While the development of Cyberpunk 2077 will likely take some time, some information about the decisions in the game has recently come to light. The actions of the players are meant to have complex consequences.
In Cyberpunk 2077, decisions are said to have more nuances than just plain black or white: Mike Pondsmith, the creator of the original tabletop role-playing game Cyberpunk 2020, recently spoke in an interview about the freedoms of the players and the consequences that arise from them.
Complex Consequences, No “Karma”
Consequences similar to the original: Mike Pondsmith, the creator of the original tabletop role-playing game Cyberpunk 2020, spoke in an interview with the YouTube channel “LastKnownMeal” about the players’ choices that are intended to have complex consequences.
In this context, Pondsmith compares the decisions in Cyberpunk 2077 with the tabletop role-playing game template. Like in the tabletop, the role-playing game from CD Projekt Red is not supposed to have a “karma system” that categorizes actions as good or evil. Such systems are known from Fallout 3 and the Mass Effect trilogy, which classify actions as “Paragon” and “Renegade”.
Instead, the respective decisions in the game are intended to determine how the story unfolds and what happens to the involved characters, according to Pondsmith.
One of the binding philosophies of the game is that your actions have consequences. This also goes back to the original sources in the tabletop game. There is no karma system – good things and so on. But one can quite imagine that if you wipe out a gang member, his gang will remember that and will then want to find you. That is realistic, that is how things really are.
No Black or White: Even in the Witcher series by CD Projekt, the story has developed based on the player’s decisions. The system in Cyberpunk 2077 could be an evolution of this principle.
Karma cannot sometimes be divided into the nice “dark side/light side”. Sometimes it comes and bites you in the butt when you least expect it. We recently joked in the office: You’re driving on the highway and someone cuts you off, so you give him the finger. Then you go to the bank and the guy you flipped off is behind the counter. That kind of thing happens!
Pondsmith particularly liked that the music piece used in the E3 trailer for Cyberpunk 2077 is called “Personal Responsibility”. That has already said everything about the game.
