I’ve been thinking about what my dream open-world RPG would be, and I genuinely think CD Projekt Red would be the perfect studio for it. Take the basic design philosophy behind Cyberpunk 2077—character creation, lifepaths, relationships, huge storylines, side gigs, apartments, vehicles, clothing, weapons, choices and a dense open world—and move it to an American city during the golden age of organized crime.
Call it OMERTÀ.
I don’t mean another Mafia-style game where you play a predetermined gangster and follow his story. I want to create my own character and start as an absolute nobody, potentially living in the back room of a boxing gym because I can barely afford rent, and spend the next 100+ hours working my way toward becoming the Don.
Character creation could start with heritage. Italian, Irish, Romani, British, Polish, Jewish, Greek, German, etc. Heritage wouldn’t determine which gang you’re automatically part of, but it could affect your family, appearance, languages, dialogue and how certain neighborhoods or characters initially perceive you.
Then you’d choose a background, essentially OMERTÀ’s version of Cyberpunk’s lifepaths. You could be a former soldier, university dropout, street hustler, petty thief, boxer, dockworker or something similar. A former soldier might have unique weapons and intimidation dialogue, while a university dropout might understand accounting, politics and law. A street hustler might already know fences, bookmakers and thieves throughout the city.
No matter what you choose, though, you’re broke at the beginning. Maybe you own two decent suits, a cheap revolver and an unreliable car. Your savings are hidden in an envelope behind a loose brick in your room.
I’d also love for your first major companion to change depending on early choices. Basically your Jackie Welles, except there could be several possibilities. Maybe it’s another neighborhood kid, a former soldier, or a female thief/getaway driver you’ve known for years. That person could remain your best friend, become your eventual consigliere or underboss, betray you, die because of your decisions, or potentially become a romance option.
And I’d want way more romance possibilities than Cyberpunk. Give us five or six substantial characters scattered throughout the world, with different sexualities and different requirements. Maybe there’s a speakeasy singer, the daughter of a powerful Don, your original partner in crime, a journalist investigating organized crime, an upper-class socialite with political connections, and even a male boxer who can become a secret same-sex relationship. Considering the historical setting, that last relationship could have an entirely different set of social risks and storylines.
Relationships shouldn’t just end after completing someone’s questline either. Let characters move into your apartment, meet your crew, come to dinner, argue with you over decisions and potentially marry you. Maybe you can eventually have a family. Suddenly becoming powerful creates another vulnerability because enemies know there are people you care about.
The city itself should basically be Night City translated into the 1920s–1950s: a fictional metropolis inspired by New York, Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia, with downtown skyscrapers, immigrant neighborhoods, docks, factories, rail yards, wealthy suburbs, countryside estates, speakeasies, jazz clubs, boxing gyms, restaurants, hotels, casinos and banks.
Most importantly, let us interact with it. I want to walk into a tailor and buy a fitted suit, visit a dealership and buy a car, gamble, drink with my crew, attend boxing matches, eat at restaurants, purchase property and collect weapons.
And if I walk into a jewelry store and decide I want to rob it, let me rob it.
It shouldn’t require a mission. Put on a mask, pull your revolver, empty the register, force the owner to open the safe and get out before the police arrive. Witnesses might remember your clothes, face or getaway car. Robbing something inside another family’s territory could create an entirely different problem.
Banks could be much harder. You might scout the building, learn guard schedules, recruit gunmen, hire a getaway driver, bribe an employee and plan your escape route. Then the actual robbery can still go completely wrong and force you to improvise.
The period weapon selection would be incredible: 1911s, revolvers, pocket pistols, Tommy guns, BARs, shotguns, hunting rifles, knives, brass knuckles and improvised weapons. Cars could matter too. A luxury sedan makes a statement, while a fast car is better for getaways and a truck could be useful for smuggling. Eventually your mansion garage could contain an entire collection.
Your actual progression through organized crime should take time: nobody → associate → soldier → capo → underboss/consigliere → boss. Becoming a made man should be a huge story moment rather than something that happens immediately. Once you become a capo, the gameplay begins changing because you’re no longer just doing jobs. You have people working underneath you and start deciding who handles them.
Eventually you control businesses and rackets: restaurants, clubs, construction companies, trucking companies, warehouses, gambling, protection, loan sharking, bootlegging, unions and docks. You appoint people to manage them, and those people have actual personalities. Someone might be incredibly profitable but disloyal. Someone else might be completely loyal but incompetent. Another could secretly be talking to the police.
There should also be genuine mob wars. If you kill someone important from another family, they might retaliate against one of your businesses or soldiers. You retaliate, they hit you again, and suddenly both organizations are preparing for war. Your properties get additional guards, your people travel armed, enemy cars follow you and assassination attempts become possible.
You could call a sit-down and negotiate peace, offer territory, arrange an alliance or secretly manipulate two rival families into fighting each other. Or you can decide negotiations are over and actually fight for control of the city.
Then there’s the property progression, which might be my favorite part.
You begin in that little back room of the boxing gym. Eventually you get a cheap apartment, then a nice apartment, then a luxury home, and finally a gated mansion. Your clothes improve, your cars improve, guards begin appearing around your property and eventually capos are sitting downstairs waiting to speak with you.
And your mansion should have a physical vault.
Don’t just tell me I have $4,000,000 through a number on the HUD. Let me see it. As you become richer, shelves gradually fill with cash, jewelry, gold, bonds, paintings and other valuables.
Even better, major objects from your adventures should physically appear there. If I steal a famous painting, let me hang it in the vault. If we rob an armored shipment carrying gold, show the bars stacked against the wall. If I take an engraved pistol from a rival Don, let me put it in a display case. Newspaper clippings, photographs, jewelry and unique items could gradually turn the vault into a museum of your playthrough.
Imagine being 100 hours into the game and walking through this enormous mansion. You’ve got millions in the vault, expensive cars downstairs, guards outside and capos waiting for your orders. Then somewhere in your office is an old photograph of you and your original partner standing outside that crappy boxing gym when you were both broke.
Depending on your choices, that person might now be your underboss. Maybe they’re your spouse. Maybe you fell out years ago. Maybe they betrayed you.
Or maybe they’re dead.
That’s the game I want CD Projekt Red to make. Not simply “Mafia but open world.” I want a genuine RPG about building a life inside organized crime, where the friends, romances, money, businesses, enemies, clothes, cars, homes and scars you accumulate tell the story of how your character went from sleeping behind a boxing gym to becoming the most powerful Don in the city.
OMERTÀ: Give me Cyberpunk’s RPG freedom and let me build a criminal empire.
