It’s a looooong rooooooad…
CD Projekt RED’s fervently-awaited RPG Cyberpunk 2077 will feature a “slightly shorter” story campaign than CDPR’s previous release The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, following a “tremendous” amount of complaints that the latter title took too long to complete.
Speaking on a Twitch AMA stream, CDPR quest designer Patrick K. Mills cited that the metrics for the award-winning Witcher sequel show many players playing far into the adventure, but failing to actually finish the story. Combined with feedback from a selection of Witcher 3 players, CDPR decided to shorten Cyberpunk 2077‘s main campaign, as the studio wants to encourage all players who step into Night City to see their journey through to its conclusion.
Mills noted that Cyberpunk 2077 will still be rich in content – packed full of locations to explore, people to meet, and missions to complete – but those wishing to deep-dive into its neon-and-blood stained universe would be taking a more “completionist” view of the RPG, while anyone wishing to just gun ahead to the end credits will be able to do so.
This is ultimately a subjective situation to every individual player. I myself prefer shorter games in general, especially as I get older, (a thought shared by many of my similarly-aged pals). But, by the same turn, games like Cyberpunk 2077 or The Witcher are games I want to envelop me, letting me chip away at it in chunks, or hold mammoth weekend sessions that combine quest completion with rat-a-tat-tat procrastination.
For some, however, games are to be purchased, blitzed through, and then traded in or uninstalled for whatever has hit the streets the following Friday. It’s fine. There are no “rules” for this. But for me personally, when it specifically comes to immersive or atmospheric adventures, gimme all you got.
Cyberpunk 2077 launches November 19 on PS4, PC, and Xbox One. PS5 and Xbox Series X editions will follow in 2021.
Cyberpunk 2077’s main story is shorter than The Witcher 3 [ResetEra / Eurogamer]
