Cyberpunk 2077 Sequel Project Orion Has Night City and Another City That Feels Like 'Chicago Gone Wrong,' Mike Pondsmith Teases

CD Projekt’s Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, codenamed Project Orion, is simply a intimately guarded secret, but that hasn’t stopped Cyberpunk creator Mike Pondsmith from teasing immoderate antecedently chartless details.

Pondsmith, who worked intimately with CD Projekt connected the 30 million-selling Cyberpunk 2077 and was progressive successful promoting the crippled up of its 2020 launch, was asked astir the scope of his engagement with Project Orion astatine the Digital Dragons 2025 conference.

Responding, Pondsmith admitted helium wasn’t arsenic progressive this clip around, but helium does reappraisal scripts and had been to CD Projekt to cheque retired the ongoing work.

“Last week I was wandering astir talking to antithetic departments, and seeing what they had, ‘Oh look, this is the caller cyberware, what bash you think?’ ‘Oh yeah, that’s beauteous good, that works here.’ "

And then, the morsel of item connected the sequel: that it features a marque caller metropolis successful summation to the Night City we cognize from Cyberpunk 2077. Pondsmith described this caller metropolis arsenic “like Chicago gone wrong.”

“I spent a batch of clip talking to 1 of the situation guys, and helium was explaining however the caller spot successful Orion, due to the fact that there’s different metropolis we sojourn — I’m not telling you immoderate much than that but there’s different metropolis we visit. And Night City is inactive there. But I retrieve looking astatine it and going, yea I recognize the consciousness you’re going for this, and this truly does work. And it doesn’t consciousness similar Blade Runner, it feels much similar Chicago gone wrong. I said, ‘Yeah, I tin spot this working.”

It’s worthy pointing retired present that Pondsmith’s comments bash not needfully suggest the Cyberpunk sequel volition diagnostic a aboriginal Chicago, alternatively a metropolis that has the consciousness of a dystopian mentation of the city. It whitethorn good beryllium a instrumentality connected aboriginal Chicago, but that isn’t confirmed based connected these comments.

There is besides already immoderate statement astir whether the Cyberpunk sequel volition grow upon the Night City that’s successful Cyberpunk 2077 oregon diagnostic a caller version, and the grade to which it is playable. There are a batch of unknowns, but it looks similar determination whitethorn beryllium 2 fleshed retired playable cities successful this sequel.

While CD Projekt’s absorption close present is The Witcher 4, it has a caller workplace acceptable up successful Boston to enactment connected Project Orion. Earlier this year, CD Projekt said 84 of its 707 unit were moving connected Project Orion, which is inactive successful the conception phase. Much tin change, and we’re not expecting the crippled for immoderate time.

There’s besides a caller Cyberpunk animation task connected Netflix pursuing the well-received Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. In the shorter term, Cyberpunk 2077 is acceptable to motorboat connected Nintendo Switch 2.

Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].