One of the developers involved in Project Orion, the highly-anticipated sequel to Cyberpunk 2077, has expressed CD Projekt RED’s grand vision for the IP. The developer aspires for Cyberpunk to emulate the successful path paved by The Witcher series.
The first Witcher game was released in 2007 and was relatively unknown for quite some time. Even when the series found critical acclaim, CDPR didn’t really make it big until 2015’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The third game in the series is regarded as one of the best games of all time and also one of the best-selling games ever.
In an interview with PC Gamer, CD Projekt Red narrative director Igor Sarzyński talked about Cyberpunk 2077 and how the devs see the game as a first effort for the studio. While the game has achieved great heights after recovering from a disastrous launch, Sarzyński believes that there is still opportunity to grow the IP. He hopes that the upcoming sequel will create “total immersion” for gamers in the world of Night City.
Consider The Witcher games and how much they changed with each installment. We want a similar evolution here,” Sarzyński shared. “Cyberpunk 2077 was our first venture into a futuristic sci-fi world with a ton of new gameplay mechanics, narrative tone, themes, and art direction. Some of the stuff worked almost right out of the box, such as the art, city design, music, interactive scene system, playstyles. Other aspects took more time to get right, like character progression, NPC interactivity, and optimization. ”
Sarzyński says it is impossible to get everything right with the first game and with the studio nailing down the formula over time, the focus will shift to connecting game elements to create “a coherent, total immersion experience.”
We currently know very little about Project Orion other than the fact that work on the sequel has already started. CD Projekt Red has already shifted resources to the project after the release of Phantom Liberty. The company also established CD Projekt North America to work on the game with several core members of the Cyberpunk 2077 team relocating to the United States.
Project Orion will be powered by Unreal Engine 5 in partnership with Epic Games. CD Projekt Red ditched its proprietary REDengine which powers both The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 in favor of Epic’s much more modern game engine. The studio says it wants to focus on developing the game rather than splitting time working on the title and the game engine.
The big question right now is whether or not Project Orion will meet the expectations of fans. Cyberpunk 2077’s revival and the massive overhaul received during the release of Phantom Liberty have set a very high benchmark for the sequel to at least match. We are still a long way out and CD Projekt Red has a lot of time to figure things out. The first thing that the studio will make sure of is to nail the launch and not have a repeat of its mistakes with Cyberpunk 2077.
