Patrick Mills Highlights Objectification as a Key Theme in Cyberpunk 2077
At present, fans don’t know much about the story of Cyberpunk 2077. CD Projekt Red showed off a brief glimpse at the story during their recent gameplay reveal; however, for an RPG of this size, that 48-minute demo was likely just a tiny portion of the final product. In a recent interview with DualShockers, Quest Designer Patrick Mills discussed the theme of objectification; one of the key Cyberpunk 2077 themes.
Objectification: One of the Core Cyberpunk 2077 Themes
While fans have a very rough idea of who V is, and where they start the story, very little is known about specifics. We only know of a few different characters, and have little to no idea where the story might go after the recent demo. There’s also the possibility that the story which was presented in the demo could be changed before the final release. Without a knowledge of the story to go on, we can look at the cyberpunk genre in general and what themes typically underpin such stories. One in particular, which Mills has now confirmed, is the theme of objectification.
“This is a world where the system and the powers that be have objectified people and literally turned them into objects,” says Mills; “Many times people turn themselves into objects in order sometimes to rebel or sometimes to fit in. Certainly, objectification would be a major theme.”
With cybernetic implants playing such a major role, it’s easy to see how they could start to influence society. CD Projekt Red gave fans an idea of the changes they have caused during their frame-by-frame blog series. The society of Night City is not a forgiving one, and things like the city’s media and entertainment are often highly intrusive. It’s easy to see how the game could comment on real-world social media trends by taking them to an extreme in Night City. The player won’t merely be an observer to these things, however; they will be just as involved as the rest of Night City’s inhabitants; “The way you dress,” continues Mills; “the way you customize your character, we want the world to respond to these things.”