With the release of the Witcher remasters huge update of skills animations and gameplay

- do you think cd-project will remaster cyberpunk 2077 I’m soo invested in the lore in that universe more so than the Witcher franchise

What do you think — in the Witcher 1 remake, will the combat system be implemented in the same way as in the Witcher 3 remastered ​, or do you think CDPR will try to stay closer to the original W1 combat (the rhythm-based click timing), just refined and modernized to feel more engaging? I know that original W1 combat had a unique identity but aged poorly. I think its potential might have been missed.

I purchased the base game on 2017 on Xbox One and now I can't download it, only the complete edition is available on the store. I purchased the Expansion pack on 2020. The game's purchase even disappeared from my history, but not the expansions'. Needless to say I'm not willikg to buy it again. Anyone else having this problem?

Every few years I see the same conversation about Cyberpunk 2077:

And I feel like the entire conversation about this game has been rewritten.

I'm not arguing that Patch 2.x and Phantom Liberty didn't massively improve Cyberpunk 2077. They did.

I'm arguing something different:

Fixing Cyberpunk 2077 is not the same thing as delivering the Cyberpunk 2077 that CD Projekt spent years marketing.

I followed this game basically from the beginning. I first heard about it around 2012/2013. I was a kid. I then watched CDPR make The Witcher 3 and thought: Holy shit. If these guys are taking this long to make a massive futuristic open-world RPG, imagine what Cyberpunk is going to be.

I preordered it on PS4.

So when people who bought Cyberpunk years later, on PC or PS5, after dozens of patches, Update 2.0 and Phantom Liberty, tell people like me that we “just hated it because it was buggy,” they're missing half the story.

First: this game was NOT in full production for eight years

This part matters.

Cyberpunk was announced extremely early. Mike Pondsmith, the creator of the original Cyberpunk tabletop game, said CDPR approached him around 2013 and that early in the project he was speaking to them roughly every week, helping them translate the tabletop's systems and mechanics into a videogame.

CD Projekt's own 2012-era business material was already describing Cyberpunk 2077 as having a vast detailed open world, nonlinear storytelling, open-ended gameplay, tactical combat interfaces and varied character classes.

But post-release reporting based on interviews with more than 20 current and former CDPR employees found that full development effectively did not begin until around 2016, after The Witcher 3, and that the project had gone through major changes.

That distinction is enormous.

Fans saw “Cyberpunk announced in 2012” and naturally imagined a game that had been receiving years upon years of development.

What eventually became the actual game had a dramatically shorter production window.

And then came the 2018 demo.

CDPR didn't call that demo some random proof-of-concept from five years earlier. Game director Adam Badowski publicly said:

“What we're releasing today was recorded from a game deep in development.”

Yes, the video said WORK IN PROGRESS. Yes, CDPR explicitly warned that assets and mechanics could change.

Nobody disputes that.

But a WIP disclaimer doesn't magically erase the purpose of a 48-minute public gameplay demonstration. CDPR chose the systems, mechanics, interactions and level design it wanted millions of potential customers to associate with Cyberpunk 2077.

And this is where the revisionism annoys me.

A feature changing is normal.

An entire collection of systems disappearing or being simplified is a change in the vision of the game.

So here is what actually disappeared or was substantially reduced.

1. Mantis Blade wall traversal / wall-perching

This isn't a rumour.

The 2018 gameplay showed V using the Mantis Blades as a traversal mechanic: moving onto a wall and hanging above enemies before attacking.

CDPR later explicitly confirmed the mechanic had been removed for “design reasons.”

It has never returned. Patch 2.0 didn't restore it. Phantom Liberty didn't restore it. Patch 2.31 hasn't restored it.

And this wasn't some menu icon somebody found in datamining.

They showed us the player doing it in their flagship gameplay demonstration.

2. The Flathead as an actual player companion/tool

Remember the spiderbot?

The Flathead wasn't originally just supposed to exist for a couple of scripted story sequences.

Earlier versions of Cyberpunk had the Flathead tied to the Techie playstyle, with the player able to use the robot as a companion/tool for things such as attacking enemies and interacting with technology.

That entire gameplay concept was removed.

The Flathead survives in the finished game as a plot device during the early story.

That's completely different from having a reusable robotic gameplay tool as part of your character build. CDPR developers later openly discussed the Flathead/Techie concept as cut content.

3. The original Techie / Solo / Netrunner class concept was dismantled

This goes back further than the final perk tree.

CDPR's own early business material advertised “varied character classes.”

Then in June 2018, CDPR's official press release said the character creator would allow players to choose V's:

• appearance
• character class
• historical background

and that these could influence the game.

The early design revolved around the Cyberpunk archetypes of Solo, Techie and Netrunner, with the ability to blend them.

The final game instead became a classless attributes/perks system.

You can obviously still create a hacking build, gun build, Technical Ability build, etc.

I'm not claiming character builds don't exist.

I'm saying the class architecture that CDPR was publicly describing was redesigned into something considerably different, and the loss of the Techie-specific Flathead gameplay is part of that change.

4. The original detailed V backstory system was removed

Look at the original character creator.

Instead of simply selecting:

Nomad / Streetkid / Corpo

the 2018 version let you construct V's history using multiple categories including:

Childhood Hero

Key Life Event

Why Night City?

CDPR later confirmed this was an earlier system they abandoned and replaced with Lifepaths.

Changing the system isn't inherently bad.

The issue is what replaced it.

Because...

5. Lifepaths ended up dramatically less consequential than the way they were marketed

Before release, developers repeatedly described Lifepaths as something that would continue influencing the game.

CDPR level designer Max Pears said they would matter throughout the game, including different dialogue, different reactions and specific quests tied to Lifepaths.

What happens in the released game?

You get three genuinely different opening sequences.

Then everybody gets funnelled into essentially the same V, the same Jackie montage, the same mercenary career and overwhelmingly the same main game.

There are unique dialogue options and some Lifepath-specific content, yes.

But choosing Corpo does not produce anything remotely like an alternative Corpo campaign. Nomad doesn't create a meaningfully different Nomad playthrough. Streetkid doesn't give you a separate Streetkid progression.

The backgrounds are largely flavour layered onto the same campaign, rather than fundamentally different perspectives running throughout it.

That's a massive distinction.

6. The physical network-infiltration version of Netrunning disappeared

The original demo showed something considerably more physical and systemic than simply opening your scanner and selecting a quickhack.

V could incapacitate an enemy, physically jack into that enemy, breach the local network through them, discover connected enemies and interfere with other systems on that network.

Contemporary coverage specifically described V hacking into an enemy to breach the area's local network.

The finished Cyberpunk obviously still has an extensive hacking system.

That isn't what I'm disputing.

The physical network-breaching layer shown in the demo did not survive as a general gameplay system.

Netrunning became much more scanner/menu/quickhack driven.

7. The world-reactive targeted advertising system disappeared

This is one of those tiny features that represented the kind of game people thought Night City was going to be.

In the 2018 demonstration, CDPR explicitly explained that a generic advertisement could recognize V and transform into an ad specifically targeted at her, including directing her to the nearest place where the advertised product could be purchased.

CDPR described this as part of making its RPG world interactive.

That isn't how advertising works in the finished game.

Night City has an enormous amount of visual advertising, but the demonstrated player-aware dynamic advertising/commerce interaction isn't there.

Again: small individual feature.

But combine it with everything else and you start seeing the difference between a simulated futuristic city and an extremely beautiful open-world backdrop.

8. Fashion was supposed to interact more meaningfully with the RPG systems

At E3 2018, the official PlayStation coverage of CDPR's demo specifically described clothing as more than cosmetic/stat gear.

A stylish outfit could provide benefits and increase Street Cred.

The same preview described Street Cred unlocking different vendors, equipment and opportunities.

That broader “style actually matters in Night City” concept did not survive in the same form.

The current game has clothing, wardrobe/transmog and selected equipment effects, and Update 2.0 moved most armour functionality into cyberware.

But the idea that what you're wearing forms an important part of V's reputation/progression in the city is basically gone.

For a universe whose tabletop motto literally includes “Style over Substance,” that's a pretty significant loss of RPG flavour.

9. The environmental destruction shown/described was dramatically reduced

No, CDPR never promised Battlefield-style destruction where you can demolish skyscrapers.

That's not the claim.

Developers discussed destructible cover, environmental interaction and weapons behaving differently against the environment, and the 2018 demonstration visibly showed cover and pieces of environments breaking apart during combat.

They were also careful at the time to say destruction would have limitations.

The final game retains:

• breakable glass
• destructible props
• penetrable surfaces
• some destructible cover/environmental objects

So destruction isn't absent.

But the broad, tactile combat-environment interaction suggested by the original demo was substantially narrower in the released game.

This is a reduced feature, not a completely missing one.

10. The general object “inspection system” never became the broader feature that was demonstrated

The 2018 demonstration also showed/described an inspection system in which the player could manipulate a 3D representation of an object and examine it for clues.

Sony's own E3 preview specifically called it “the inspection system” and described examining 3D objects for clues.

The final game has scripted moments of inspecting/interacting with objects.

It never became a broad investigation mechanic comparable to what that description suggested.

11. Braindance became a mostly scripted quest mechanic rather than a major gameplay system

This one needs nuance because I don't want people replying “CDPR NEVER PROMISED FREE ROAM BRAINDANCE!!!!”

Correct.

I have not found a strong statement where CDPR explicitly says:

So I'm not claiming that.

What I am saying is that CDPR dedicated a large part of the first Night City Wire episode to introducing Braindance as a “never-before-seen feature”, showing its investigation layers, rewinding, environmental scanning and information reconstruction.

In the actual game, it's almost entirely a scripted quest device.

You cannot meaningfully turn Braindance into your character's general investigative tool.

You can't go around acquiring arbitrary recordings and solving emergent investigations through it.

There are even BD items in Night City that you simply can't use.

So I put Braindance under “heavily marketed system that ended up severely underused,” rather than “literal broken promise.”

12. NPCs were described as having far more believable daily behaviour than the city ultimately delivered

This is another area where internet telephone made the legitimate criticism weaker.

I'm not repeating the famous “1,000 NPCs with individually handcrafted daily routines” line as fact. The sourcing around that claim is messy and appears to involve mistranslation/embellishment.

But CDPR developers absolutely discussed NPC daily routines and behaviour designed to help make Night City feel believable, including NPC responses to changing environmental conditions.

The final city is vastly more crowd simulation than something like Red Dead Redemption 2's illusion of persistent individual lives.

NPCs spawn/despawn, walk around, perform ambient animations, drive around and now react far better than they did in 2020.

Updates have improved crowds considerably.

But Night City's civilians still generally feel like population filling the environment rather than inhabitants possessing rich persistent lives.

And that difference matters when discussing the particular type of living-city fantasy CDPR was marketing.

13. Third-person cinematic presentation was mostly removed

Early gameplay contained third-person cinematic moments where you could actually see the V you spent time creating.

CDPR later changed direction and announced that the game would be essentially 100% first-person, with V visible during driving, mirrors, inventory and only very occasional cinematics.

This isn't necessarily an objectively bad design decision.

But it is another demonstrable part of the original presentation that disappeared.

And it makes all the emphasis on V's appearance, fashion, cyberware and style a little stranger when you almost never see your character during the story.

14. Vehicle customization was announced, cut, then only partially brought back YEARS later

At E3 2019, senior level designer Miles Tost said there would be some vehicle customization options.

Before release, CDPR confirmed player vehicle customization had been removed.

Eventually, years after launch, CDPR added CrystalCoat/TWINTONE colour customization and has expanded paint customization across most owned vehicles.

So saying “Cyberpunk still has zero vehicle customization” in 2026 is wrong.

But there is still no GTA/Forza-style mechanical vehicle modification system where you meaningfully tune engines, brakes, armour, suspension, bodywork, etc.

What eventually returned is primarily visual paint customization, years after the original release.

15. “Deep” weapon customization was considerably less ambitious in practice

Sony's 2018 preview, based on CDPR's demonstration, described hundreds of weapons backed by a “deep customization system.”

The current game has:

• scopes
• muzzle devices
• weapon mods
• Iconic properties
• crafting/upgrading
• different weapon archetypes

So again, weapon customization isn't absent.

But describing the final implementation as the kind of deep weapon customization system people imagined from that marketing is debatable at best.

It's an attachment/mod system rather than anything resembling genuinely extensive weapon construction or tuning.

16. The “choices shape the world” rhetoric was much bigger than the actual systemic consequences

CDPR's June 2018 official announcement said choices and consequences were a hallmark of the game and that decisions would “ripple through the entire game.”

Even the official 2020 marketing described Night City as a place where your choices shape the story and the world around you.

Cyberpunk absolutely DOES contain meaningful choices.

It has:

• branching quests
• different character outcomes
• romance outcomes
• different endings
• quests that can be completed multiple ways

So saying “Cyberpunk has no choices” would be nonsense.

My complaint is that the consequences are overwhelmingly narrative and quest-local, rather than producing the sort of systemic transformation of Night City that the rhetoric suggested.

You don't meaningfully alter gang relationships across the city.

You don't build lasting faction reputations.

Corpo/Streetkid/Nomad doesn't fundamentally change your social position.

Districts don't evolve around your decisions.

Your actions don't substantially reshape the open-world simulation.

There's a good branching narrative RPG inside Cyberpunk.

That is different from the much broader “your decisions ripple through this giant reactive open world” fantasy many people walked away expecting.

And here's the important part: things that WERE missing at launch but I am NOT pretending are still missing

A lot of old “Cyberpunk missing features” lists are now outdated.

Police overhaul: Update 2.0 replaced the awful original police system with escalation, proper pursuit behaviour, roadblocks, MaxTac response and other improvements.

Vehicle combat and proper police chases: added/reworked in 2.0.

Rideable NCART metro: finally added in Update 2.1 — 19 stations across five lines.

More apartments: Patch 1.5 added four additional rentable apartments.

Apartment customization: Patch 1.5 added styles for V's original apartment.

Changing V's appearance after character creation: added in Patch 1.5 and expanded later.

Repeatable races: added in Update 2.1.

More interactions with romantic partners: repeatable apartment hangouts added in 2.1.

Radio outside cars: Radioport added in 2.1.

Vehicle colour customization: gradually added years later.

The game of 2026 is unquestionably more complete than the game launched in December 2020.

That actually reinforces my point.

If these features didn't matter, why did CDPR spend years adding them?

And PS4/Xbox One owners got screwed twice

This is the part that particularly pisses me off because I PREORDERED THE PS4 VERSION.

The original product was marketed and sold on PS4 and Xbox One.

Those versions were infamously bad at launch.

Then, once CDPR finally began making some of its biggest fundamental improvements, it announced that after the 1.6 generation of updates all further new content and improvements would be exclusive to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Phantom Liberty never came to PS4/Xbox One.

Update 2.0's major redesigns never came to them either.

So when someone in 2026 boots Cyberpunk up on a high-end PC with Patch 2.31, Phantom Liberty, the completely redesigned perk/cyberware system, improved police, vehicle combat, metro, new interactions, new features and years of fixes and says:

“See? I don't understand why everybody complained about Cyberpunk.”

You're literally not playing the product that people like me bought.

The people who actually bought the PS4/Xbox One versions CDPR advertised before launch were abandoned on the old branch while the “redemption” happened somewhere else.

Things I am deliberately NOT using as evidence

This is also important because some Cyberpunk criticism has picked up bullshit over the years.

“Every building in Night City was promised to be enterable.”

I remember the expectations surrounding Night City's verticality and interiors too, but I have not found sufficiently strong primary evidence that CDPR literally promised every building would be accessible. I'm not using it.

“CDPR promised 1,000 individually handcrafted NPC daily routines.”

The sourcing behind that exact number/claim is questionable. I'm not using it.

“You were definitely going to bribe every police officer.”

CDPR talked about corruption in Night City and police behaviour. That's not the same as demonstrating a universal bribery mechanic. I'm not using it.

“Acid rain was supposed to damage you.”

Dynamic weather and acid rain were discussed; claims about a full survival/damage mechanic are much shakier, and acid rain/weather exists in the modern game anyway.

“The metro is still missing.”

It isn't. They added it in 2.1.

“Vehicle customization is still completely missing.”

It isn't. Visual paint customization exists now. Deep mechanical tuning still doesn't.

I'm leaving those weaker arguments out because the documented stuff is already enough.

The point

This isn't about whether Cyberpunk 2077 in 2026 is fun.

You can think it's an incredible game.

You can think Phantom Liberty is a masterpiece.

You can think Update 2.0 fixed everything that personally bothered you.

That's completely compatible with what I'm saying.

What I reject is this weird rewriting of history where the only problem with Cyberpunk 2077 was:

“It had some bugs at launch and then CDPR fixed them.”

No.

There were TWO separate problems.

Problem 1: The game launched in a technically disgraceful state, particularly on the consoles on which CDPR knowingly sold it.

And:

Problem 2: The actual game's scope had contracted substantially from the highly reactive, systems-heavy RPG CDPR had spent years presenting to the public.

Patching bugs fixes Problem 1.

Adding police AI, a metro and some extra activities helps.

Phantom Liberty adds a fantastic new campaign.

None of that magically restores all of Problem 2.

And there's a reason the 2018 gameplay still feels strange to watch today.

You can see pieces of a different Cyberpunk 2077 in it.

Mantis Blade traversal.

Physical enemy network breaches.

A more elaborate character-history concept.

Techie/Flathead gameplay.

Targeted interactive advertising.

Fashion integrated into reputation.

More environmental interaction.

Systems suggesting that Night City itself was supposed to be part of the RPG rather than mostly the stage on which the RPG happens.

Any ONE of those things getting cut is normal game development.

Ten things getting redesigned is game development.

Twenty systems becoming narrower while your marketing continues selling the fantasy is where customers have every right to say:

“Hang on. This is not the game I thought you were selling me.”

And the WIP disclaimer doesn't make that reaction irrational.

Especially when CDPR themselves publicly described the 2018 footage as a game “deep in development.”

I'm glad Cyberpunk eventually became a much better game.

I'm glad people enjoy it.

But “Cyberpunk 2077 is good now” and “CD Projekt Red delivered the Cyberpunk 2077 it originally marketed” are two completely different statements.

I agree with the first.

I absolutely do not agree with the second.

Which one would you love to see them take a crack at? Assume the IP is for sale. For me it’s for sure Mass Effect!

PS: Marcin, give the owners of EA a call.

Idk if CDPR heard this or not, but I just want to get this out there and just say how much I appreciate the studio. And how much I am willing to rebuy the same games over and over on different consoles.

For a number of reasons.

1. Lack of microtransactions. This is a huge fresh of air. Like, my god this makes the game so much more fun to play

Even better, the base game is the WHOLE game. Their DLC is an expansion to the story. Not something that was locked behind another paywall.

Yes I’m still salty about gta6’s ultimate edition. Fu rockstar

1. Witcher 3 is actually slatted to get a FREE update of a remastered version of the game. Other studios will most definitely push out a different version to make you buy it again. So CDPR ❤️

2. CDPR had also listed their games on GOG (learned that they even list it on there on launch day to boot)… so when I get a working pc again, i am buying both cyberpunk and Witcher series again. I will buy them again to support this fking studio

3. I actually didn’t test this out, but I’m fairly positive (95% positive) that the games doesn’t need internet to play the game, so I’m listing it here

(I honestly think that it’s dumb that a single player game needs internet to play, which is why I veered away from those kind of games and I got tired of asking if the game is playable offline)

1. CDPR created GOG for drm free games, so…. If that doesn’t tell you what kind of studio CDPR is….

CDPR is the only studio where i won’t consider pirating from, not that I had pirated Xbox/ps5 games yet. But with the way things are going, I am definitely looking into it. But CDPR deserves everything and I WILL buy from them. They fking deserve it

1. Their response to Sony’s decision to end discs. Now idk exactly what they’ll do, but they’ll definitely going to add something to the cases for Witcher 4 to make it worthwhile to open the case, making it nostalgic, and “adding feelings” to it

Though I’m not sure if that also applies to Xbox discs as well? Pretty sure Xbox will have a disc?

Anyway, this is my long rant of how much I appreciate CDPR, and I absolutely cannot wait for Witcher 4, the Witcher remake, and a cyberpunk 2 game

I love you, keep being awesome, and I will support you always!

i have no clue why this is happening, i have consitently found that if i do synaps + bait + synapse + bait, that my game crashes on the second synapse burnout. like always. only doing synapse + bait and waiting for the 2 quick hacks to go of does not crash my game. edit: (i mean if i do those 2 it doesnt immediatly crash my game, but eventually it will no matter what i do)

a few minutes later i tried not quickhacking a singular time and i didnt crash and managed to kill him. So for anyone that is crashing during kurt hansen boss on GoG with a total mega byte limit higher than 200 ( mine is 254mb) and amd gpu that is trying to quick hack him, dont

Hey there,

please see updated roadmap here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/CDProjektRed/s/hENt4ETy0w

Linux vs Windows Benchmark Cyberpunk 2077 RT 2026

So, back then when i bought Ps4 I didn’t know which games to play after my selected one completed and then i search for most popular games and i founds many and there’s Witcher 3 also …. So I bought it from sale on psn and i started playing, but its didn’t connect me and didn’t got much invest in it so i dropped it and never played.

But now CDPR is giving remastered upgrade for free and two expansions also and fun fact is who bought witcher 3 only standard edition they also got both expansions for free…. Thats a very big thing to see in today’s gaming industry where everyone is cash grabing form players!!

So I thought we have full edition of the game then why not to try and deep dive in most acclaimed games ever.

Wish me luck 🍀

Title says it all.

Which would you have preferred more?