themselves in the story the game created earlier, and most will make the choice to save him.
Even though it is a non-linear play element, Takemura’s choice of survival is forced according to the linear story.
CDPR’s previous work, ‘The Witcher 3’, presented a non-linearity beyond ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ expected by players who encountered the narrative. The events related to the bloody baron in ‘The Witcher 3’ start with a deep connection with the main story and lead to subquests that do not have a big impact. And the gloom and bitterness of the various endings unfolding according to the decisions that each player made as an appropriate choice conveys the power for players to immerse themselves in the game at the beginning of The Witcher 3.
Director Sasko said that ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ is not a perfectly linear game and that ‘some’ of the criticism was exaggerated. However, as if the high expectations of those who played ‘The Witcher 3’ were not wrong, the narrative of ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ was not great, and it was okay, but ‘could have been better’.
As CDPR realizes the story and quest structure of ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ and the differences between ‘The Witcher 3’, interest in what the expansion pack ‘Phantom Liberty’ will show is expected to grow.
CDPR is developing the expansion pack ‘Phantom Liberty’ to be released in 2023. The game unfolding in the new area is expected to deliver a different atmosphere, like a spy, and the appearance of a new character played by Idris Elba is also predicted.
In particular, it was revealed through CD Project that this expansion pack had the largest budget among the expansion packs introduced so far. As ‘The Witcher 3’ expansion packs ‘Hearts of Stone’ and ‘Blood and Wine’ received exceptionally high reviews as expansion packs, it is expected that ‘Phantom Liberty’ will improve the shortcomings of ‘Cyberpunk 2077’.
