Cyberpunk 2077 was one of the most highly anticipated games of 2020, and also turned out to be one of the biggest disappointments for many people. The game was hyped up for years, and gamers were given bits and pieces of lore and images throughout that time. But when the game launched, it did so full of bugs, crashing consoles, and more.
While a lot of the problems with Cyberpunk 2077 have been fixed in the last two years, many gamers have given up on it. It is understandable considering the game's extremely rough start, bad press, and general disappointment for so many people. Despite all the bugs, though, Cyberpunk 2077 has a massive world that is rich in original lore, and has many cool characters and architectural designs. Even though the original game may never get much love and attention again, there is another way to explore all of that untapped lore. Anime studio Trigger and game studio CD Projekt Red are coming together with Netflix to release a brand new, original anime set in the Cyberpunk 2077 world called Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. Edgerunners will give another chance for Cyberpunk 2077's world to be more deeply explored and expanded upon. Here are some of the top things we hope will be featured.
Ripperdocs
In the world of Cyberpunk 2077, nearly everyone has some kind of modification to enhance their abilities or change their appearance. That is part of what lands the game squarely in the cyberpunk genre, after all. These modifications are usually done by underground street doctors known as Ripperdocs.
These doctors with questionable if any medical licenses can change, remove, and upgrade cybernetic implants in nearly every part of the body - for a price, of course. There were several to visit in the original game, including V's friend Viktor. These back alley doctors may have a role to play in Edgerunners as well.
Braindances
A huge part of gameplay in Cyberpunk 2077 revolved around braindances, an original concept for the game. Braindances are a bit like VR, letting people enter a virtual world using a headset to explore their greatest fantasies. They also let people see the memories of others, with the ability to pause and rewind the memory, and zoom in on important details.
Braindances are a really cool cyberpunk concept, and take the VR we actually have to an all-new level. Whether they are used in Edgerunners just as a form of entertainment or to solve mysteries like they do in Cyberpunk 2077, we are likely to see them make an appearance. There's both a legitimate and a black market of braindance manufacturing and sales going on, too, which would be an interesting to explore in more detail.
The Nomads
Cyberpunk 2077 let you choose between three different beginnings for your character in the prologue, one of which was the Nomads. These people live outside of Night City in groups called families, with a culture that revolves around their cars and never setting roots in any one place for too long. Their world is very different from the one lived by city dwellers, and is reminiscent of Mad Max in many ways.
While we get to see a bit of the Nomad lifestyle and world through the side character Panam (and a little more if you chose this as your backstory), there is so much more there to unpack. Especially as only one family actually featured, the Aldecaldos. If Edgerunners does go outside city limits, there are likely to be Nomads. It would be great to see another Nomad family and how their culture may be different from what we have already seen.
The Gangs
Another big part of the universe of Cyberpunk 2077 are the gangs. There are 9 official gangs in Night City, each with certain territories that you are most likely to encounter them in. Each gang has their own unique look and style to them, and their own agendas, and V gets to interact with them all at some point.
V only gets to really spend time with a few of the 9 gangs, though; most of them are just enemies in the streets to fight, and very little is known about them. With such a wide variety of characters, and lore available in books about the game, it gives Edgerunners a lot of source material to pull from. Gangs like Maelstrom, the Mox, and the Voodoo Boys just to name a few have so much more to share with us.
The Backstory
Another thing Cyberpunk 2077 officially has a really detailed and complex backstory that sets up the world as we see it at the start of the game. Unfortunately, most of that backstory is not easily accessible through the game. It's all available in books like The World of Cyberpunk 2077 by Marcin Batylda, and the Cyberpunk RED Rulebook the game is originally based on. There is a reason that things are the way they are, and a real explanation for how Night City got to where it is today.
Edgerunners gives another chance to share and explore that backstory and how it affects the world in a way that the game never did. Players may not know everything really started in 1980 in the story, the details behind the Soulkiller and the Corporation Wars, or the Fall of Night City in 2023. There is just so much information out there, and Edgerunners has a chance to share and explore it more than the game ever did.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is like a second chance for Cyberpunk 2077 to share what it tried to the first time with the world. It is obvious that the writers cared deeply about the world that they created, and that they really worked hard to make something so unique and special. While the original game may or may not ever find redemption in the eyes of the public, at least Edgerunners can contribute something positive.
And for fans of Cyberpunk 2077 who could look past the bugs and just enjoy the story and world, Edgerunners gives them something new to look forward to. It remains unclear if we will ever get more of an expansion of the game as a sequel or even DLC, but at least there is an anime. And who knows; if Edgerunners does well, it could always have multiple seasons.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners will begin streaming on Netflix in September 2022.