CD Projekt Red released the full Cyberpunk 2077 Gameplay Demo from E3 to the public. I’ve got here an in-depth analysis for you! Learn every new detail!
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This is the same demo that was first shown behind closed doors at E3. Today at 9:00 GMT the CD Projekt Red official Twitch channel suddenly went online and for over eight hours all we were seeing was white cod being generated on a dark background. About eight and a half hours after it all started and the whole internet was overhyped, the code finished generating and upload began. Another 30 minutes later, at exactly 17:00 GMT the gameplay demo began! Below is not just the full video, but a full and in-depth analysis of all we learned from it.
Note: this article assumes you are familiar with at least the most basic of information about Cyberpunk 2077. If not, I strongly suggest you take a look at these stories first:
- CYBERPUNK 2077 is a First Person RPG with Focus on Story
- CYBERPUNK 2077: 6 Facts You Need To Know About the Game
- CYBERPUNK 2077 Trailer Frame By Frame by CD Projekt Red
THE FULL CYBERPUNK 2077 GAMEPLAY DEMO
Now, let’s begin the in-depth analysis of all new and interesting things I was able to catch from the video. Feel free to add more by leaving a comment under the article with more details that you spotted and think are of great importance too.
Below you will find new info about:
- character creator options
- user interface and HUD
- inventory and other menus of the game
- story progression, choices and consequences
- weapon types, abilities, combat
- driving around night city
- and a few more misc notes
Last note before I begin. The following text and images do not intent to tell the story we saw in the gameplay demo, but rather they focus on the game’s features and mechanics that were just revealed.
CHARACTER CREATION
The character creation screen is very extensive and detailed. You get to pick between female and male V, choose the origins of your character and his or her background, then go through biometric scan, pick the appearance you like and finally choose biostats – these are all five tabs of the character creation process you go through at the beginning of your journey.
Cyberpunk 2077 features a fluent class system and you don’t get to pick a class to start with. Instead, you can modify and develop your V any way you want.
USER INTERFACE (UI)
The UI of Cyberpunk 2077 is both stylish and minimal. At least in this version of the game. Many things are likely to change as development goes.
On the top right screen we see the current mission objectives. On the top left is your health bar status and any incoming calls, like in the first image below.
Any voice-over subtitles are displayed in the bottom middle and since this is a true first-person RPG, you only get to see your hands and the weapon you are holding.
Characters you meet will have random casual conversations (if you are roaming around Night City, which is a 100% loading-free open world). When they have names, it is a hint that they are likely to be involved in a mission or dialogue. Red markers will help you navigate around and make it easier for you to find and follow your next objective or target.
When appropriate, special commands and hints will pop up on your screen to help you make your next move
The steam boost we saw her apply to herself just before the first shoot-out, lasted for about a minute and its timer was displayed in the top left corner, right next to her HP bar.
This red indicator shows you where the damage is coming from.
Damage is displayed with red numbers, flying out of the target’s body. Text, such as “critical” hits is also displayed.
The conversation options during dialogues is displayed with different colors, based on the type of action you choose, in the very middle of your screen.
After V got her Optical Scaner and Subdermal Weapon Grip, we now see additional info on the UI like ammo. Her connected weapons are also dealing more base damage. More on that Implant below.
INVENTORY AND STATS
We got only a couple of glimpses of what the Inventory looks like in Cyberpunk 2077. Once again, it’s probably going to change several times before the game is ready for release, but here is what it looks like now.
Here we can see that V has the following slots for items/implants/upgrades. The numbers after each slot are the current level item V has placed in it:
- Head
- Face
- Body
- Chest
- Jacket
- Pants
Each one of them can slot a different item of different level and with different stats. On the left side we’ve got V’s Personal Stats:
- Level – primary leveling system, allowing you to get better gear as you progress through the game,
- Street Cred – secondary Leveling System, used to unlock new vendors and quests,
- Resistances – how likely are you to resist certain types of incoming damage:
- Physical
- Thermal
- Emp
- Chemical
- Damage – the damage output you are currently capable of:
- Melee
- Ranged
HP regenerates out of combat. Or at least it does in the demo. It is likely that a similar difficulty system may be available like in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. In higher difficulties HP may not regenerate, forcing you to use a Health Pack to replenish what you have lost during combat.
The rest of the tabs are:
- Codex – Most likely the place, where all lore and history will be stored after you discover it In-Game
- Quests – A tracker of your current and past quests.
- Bio Monitor – Unknown at the time. Most likely a screen displaying in greater detail your character stats.
- GPS – Unknown at the time. Most likely the map of Night City.
- Crafting – the crafting in Cyberpunk 2077 will be deep and complex.
- Social – Unknown at the time.
WEAPONS, ABILITIES, IMPLANTS, BOOSTS
While there is very little known and confirmed for now, we can still draw some new conclusions and get new info from the gameplay demo regarding the weaponry arsenal and all the crazy high tech gadgets that Night City has to offer.
One of V’s special abilities is Kareznikov – allowing her to slow down time and pump her target until its full of bullets.
Every item that you equip or use gives you various boosts. Check out V’s trusty pistol’s stats in the image below. Don’t dwell on the numbers, though. They are likely to change during the course of development and based on your own character’s level and stats probably too.
V’s Jacket also gives her boosts. By default, it provides some protection (armor), but this is no ordinary jacket as you can see. While wearing it, V gets 5% increased Street Cred leveling speed. Street Cred is the secondary form of XP that you earn by completing side missions in Night City. Street Cred also unlocks new vendors and content.
The main currency in Cyberpunk 2077 are “eddies” – slang for Euro-Dollars. Money can be used to purchase upgrades, weapons, tools and ammunition at the many vendors available all over the city.
V got a nice hand implant that enhances several of her abilities. This optical scaner and a subdermal weapon grip gave her a way to zoom in and inspect objects and NPCs while also boosting the damage she does with her weapon.
Below are a couple more ranged weapons we got to see in the demo:
- Blunderbuss – a tech weapon that can penetrate walls and other types of cover. Its alternate fire allows you to do power-shots and deal more damage. With some special weapon modules installed, this weapon can shoot via a recochet targeting system that allows you to bounce bullets off walls and hit enemies hiding behind cover.
- Kang Tao Type 41 – a Smart weapon that follows your target, thus helping you hit the weak spots of your enemies.
- Mantis Blades – very deadly melee weapon consisting of two melee blades that are attached to the player’s hands. This also allows you to crawl up on walls and take advantage of high ground. You probably recognized this weapon from the very first teaser trailer CD Projekt Red released for the game.
- Grenades – different types of grenades are available at your disposal to blow stuff up on your way to completing a quest.
It is still unknown how much the melee combat will be involved as this is a primarily a shooting focused game from what we know so far. It doesn’t mean you wont get to use some awesome and epic melee weapons, such as the Mantis.
The weapons can be of different levels and tiers as well. The higher the tier, the more expensive the weapon would be to purchase, but the higher stats and boost it will provide. Military Grade weapons are the top of the line, therefore they are most expensive and also hard to come by. Additionally each weapon has several mod slots, allowing you to modify it to your taste and needs. This is an RPG and CD Projekt Red consistently repeat that all their work is being done with this main goal in mind – giving you the freedom to do things your way and make your own decisions.
Some higher level abilities include double-jump and bouncing off walls, which allows you to gain even more advantage against your enemies.
In the world of Cyberpunk, once you are jacked to a Network, you get access to everything it connects to. V can exploit this by high-jacking enemies and infiltrating their network, which allows her to use some special skills, such as blocking weapons from firing. In the demo we got to see her approach a gang-member form behind, take him down and connect to his network then deploy software that affects the whole squad nearby.
In the image below you can see V hacking the gang-member below, preventing him from using his gun (blocking it).
THE DRIVING EXPERIENCE
I believe some GTA fans will feel this portion of the gameplay familiar. But it is quite unique and different at the same time. Cyberpunk 2077 allows you to drive from first-person or third person. While driving, you can also enjoy nice audio tracks playing in the background.
You can explore Night City freely. It is a big city and using different types of vehicles, such as cars, bikes and more, are an important part of the experience.
MISC NOTES
Cyberpunk 2077 is a mature visceral experience and will allow you to witness and perform various kinds of activities and explore the your character’s deepest secrets.
The music of the game is absolutely 100% fantastic and adds to the already exellent feeling of living inside this insane futuristic world.
The graphics of the game are beyond amazing. CD Projekt Red is striving to create the most realistic and believable city in any video game to date. Every single NPC has their own live, agendas and full day-night cycles. You may remember something like this being available in The Witcher 3 as well, but in Cyberpunk 2077 this system has been upgraded and developed to a whole new level.
Most of the missions and contracts can be completed in multiple ways. In some cases they are so vastly different that you would be amazed this is just a side quest. Even though the game is not finished yet, I know what CD Projekt Red did with The Witcher 3, so when they say each contract and mission has multiple approaches, I completely believe them.
Even the side mission contract we got to see in the demo had multiple options and choices of how to proceed. Here’s one of them below. Choices unlock different paths you can follow to complete your tasks. Based on your decisions, the outcome can be drastically different. Your actions affect not just your current quest, but the whole world around you.
At the end of the demo, we got to see this longer fight. It looked like some sort of a mini-boss fight and involved some special tactics to make it happen smooth and easy, as V would prefer no doubt.
First, V scanned Royce and his exoskeleton suit for weak spots, then used her smart weapon to target these weak spots and take down the armor of her enemy. After that it was an easy task simply finishing Royce off with her conventional weapons.
This gameplay video, like all other Cyberpunk 2077 trailers before it, has a hidden message from CD Projekt RED to the gaming community. Have you found it yet? If you couldn’t, check this story here for all the details.
That’s it for now! Feel free to add any details you noticed and I did not describe in my article. For more info on the game, head to the CYBNERPUNK 2077 CATEGORY here on VULKK.com!
