Ever since the Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty DLC has come out, we've been learning more and more about the game's sequel: Cyberpunk Orion. In a new Q&A, the developers from Cyberpunk 2077 revealed that Cyberpunk Orion will most likely be played from a third-person perspective. Here's why.
Back in October 2022, CD Projekt Red revealed multiple future projects that they plan on developing and amongst further The Witcher titles, one project that really stood out was a game code-named: Project Orion, aka Cyberpunk Orion.
— CD PROJEKT IR (@CDPROJEKTRED_IR) October 4, 2022
Cyberpunk Orion will be a sequel to Cyberpunk 2077, although there currently isn't much known about the game. One thing that has been uncovered in an investor Q&A recently is that Cyberpunk Orion will most likely be played from a third-person perspective, rather than from a first-person perspective like in Cyberpunk 2077.
But why would CD Projekt Red make such a big change, when Cyberpunk 2077 was a hit on its own? Well, they've got their reasons.
Cyberpunk Orion: The Sequel To Cyberpunk 2077 Won't Be What People Expect
One obvious thing that's important to note is that CD Projekt Red is no small indie game developer. They've not only produced Cyberpunk 2077 , but also, like we mentioned before, The Witcher games as well.
So, no matter how buggy Cyberpunk 2077 was at release, it's pretty safe to say that CD Projekt Red knows what they're doing when it comes to game development.
In a recent investors Q&A, Pawel Sasko, the Quest Director for Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, gave some insight as to why CD Projekt Red is contemplating making Cyberpunk Orion a third-person perspective game.
The fact that Cyberpunk 2077 was created from a first-person perspective was a bold change from the usual third-person perspective in CD Projekt Red's other games, but according to Pawel Sasko, "[...] there are no regrets" regarding this decision. Originally, this difference in game style was created "for Cyberpunk to have its own identity [aside from The Witcher] and to be noticeable as this different thing".
But since they've already established Cyberpunk 2077's identity, also with the help of the Phantom Liberty DLC, it seems as though CD Projekt Red will try to switch things up once again, perhaps to make Cyberpunk Orion stand out as well.
As creatives we also need to shift the mindsets, to not stay in a rut. [...] We wanted to try something different.
With over 25,000,000 copies sold of Cyberpunk 2077, I think it's safe to say that their attempt to try something different was very successful.
After explaining the reasoning for Cyberpunk 2077's first-person perspective, Pawel Sasko goes on to say:
But for Orion, we are yet to see.
This could potentially mean, like we mentioned before, that CD Projekt Red might try to make Cyberpunk Orion stand out more as its own game by implementing a big change like altering the perspective you play from. Until they reveal more, we'll just have to wait and see.
What do you think? Will CD Projekt Red go back to its roots and switch things up for Cyberpunk Orion? I definitely think it will be an interesting change if they decide to implement it!