Game Rant recently sat down with actress and voice talent Anna Rust to discuss her work in various films and shows, plus games like Star Wars Battlefront 2, Battlefield 5, Final Fantasy 14, and Cyberpunk 2077. We also went over her favorite games, dream roles, trends in traditional actors moving over to video games, and her experiences working on Cyberpunk 2077, all of which will be discussed in our full interview write-up. With all the controversy surrounding the release of what was one of the most anticipated games in years, many may be wondering what it was like working with developer CD Projekt Red as an actress.
Cyberpunk 2077 is a hot topic in gaming right now, mostly because of its failures. The game has been the target of heavy criticism over poor optimization and unacceptable performance on consoles, along with game-breaking bugs and other issues. At the same time, though, it has received praise for its story, characters, and more, and part of that is how the characters were brought to life. To begin, Anna Rust worked on the game as a voice actress but first explained explained what her role was.
I don’t want to spoil anything, but there’s a really great scene somewhere in the game with my character, who is a sex worker. I have yet to find it myself, so I will probably leave it at that.
While she was reluctant to dish out specific information on her character, Rust was much more forthcoming with what she thought of working on Cyberpunk 2077, as well as the finished product and its reception.
I thought [working on Cyberpunk 2077] was brilliant. I loved the scripts to death. I know that there’s been some controversy about the game coming out. I’m really confident that once the bugs are ironed out, people will see how impressive the game really is. From the story to the gameplay to the visuals to the characters, every part of this game is, in my opinion, absolutely brilliant....We’re going to see the other end of it and be really impressed with the game.
Cyberpunk 2077 was certainly an ambitious project, and developer CD Projekt Red has been known to come out with games that excel in worldbuilding but need steady patches and fixes for some time after release. The Witcher 3 is one such example, with dozens of patches and updates over the course of the first year after release, yet it still remains among the best RPGs of all time. Rust pointed out similarities with other popular RPGs too: "I remember people talking about how buggy Skyrim was when it came out, but now it’s universally beloved."
As far as Rust is concerned, the positives of the game lie in the worldbuilding and design. "For Cyberpunk, it’s almost like, and I mean this in a positive way, an assault on the senses. There is just so much going on. It’s incredible… and every little corner is like that." With wave after wave of fixes, patches, updates, and free content coming for Cyberpunk 2077, many are hopeful that CD Projekt Red will bring the game back up to fan expectations in due course. Perhaps after getting the support it needs, Cyberpunk 2077 will be remembered more like The Witcher 3.
Cyberpunk 2077 is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X versions in development.