Daily Archives: January 27, 2024

Cities Skylines 2 remains the ideal building game if you like details, in-depth management, and the constant pressure of trying to maintain a proper road network. There comes a moment however, when all the highways are laid, houses are zoned, and the economy is finally humming along, that you can sit back and just gaze at your creation. You take that feeling and you combine it with the moody, sometimes dystopian world of Cyberpunk 2077. Neon lights. Flying cars. Skyscrapers that pierce the cloudline. A beautiful new city builder, dripping in atmosphere, blends CS2s superb creation tools with the Blade Runner-inspired visuals of CDPRs latest masterwork. And its coming to Steam in 2024.

This is Dystopika, a unique city building game from independent developer Voids Within. Some of the most wonderful moments in Cyberpunk 2077 sitting on the hills with Panam, sharing a drink with River on the water tower are made spectacular by CD Projekt Reds beautiful city design. On the surface, the neon-drenched, coolly efficient worlds of Cyberpunk, Blade Runner, Akira, and myriad others look gorgeous. But they always hide a secret darkness. This is what Dystopika wants to capture. As the designer and building of your own cyberpunk metropolis, you get to create something that is equally stunning and bleak.

Compared to other city builders, which often feel like carefully balanced, high-stakes strategy games, Dystopika is all about the mood. Theres no budget, no stats screen telling you to build more houses, no crumbling road network. The only limit here is your imagination. Take your time. Build what you like. Drink in the vibe. Its like sitting by the window in your high-rise megabuilding, sipping from a glass, and listening to synthwave. Launching in 2024, you can already wishlist Dystopika right here.

Alternatively, you might want to try some of the best 4X games, if you want something a little more challenging. You can also get a headstart on 2024 with the best upcoming PC games making their way to you.

You can also follow us onGoogle News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides, or grab our PCGN deals tracker to net yourself some bargains.

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Cities Skylines 2 goes full Cyberpunk 2077 in stunning new city building game coming to Steam - PCGamesN

Highlights

One Cyberpunk 2077 player has discovered a hidden message about an "evil government" that ties into the game's overarching themes while exploring Pacifica. Their observant discovery serves as yet another reminder that Cyberpunk 2077 absolutely oozes attention to detail.

CD Projekt Red's dystopian RPG was never short on Easter eggs. But the developer also never really stopped adding more hidden content to the game throughout its three-year support cycle. As a result, Cyberpunk 2077 is nowadays still full of secrets that many are yet to discover, even if they have already spent hundreds of hours playing the game.

The latest example of such an Easter egg was unearthed by Reddit user CommercialLeg2439, who found out that one of the game's most recognizable landmarks contains a message hiding in plain sight. They happened upon that realization while exploring Cyberpunk 2077's Pacifica district at night, which is when the giant "Grand Imperial Mall" sign mounted at the top of the eponymous building caught their attention due to its selectively lit letters. The illuminated letters spelled out the term "gra d imperi l mali," which the player suspected was Latin.

Although their initial attempt at a translation may not have been entirely successful, the hunch itself appears to have been correct; taking out the stray single letters from the lit sign produces the term "gra imperi mali," which most online translation apps interpret as Latin for "thanks to the evil empire" or "by the grace of the evil empire." An alternative translation would be that of an instruction to "wray"i.e., denounce or betraythe said empire. Since the Grand Imperial Mall was built with the blessing of some of the most powerful organizations in Cyberpunk 2077's lore and the game itself is all about raging against the machine, all three translations tie into the RPG's overarching themes.

Given how this obscure detail has only now emerged online, over three years since Cyberpunk 2077 hit the market, it is plausible that the hidden message wasn't part of the game from day one. CommercialLeg2439 suspects as much, having suggested that CDPR might have added the Latin Easter egg around the time of Cyberpunk 2077's massive 2.0 update, which saw the developer retouch many areas of Night City.

Whatever the case may be, the fact that new observations of this sort continue to surface online after all these years stands in testament to the incredible effort that went into designing the game's many environments. And while CDPR recently stopped churning out new content for its 2020 RPG, there is a good chance that Cyberpunk 2077 still hides some secrets that are yet to be uncovered, like the solution to the puzzling FF:06:B5 mystery that even leaked into The Witcher 3.

Cyberpunk 2077 is an RPG set in a future dystopian world. Players take up the role of V, who works as a mercenary in Night City in California. Gameplay involves branching dialogue, open-world exploration, character classes, and combat.

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Cyberpunk 2077 Player Finds Hidden Message in the Game - GameRant

Dystopika is an upcoming chill cyberpunk city-builder which promises no stress or goals - just you and your imagination.

Dystopika was announced yesterday, January 23, via the debut trailer just below. Despite being billed as a "dark city sandbox," the game looks decidedly more chill than its murky aesthetic - you're free to do whatever you want, entirely in your own time.

The trailer above shows the player is allowed to create free-standing monolithic towers and plant them wherever they want, turning them and customizing them to create the city of their dreams. There's even the option to adjust the environment however you want, so if LA out of Blade Runner 2049 is more your vibe, go for it.

The city-builder looks capable of creating cyberpunk cities from the likes of Ghost in the Shell or Akira. Only, you know, without all the murder and social strife, I can only assume, given Dystopika is being marketed as a far more chill and relaxing experience than other city-builders.

There's no management element to this city-builder, like you might find with other games like Frostpunk or Cities: Skylines 2. You're quite literally just free to do whatever you want, whenever you want, and since there's no overarching goal in Dystopika, you can take all the time you want.

Currently, Dystopika is set to release in 2024, according to its Steam page, and it appears only a PC release is on the cards. Keep an eye on developer Voids Within's Twitch channel for any future broadcast about the new game.

Head over to our Cities: Skylines 2 tips and tricks guide if you're looking for a helping hand in getting started with one of the latest city-builders.

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Dystopika is a chill city-builder where you can create the cyberpunk cityscape of your dreams - Gamesradar

My inbox is absolutely rammed with early Steam Next Fest demos at the moment. Honestly, did no one remember that February's Next Fest starts in, you know, February, in a week a bit's time this year? I'm all for getting a few things early to make the deluge of demos a bit more manageable to cover, but this year has just been a teensy bit insane. Now there's too many things to look at in advance, but hey, I'm making steady progress, and you've probably seen the fruits of a couple of these this week already. Next on the list is Dystopika, a toy-like sandbox citybuilder that's sort of in the same vein as the lovely Summerhouse I played earlier this week, but also lives at the exact opposite end of the mood and vibes scale. Whereas Summerhouse is about creating diddly little cute streets with sunny Mediterranean vibes, Dystopika is effectively: Build Your Own Blade Runner.

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Make the Night City of your dreams with this cyberpunk city sandbox builder - Rock Paper Shotgun

Metallic Rouge, the latest original anime from director Motonobu Hori (Carole & Tuesday) and studio Bones, is as difficult to describe as it is impressive to behold. A tech noir mystery thriller that combines a futuristic cyberpunk setting with tokusatsu-inspired action, the series burns as slow as it does bright, doling out its story and universe at a deliberate pace. Its an anime that asks its audience to take stock of every dazzling detail on display as they attempt to grasp the totality of its whole.

This is not a mystery thats going to hold your hand and tell you the who, what, and where of its various parts and key players in explicit terms. Rather, its one that invites the audience to inhabit this world alongside its characters as they work to understand who they are and why they are doing what theyre doing.

For that reason, it requires a few episodes to fully acclimate the viewer to the many connective threads of its larger narrative, which is why three episodes in I am more confident in recommending Metallic Rouge now than I was when it premiered earlier this month. Its a lot to take in, but the experience so far has been more than worth it.

[Ed. note: Minor spoilers for Metallic Rouge episodes 1 through 3.]

Metallic Rouge takes place in a future where humans have colonized Mars and live side by side with Neans, humanlike androids who serve humanity and are programmed to obey their every whim through a protocol known as the Asimov Code, based on Isaac Asimovs Three Laws of Robotics.

Rouge Redstar, a Nean android who can pass as a human being, has been dispatched to Mars in order to root out and eliminate a terror network led by the Immortal Nine. The Nine are a group of Nean prototypes who do not adhere to the Asimov Code, and are suspected of plotting to overthrow Human-Nean society. Like the Immortal Nine, Rouge is able to act outside of the parameters of the Asimov Code, as well as transform into a superpowered Gladiator form capable of facing off with them in combat. With the aid of her partner Naomi Orthmann, an investigator assigned to assist her with the case, Rouge scours the surface of Mars in search of her targets, all while gaining a more nuanced firsthand experience of the social order she has sworn to protect.

Thats the basic premise, but theres a lot of other details running in the background such as the nature of Alethia, the organization that governs Human-Nean relations, led by Rouges older brother, Gene Junghardt. Theres Ash Stahl, an investigator from Earth sent to Mars to track down an elusive red figure suspected of murdering Roy Junghardt, Genes father and one of the creators of the Nean androids. And then theres the question of the Immortal Nine themselves: Why have they chosen now to rebel against their masters? Are they being falsely implicated, and if so, for what purpose?

Oh, yeah did I also mention the Nean androids are based on alien technology, and were initially designed as weapons against an extraterrestrial threat in a war with humanity thats currently in the midst of a decade-long armistice?

I know; thats a lot of exposition to throw at an audience, and most other anime would attempt to breathlessly dole those expository details out in the first episode and just as quickly move on from them in the next. Thankfully, Metallic Rouge is not like most other anime. While the concept of a servant class of artificial beings bound by a behavioral code is anything but original in science fiction, Metallic Rouge is exceptional in the way it goes about organically weaving the specifics of its universe into the dialogue and plot beats of its story. The show doesnt hand you the answers to all your burning questions outright, but trusts the audience enough to lay the pieces out in front of them albeit not necessarily in order and put the bigger picture together themselves.

The result is a mystery series that emphasizes the visual details of its world-building, with a scrupulous amount of attention. The cityscapes of Mars are vast and moody, bathed in a dusty perpetual dusklight by day and a bustling gridlike pattern of turquoise and magenta by night. The character designs, courtesy of Toshihiro Kawamoto of Cowboy Bebop fame, are distinctive and well rendered, offering a glimpse into each of their personalities and dispositions before theyve even so much as spoken a word on screen. The design of the Gladiator forms by Takayuki Takeya and Tamotsu Shinohara, both of whom are known for their work on the Kamen Rider franchise, are especially noteworthy both for their obvious nods to that series and for their legibility during the shows frantic and explosive battle sequences.

All of this adds up to Metallic Rouge being a thoroughly entertaining and visually exhilarating (if at times overwhelming) anime thats just now beginning to gesture toward its full potential three episodes in. Whats apparent from its production quality and writing is that even these early episodes are intended to be watched and rewatched, not only to parse the revelations of its larger mysteries, but to bask in the electrifying spectacle of its action and animation. Its shaping up to be one of my favorite anime of the season and I look forward to a rewarding rewatch in the future as well.

Metallic Rouge is streaming on Crunchyroll.

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Metallic Rouge is a cyberpunk mystery worth unraveling - Polygon

Cyberpunk 2077 is no stranger to large patches. Ever since i9ts botched launch back in the day, the devs at CD Projekt Red have not left the poor thing alone, constantly working away in the background to make it the game that was promised all those years ago. And a fine job they have done of it too. Indeed, the Phantom Liberty DLC sold over two million copies before the end of the year alone.

But with each new patch obviously comes new bugs that is the nature of the beast unfortunately and when version 2.0 dropped, just ahead of Phantom Liberty, it introduced a few new creepy crawlies into the code that now need squashing.

Fortunately a post on X today shows they are on it. The official Cyberpunk 2077 posted earlier, We are aiming to have a new patch for #Cyberpunk2077 out sometime next week. It will tackle the most common issues reported by players, including finisher animations.

Stay tuned for more info coming after the weekend.

There were no further details unveiled but the issue with finishing moves seems to be fixed as the account also added a nodding dog gif when a commenter asked if we were to get the full array of finishing moves back.

Earlier this week CDPR confirmed that work was to begin on the next game in the universe of its other huge franchise, The Witcher with the studio hoping to have over 400 people working on it by the middle of the year. We cant imagine finding staff will be too difficult at the moment as all the other companies are slashing their own workforces in mass layoffs, despite making millions in profits each year.

Work on a sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 is also at the drawing board stage.

Paul McNally has been around consoles and computers since his parents bought him a Mattel Intellivision in 1980. He has been a prominent games journalist since the 1990s, spending over a decade as editor of popular print-based video games and computer magazines, including a market-leading PlayStation title published by IDG Media. Having spent time as Head of Communications at a professional sports club and working for high-profile charities such as the National Literacy Trust, he returned as Managing Editor in charge of large US-based technology websites in 2020. Paul has written high-end gaming content for GamePro, Official Australian PlayStation Magazine, PlayStation Pro, Amiga Action, Mega Action, ST Action, GQ, Loaded, and the The Mirror. He has also hosted panels at retro-gaming conventions and can regularly be found guesting on gaming podcasts and Twitch shows. He is obsessed with 3D printing and has worked with several major brands in the past to create content Believing that the reader deserves actually to enjoy what they are reading is a big part of Pauls ethos when it comes to gaming journalism, elevating the sites he works on above the norm. Reach out on X.

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Cyberpunk devs promise new patch to sort out most common remaining issues - ReadWrite

Summary

CD Projekt Red may be teasing the location for Cyberpunk 2077's sequel - currently codenamed Project Orion - and potentially the year it's set in. If so, the sequel could take place in a futuristic version of a real-world location, being a departure from Cyberpunk 2077's completely fictional Night City.

Project Orion was first announced in 2022 as a part of CD Projekt Red's long-term strategy update, and many developers have moved on from working on Cyberpunk 2077 to focus on its sequel and the upcoming The Witcher game. Despite stating that Project Orion will "prove the full power and potential of the Cyberpunk universe", little to nothing has been revealed surrounding the title's story, gameplay, or release date. Despite this, CD Projekt Red may be subtly planting clues about the sequel through Cyberpunk 2077's updates.

At various locations around the map, a poster can be found advertising quick travel between Night City and Chicago using the Transcontinental Maglev Network, which has led to speculation that this could be the location for Project Orion. The poster also states that this will be opening in 2080, potentially teasing the year in which Project Orion will take place. If the game is set in 2080, this would be three years after Cyberpunk 2077's main campaign, and a further year after V awakens from their coma in Phantom Liberty's "The Tower" ending.

One of the aims of Night Corp's Maglev System is to connect Night City's Corpo Plaza with the NUSA's wider East Coast, offering quick travel to other cities such as New York, the most populated city in the NUSA.

When exactly the poster was added to the game has been debated among the fanbase. Some claim that they saw the poster since Cyberpunk 2077's launch back in 2020, while others say that they saw it for the first time in early 2023, and believed it could tie into the Phantom Liberty expansion that came later that year.

Ultimately, Chicago didn't play any part in Phantom Liberty when it launched in September 2023. Since the 2.0 and 2.1 updates to the core game, however, players such as Redditor QueenCobra91 are reporting more frequent sightings of the poster, believing it to be building up to Project Orion's reveal now that CD Projekt Red has moved many developers onto the sequel and has released an "Ultimate Edition" of Cyberpunk 2077 in December 2023 as a send-off for the title.

Although Night City is prominent and a unique creation, it has also been built upon the real-life Morro Bay in California, with the Cyberpunk RED Jumpstart Kit stating that Night City's Orbital Air Space Center is located on top of Morro Rock. Mike Pondsmith's Cyberpunk universe has referenced many other real-world locations through various sourcebooks, and although players can't visit them, places such as Shanghai and Hong Kong are mentioned within Cyberpunk 2077.

It's possible CD Projekt Red may choose to explore other real-world American locations in its Cyberpunk sequel, as this lore has already been established in sourcebooks such as Home of the Brave, or the cross-country adventure Land of the Free. This exploration of the wider New United States of America has already begun in Phantom Liberty. The expansion already heavily involved President Myers, who has ties to Washington D.C., and its "The Tower" ending even involved V getting treatment in the FIA's headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

If Project Orion were to move to Chicago, the location would already have a rich backstory to explore within the Cyberpunk universe based on information provided in Cyberpunk 2020, Cyberpunk RED, and the anime spin-off Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. The city was already impacted during the financial collapse of the United States of America between the years 1996 and 2008, but later became ravaged by a catastrophic bio-plague created by the Federal Government.

The bio-plague that swept Chicago was initially believed to be a derivative of the Ebola virus.

The bio-plague was created in a clandestine complex called Heartland, which was originally built beneath Chicago during World War 2 and contributed to the Manhattan Project before being repurposed as a large-scale bio-agent and chemical research facility. The facility became outdated, and when it couldn't be renovated successfully, it was abandoned alongside all of the biohazardous chemicals and projects scientists had been working on, with the complex being sealed shut with cement and plastered with bio-hazard warnings.

When reconstructing the University of Chicago campus that was situated atop Heartland, the companies in charge proceeded to demolish several old buildings. Among the sites listed for demolition was the Heartland complex, despite the many bio-hazard warnings, and this led to the bio-plague being unleashed upon the city. Within six months, Chicago was largely destroyed, with those who survived the plague abandoning the city, with a mere 10% of its population inhabiting the few remaining safe areas.

Storm Technologies Incorporated (aka. StormTech) began its reconstruction of Chicago once the toxicity levels dropped, and between 2017 and 2020, the company was able to salvage critical resources and rebuild major districts. As a result, 8-million residents were able to inhabit the once-fallen city, and it became the founding location of the major Cyberware manufacturer, Cytech. Unfortunately, this soon came to an end during the Fourth Corporate War, as Arasaka detonated virus bombs in Chicago to stop Militech from claiming it.

Fortunately, the posters seen in Cyberpunk 2077 indicate that the city may have been restored to its former glory once again in the decades that followed the Fourth Corporate War's end in 2025. If so, visiting the brand-new Chicago of the year 2080 in Project Orion could be a very different experience from exploring the more run-down Night City, providing a completely new aesthetic that can feel fresh while still retaining the Cyberpunk universe's rich storytelling and worldbuilding that players expect from the series.

Source: QueenCobra91/Reddit

Based on the 1988 tabletop game, Cyberpunk 2077 is a first-person action RPG game set in a dystopian cyber future developed by CD Projekt Red. Players will tackle the streets of Night City as customizable protagonist V, who struggles to keep their memories intact after receiving a strange cybernetic implant that slowly overrides their memories by a deceased celebrity known as Johnny Silverhand, played by Keanu Reeves.

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Hidden Cyberpunk 2077 Detail May Reveal The Location Of Cyberpunk 2 (Orion) - Screen Rant