Non-linear Gameplay in Cyberpunk 2077 - Devs Comment on What Went Wrong
The developers of Cyberpunk 2077 have commented on the non-linearity in the game. According to the team representatives, spending so much time on creating various paths may have been a mistake.
- Cyberpunk 2077 devs have commented on the game's non-linearity;
- They believe now that working on some aspects of it was a waste of time;
- We're talking about small choices that are essentially irrelevant to the plot.
Pawel Sasko, one of the developers of Cyberpunk 2077, regularly broadcasts on Twitch. During the streams he often shares information about the behind-the-scenes work on the game. It was no different in the case of the last one, with a guest appearance of Philipp Weber, quest designer at CD Projekt RED.
The developers have touched on the topic of non-linearity in Cyberpunk 2077. Weber gave as an example the mission in which we accompanied Takemura on his way to Wakako. Players were given a choice of how they wanted to play out the situation. They could simply get into the character's car and travel together or go through it on their own. Furthermore, it was possible to accept the "ride" and not use it. It was equally possible to deny one's own choices.
Each of these decisions was connected with different consequences. The NPCs interacted differently with each other. The way they perceived the player's actions also changed. Such an insignificant element as the decision on how to get to the place associated with the quest meant a lot of work for the designers.
Weber admitted that it wasn't a good solution. The time spent on adjusting details of this kind could have been spent on working on other, more important elements. Unfortunately, the developers learned this the hard way. We can only hope that this will translate into valuable experiences that they can use in the future.
