Highlights
- Update 2.0 and Phantom Liberty have improved Cyberpunk 2077, raising it to the expected standard and enhancing the immersive story and characters.
- Fans are curious about the future of the confirmed sequel, Project Orion, and how it will outdo its predecessor.
- The sequel should consider adding third-person cutscenes, impactful choices, a morality system, and more meaningful background paths to enhance the overall experience.
Cyberpunk 2077 has come a long way since its release in 2020, with many fans sharing mixed views and opinions on the matter. This stemmed from its unstable release on all platforms juxtaposed with its immersive story and characters, which have all now been raised to the expected standard and more, with Update 2.0 overhauling the core experience, and Phantom Liberty doubling down on its incredible narrative.
As the aforementioned new story expansion will be the one and only major DLC for Cyberpunk 2077, fans will now be wondering what this means for the confirmed sequel currently known as Project Orion, and how many new implementations will be made based on its predecessor in the attempt of outdoing it.
5 Third-Person Cutscenes/Perspective
As much as Cyberpunk 2077 works very well within its first-person perspective in the aspect of immersion during gunplay, dialogue, and perhaps allowing players to place themselves in the shoes of V to a greater extent, there are still players who feel that third-person will elevate the experience. When it comes to character creation and cosmetics in CD Projekt Red's open-world title, it excels at providing numerous options for players to choose from, standing as an impressive aspect of the experience.
While this is the case, for the large majority of the gameplay experience, players will be locked into the first-person perspective aside from traversal moments using vehicles. In the upcoming sequel, developers should certainly look to include third-person cutscenes as an option at the very least, with the potential of replicating this in the aspect of gameplay.
4 More Impactful Choices
When looking at the likes of CD Projekt Red's previous work in the lead-up to Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 3 Wild Hunt stood as a fan favorite with its narrative and character immersing players. Every single choice players made when speaking with Ciri playing as Geralt of Rivia maintained a pivotal role in the ending of each player's playthrough. While Cyberpunk 2077 also contains multiple endings, these are only important right at the end of it all as opposed to including the impact of every choice made prior.
With its sequel Project Orion, the decision to follow in the footsteps of The Witcher 3 and its choices containing an impact on plot points and double down on this could single-handedly elevate the entire experience for players, giving them another reason to pay close attention to their actions and choices made throughout the game.
3 Morality System
Speaking of choices made throughout the entire experience, Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption 2 serves as a perfect example of such a system, where every choice specifically those made during free roam maintains an impact on Arthur Morgan's ending. Whether players choose to be an outlaw and kill anyone in sight, or act as law-abiding citizens, it will all be noted down on the game's morality system, even changing Arthur's behavior with other characters.
While it won't make or break the experience of Cyberpunk 2077's sequel, the introduction of a morality system in one form or another will improve immersion levels allowing players to realize that every action has its consequence, which is part of why Red Dead Redemption 2 was so successful.
2 Meaningful Background Paths
With the three life paths available as Corpo, Street Kid, and Nomad in Cyberpunk 2077, these have very little impact on the overarching story of the game. Many expectations during its reveals before release, were that each life path would contain plot points that would differentiate between the others potentially providing endings of their own.
Aside from new dialogue options, different conversations with Johnny Silverhand, and the prologue of the game, life paths hardly have much of an impact in Cyberpunk, which was a huge part of fans' disappointment. Despite there being no arguments over how engaging the narrative is as CD Projekt Red has formed a great story experience, there is also no doubt that fans will be hoping that life paths or the equivalent in a sequel, will play a deeper role and allow players to feel the difference between each one.
1 Cutscenes For Ripperdoc Changes
When speaking of immersion in any open-world game with the likes of Cyberpunk 2077, many expect every fundamental of the game to work together seamlessly. Whilst it is not a dealbreaker, the omission of cutscenes or anything along the lines of a visual showcase of V receiving an adjustment to his or her body while at a Ripperdoc, feels like a positive addition that is missed. These are sometimes present during missions in the game's main story, where V must undergo one form of a Ripperdoc operation or even witness other characters lay on an operating table as it occurs, which certainly does a great job at setting the scene of the Cyberpunk world.
If the announced sequel maintains all the aspects of its predecessor, specifically within the region of body modifications, it would be heavily beneficial if developers could include special cutscenes or short sequences that show each body adjustment taking place.
Cyberpunk 2077's sequel Project Orion is currently in development.