Category Archives: Cyberpunk

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

Reikon Games, the developers behind cyberpunky top-down shooter Ruiner, have reportedly become the latest studio to lay off dozens of staff, with over half of the Polish indie said to have lost their jobs earlier this week.

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Former employees speaking to Kotaku said that approximately 60 to 70 people - over 50% of the studios workforce - were laid off this past Tuesday, January 23rd in an announcement described as sudden and shocking.

Those affected included producer Rafa Basaj, who posted on Threads that around 60 people had been let go across all possible departments, including narrative designers, audio engineers and artists.

Reikon released neon-soaked, top-down cyberpunk action-shooter Ruiner in 2017, which has since been reported to be in line for a live-action TV series.

Last September, Reikon teased their next game, a sci-fi title with apparent themes of body augmentation. Back in 2021, the studio revealed a pacey first-person shooter under the working title of Codename: Final Form, which put players in control of the sentient robot avatar of a spaceship with a hint at time-bending elements.

Reikons layoffs add to a week that has seen almost two thousand people let go from Microsoft and their many studios - including Blizzard, Bethesda and Xbox - and more than 500 people lose their jobs at League of Legends makers Riot Games, along with the closure of their Riot Forge third-party publishing label. Those are just of the more recent and sizeable examples of the devastating industry layoffs that have seen an estimated 6,000 games industry workers lose their jobs and indie outlets closed entirely in under four weeks alone.

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Ruiner devs reportedly lay off over half of studio behind cyberpunk shooter - Rock Paper Shotgun

The Cyberpunk 2077 sequel might still be in the conceptual phase, but CD Projekt is eyeing ramping up production later this year - and is considering multiplayer features for the new game.

That's according to co-CEOs Adam Badowski and Michal Nowakowski, speaking to Reuters in a new interview. Badowski revealed that the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, which is still going by the codename "Orion," is still in the "conceptual phase," which means it isn't in active development yet.

However, Badowski said CD Projekt aims to have 80 people working on the sequel by the end of 2024. This indicates that the developer expects the sequel to graduate from pre-production by the end of the year, where it's being primarily developed in Boston instead of Poland.

Nowakowski added that the developer was "considering" multiplayer elements for the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, but wouldn't elaborate further. This means Orion could well feature the multiplayer side of Cyberpunk 2077 that was eventually scrapped in favor of it being a strictly single-player RPG.

The joint CEO also added that CD Projekt has formed a team to investigate using AI in some form. "We think that AI is something that can help improve certain processes in game production, but not replace people," Nowakowski said in the interview.

Badowski finally added that he believes CD Projekt has "better control" over game production, and that the developer will "avoid a premiere like the one we faced with Cyberpunk 2077." Hopefully, this means a smoother development process for Orion, with no periods of crunch or delays.

The CD Projekt leaders also revealed that The Witcher 4 will enter full production this year, and they want 400 people working on the game by the middle of the year.

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Cyberpunk 2077 sequel is in the "conceptual phase," but might ramp up production this year as its devs consider ... - Gamesradar

One of the most controversial titles in gaming is currently free-to-play, courtesy of Cyberpunk 2077s publisher.

Have you seen the new Indiana Jones game from Bethesda? Watch the trailer for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle below

For those who are unfamiliar, Postal is a series of shooters that make Grand Theft Auto look like a Nintendo game in comparison. Theyre dark, gory, and grim in every sense of the word but offer some off the wall fun for anyone wanting a game where they can just go nuts and kill everyone.

Through GOG, CD Projekt Red has made the first game, Postal: Classic and Uncut, free to download and play. For context the game is currently banned in over 10 countries, thats how over the top the violence is.

If you need any more convincing you should have a read of the games description which says its a realistic, non-stop-killing, action-strategy psychological thriller. No aliens, no mutants, no stupid quest for the dragon's balls. Just good antisocial, psychotic shoot-'em-up action, strategy and government intervention.

Theres 17 levels in total but this version of the game adds an extra four via the Expansion Pack, and on top of that you also get access to 24 new characters so there's plenty of replay value here.

If you fancy giving Postal: Classic and Uncut a go you can download and play it for free right now on GOG. If you end up liking it you can also find the rest of the Postal games in the store, though youll have to pay for those ones.

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Cyberpunk 2077 publisher giving away one of gaming's most controversial titles free - GAMINGbible

Palworlds astonishing success swelled over the weekend, with the Pokmon with guns survival and crafting game shooting up Steams most-played games list and selling millions more copies.

Palworld launched on January 19 in early access form on Steam as well as on Xbox and Windows PC, day-and-date with Game Pass. Palworld overtook CD Projekts Cyberpunk 2077 to set Steams fifth highest peak concurrent player count with 1,291,967 online at the same time on Valves platform. Palworld is currently the most-played game on Steam, ahead of behemoths Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, and PUBG. It is just the sixth game ever to hit one million concurrents on Steam.

There are a number of Steam records that go along with this success on Steam. Palworld is now the most-played Japanese-developed game ever on Steam (its developer, PocketPair, is based in Tokyo), ahead of previous record holder, Elden Ring. And Palworld is the second most-played paid game ever on Steam, behind PUBGs perhaps insurmountable peak concurrent figure of 3,257,248, which was set before the battle royale went free-to-play.

Meanwhile, Pocketpair said Palworld had sold over five million in about three days, with 86,000 copies selling per hour. For context, Insomniacs Marvels Spider-Man sold 3.3 million copies in its first three days on sale, Sony Santa Monica Studios God of War sold 3.1 million in three days, and Naughty Dogs The Last of Us 2 sold 4 million in the same time period. Palworld, then, has sold faster than the fastest-selling first-party PS4 exclusive ever in a three-day sales window. All this despite its availability day-one on Game Pass.

While Palworld is a clear smash hit, it is not without controversy. Last week IGN reported on how some Pokmon fans were taking to social media to point out striking similarities between Palworlds Pals and the Pokmon themselves. Elsewhere, the Xbox version continues to lag behind the Steam version in terms of key features and updates. Palworlds enormous launch has seen its servers struggle, too.

Check out IGNs Palworld Early Access Review in Progress to find out what we thought.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

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Palworld Has Huge Weekend, Sells 5 Million and Overtakes Cyberpunk 2077 in Steams Most-Played Games List - IGN