Cyberpunk 2077 is still in depths of development, release may be distant

The most anticipated game on the horizon? Cyberpunk 2077, the upcoming sci-fi RPG from the team behind The Witcher series, could be it. However, the long wait for its release may be far from over.

A new video for PlayStation put together by CD Projekt Red, the game's development team, suggests that Cyberpunk 2077 may still be some time away from being finished and ready for public consumption:

We know now that Cyberpunk 2077 is being showcased at E3 2019 – which shouldn't come as a surprise given there was an extensive gameplay reveal during E3 2018.

However, that gigantic tease last summer seemed to suggest the game was close to completion – something the above video downplays.

"Cyberpunk 2077 may no longer be the mystery it once was, but work on it is far from over," says the narrator (who sounds suspiciously like Geralt of Rivia voice actor Doug Cockle), and the video ends with the now all-too-familiar note that Cyberpunk 2077 will launch "when it's ready".

A whole new Cyberpunk timeline

Though the new video is primarily made up of old gameplay footage, it does share some new tidbits of information on the game's design and development however.

Firstly, and most pertinently to fans of the Cyberpunk tabletop game that acts as inspiration for the videogame adaptation, Cyberpunk 2077 is set not only 60-ish years after its source material, but also on a parallel timeline.

"This gave the team the freedom to create a game that respected and referenced the source material, but also suited the shift to the videogame medium," explains the narrator.

There's also insight into the decision to take the game to a first-person perspective, when the development team's past experience sits firmly in third-person presentations. The futuristic cityscape of the game is one of towering skyscrapers and neon high-rises. When a player's focus is their character's avatar, the desire to look up is sometimes lost, but from a first-person perspective, you're more inclined to recline and take a look to the skies – a useful element given the game's gunplay and verticality in level design.

We'll be heading out to E3 2019 where we're expecting to hear more on Cyberpunk 2077, so stay tuned for more release details shortly.