'Cyberpunk 2077' Open-World Won't Have "Procedural" Elements Like 'The Witcher' Series

Every since the world got its first look at Cyberpunk 2077, fans couldn't help but to compare the upcoming RPG to another CD Projekt RED favorite: The Witcher. Though the developers have talked about the comparisons quite a bit in the past, RED returns once more to talk about what the two franchises don't have in common.

Lead Cinematic Animator Maciej Pietras recently sat down in an interview with with French publication 'JeuxActu' and while he had much to say about the game as a whole, one particular part stood out to me the most as a huge The Witcher fan. We've heard how the two games will be smiliar and different in the past but now the Lead Cinematic Animator is taking the comparisons a step further by talking about how Cyberpunk's verticality differs from The Witcher's horizontal experience:

"Measuring the size of the open world of Cyberpunk 2077 is difficult," he mentioned. "To compare it to The Witcher 3, let's say that the world of the latter was very vast in its length. It was an open world made of very large natural landscapes. Going from point A to point B took a lot of time, because you were riding, but also because it was a game that stretched horizontally. The world of Cyberpunk 2077 is above all a vertical world, with buildings everywhere, and in this, it is difficult for us to establish a metric comparison. In the demo, you saw the main character waking up in his apartment, looking out his window and seeing a living world. To go out, take the elevator, you can see that there are several floors in a building. The game will allow you to enter many buildings, knowing that everything was done by hand, because we believe that quality comes first through manual creation, nothing is procedural in our world. It is in this that the city of Night City will be vast to go, thanks to this verticality."

Keep in mind that the above translation was courtesy of Google's auto-translate feature, but the overall message rang through clear. As immersive as The Witcher was, Cyberpunk 2077 aims to be even more so in the name of total freedom. From everything we've learned so far of the game since its official reveal last year, that freedom is going to promise many glorious gaming hours for fans of this beloved studio.

At this time, Cyberpunk 2077 still doesn't have a release date - or even a window - but we're hoping we will learn something a bit more concrete this year.

Thoughts on Cyberpunk 2077 thus far? Anything in particular you are looking forward to the most? Join in on the conversation in the comment section below, or hit me up over on Twitter @DirtyEffinHippy!