Cyberpunk 2077 Quest Designer Says Quests Could Have Far-Reaching Consequences
On several occasions since E3, representatives of CD Projekt Red have stressed that Cyberpunk 2077 will force players to make frequent decisions, and that those decisions will carry tangible consequences. In a recent discussion with Polish gamers, Philipp Weber, the game’s Senior Quest Designer, gave fans some idea of how far-reaching some of those consequences will be.
Consequences in Cyberpunk 2077 Quest Design
Philipp Weber recently spoke with gamers from Poland in a video on the arhn2eu YouTube channel. One key thing he was asked about was the consequences for player decisions. According to Weber, some consequences may not emerge until much later in the game; “One thing we also want to do is,” says Weber; “every choice has a consequence, or can have multiple consequences. So maybe whatever you do in this one quest has maybe also a consequence in two or three other quests, which will then also go even further”. It was recently revealed that Cyberpunk 2077 will feature different side-quests and consequences based purely on character creation choices.
“The good and bad decisions won’t always be clear to see,” says Weber; “the thing is, we want to tell a realistic story. So we’ll never tell you if one of your choices is good or bad. You have to think about what you think is right. Sometimes, what you think is right, that’s the good thing, yeah. Sometimes, like in real life, it’ll be a good thing, and you’ll have a good consequence for it. But sometimes, how things are can go to the side. The thing is, we don’t want you to expect what happens. Because then it gets boring, […] We want to make a mature game. And part of that is, there’s violence, there’s sex, but that also means we want to make a game for adults, and we want to make you feel emotions, but we also want to make you use your head.”
Far-Reaching Consequences
“Maybe sometimes you have to think about something,” concludes Weber; “and you thought that this was a good idea. And maybe it comes back later, with a big consequence that you didn’t expect, and now you have to live with it. Because one thing we also like to do is, sometimes the consequence comes five hours later, just like in real life. And then you might not just want to load your saved game, and go ‘Ah. I’ll just re-do that choice’. Then you have to live with this consequence, but you know, it’s part of your story. And for me, I think that is how we can tell the best story in an adult game.”