Everything we know about the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel Project Orion

There’s a lot more info on the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel than you may think, thanks to a combination of studio statements, job listings, and official announcements. Despite all the controversies surrounding its launch back in 2020, Cyberpunk 2077 proved to be a huge success for CD Projekt. Even before all its issues were fixed, it was breaking records and selling millions of copies.

So, it came as no surprise to hear CD Projekt announce a sequel, codenamed Orion, just two years later. Since then, Cyberpunk 2077 has well and truly redeemed itself in the eyes of most fans, thanks to subsequent updates, the tie-in Netflix anime, and the Phantom Liberty DLC.

With development on Cyberpunk 2077 wrapping up last year, and its staff moving onto the sequel, here’s a rundown of everything we currently know about Orion – or Cyberpunk 2 as some fans call it. Although CD Projekt has yet to share any footage of Cyberpunk 2’s gameplay, there’s a fair bit we can already say about it, thanks to job listings and comments from CD Projekt.

For starters, a listing for a gameplay animator position within the Cyberpunk 2 team reveals the game will use a first person perspective. This was a safe assumption to make though, since Cyberpunk 2077 is played in first person too, with no option for a third person mode.

A separate listing for a senior systems designer mentions a crafting system, which also featured in Cyberpunk 2077 as a means of making and upgrading weapons. That system was drastically simplified in a 2023 update, so it’s likely Cyberpunk 2’s crafting will build upon that rather than the system’s original form.

The sequel is bound to retain Cyberpunk 2077’s open world structure as well, but a senior narrative designer listing suggests CD Projekt wants to improve upon it with open world events. Some players found Cyberpunk 2077’s setting of Night City too static for their liking and were left underwhelmed by how little there is to do outside of side quests. It has some events that can randomly trigger, but these are limited to gangs attacking you and, in the DLC, two repeatable quests.

It’s an element that could certainly be expanded upon with a sequel and help address those aforementioned complaints, bringing the open world more in line with ones seen in games like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 and Red Dead Redemption 2. CD Projekt is certainly looking to push the boundaries of what open world settings are capable of, with a lead encounter designer listing talking about creating ‘the most realistic and reactive crowd system in any game to date.’.

This could be tied to the world events, allowing for non-player characters to react in a variety of ways to any random occurrences in the open world, as well as to the player’s actions. As for the story, that’s something CD Projekt is eager to improve upon with the sequel. Cyberpunk 2077 does have a branching storyline, but the three lifepaths (as in the backgrounds for player character V) you can choose at the start of the game have little to no influence on how the story unfolds.

In 2023, narrative director Philipp Weber (who is currently working on The Witcher 4) acknowledged this and said this is a detail that could be addressed with Cyberpunk 2. ‘I do think there are things with, for example, the life paths, that kind of gives you a promise as being able to play more different kinds of characters,’ said Weber on CD Projekt’s own AnsweRED podcast.

‘I think this is a thing where, in the future, that’s as an example something we would like to improve. Since I do think we gave a promise there that maybe in the end we did not really sell.’. In a 2024 interview with Aftermath, associate game director Paweł Sasko discussed ensuring the sequel doesn’t invalidate whatever choices players made in the first game, while also following up on the stronger reactions to player choices seen in Phantom Liberty.

It also sounds like Cyberpunk 2 wants to double down on the first game’s interactive cut scenes as a now deleted job listing for a lead cinematics designer (via TheGamer) talked about, ‘crafting highly interactive cinematic sequences using animation libraries and motion capture, creating a unique fusion of film and game.’.

Barring the ending, Cyberpunk 2077’s cut scenes were entirely told in-engine, from a first person perspective. The sequel may be moving away from that if it’s taking more influences from film, but that’s pure speculation at this point. In early 2024, CD Projekt confirmed a number of Cyberpunk 2077 staff members who would be spearheading the sequel. Those staff members are:.

In addition, they’ve been joined by a handful of games industry veterans, which includes:. The project is being handled by CD Projekt Red North America (CD Projekt’s American subsidiary), which consists of studios based in Vancouver, Canada and Boston, Massachusetts.

In a podcast discussing the Boston studio, Dan Hernberg expressed hope that this development will help Cyberpunk 2 feel more authentically American as opposed to the first game, which had some minor details in its setting that gave away that it was made by non-Americans.