It's still a fairly long wait until we can finally get our hands on Cyberpunk 2077. In the meantime, to keep the hype going many eager fans are speculating about what gameplay mechanics will be featured, based on the gameplay demos we've seen from E3 and Gamescom.
Since the game is being developed by CD Projekt Red, the very same people who gave us The Witcher series, there's bound to be a lot of overlap in style and gameplay between the two titles. Every gaming company always leaves their handprint on their work, and this won't be any different with Cyberpunk 2077. However, which features would we like to see in the upcoming game, and which are better off left in the universe of The Witcher? Let's have a look.
10 Hopefully: Toxicity
Toxicity is not a huge gameplay mechanic, but it is significant enough to increase realism and immersion. It shows that your choices as Geralt have consequences, which will affect you over time. The more you consume potions, the higher your toxicity will be.
This gameplay mechanic is also somewhat similar to Fallout 4's chem use mechanic, which has a chance of making you addicted. Since we're diving deep into cyberpunk genre, it would be pretty cool and immersive to see various performance boosting drugs and chemicals being used, but also having a drawback to continued use.
9 Hope Not: Quest Boards
The idea of the quest board itself isn't bad. It's an easy way in The Witcher 3 for you to pick up quests or read about local events. In fact, given the setting of the game it might even make sense to have a quest board.
However, when it comes to the futuristic world of Cyberpunk 2077, we'd rather not have a board or a terminal you can go to for more work. The game introduces us to fixers, after all, and since we're working in the underbelly of society, it would be much cooler and atmospheric to have to seek out these fixer characters, even for mundane quests.
8 Hopefully: Insane Difficulty
Like everyone else, we love a good challenge. Any big title should make sure that they provide at least three to four different levels of challenge that fit different audiences. Some might be there for a slow ride through the story, while others crave a highly strategic and brutal experience.
This should definitely be the case with Cyberpunk 2077, which should have its own hardcore Death March mode that requires high skill but also grants you high rewards.
7 Hope Not: Meditation
Meditation is a very specific mechanic found in The Witcher 3, which allows Geralt to basically rest and refresh himself. This is a great way to heal and reduce toxicity. While the concept of resting is fine in our minds in open-world settings, it should be highly tweaked before brought into Cyberpunk 2077.
We definitely hope you won't just be able to sit down and take a nap outside of the warehouse you're supposed to infiltrate, but actually go to your own apartment or some type of HQ or hotel to catch some Zs.
6 Hopefully: Romance Stories
So we know by now that Cyberpunk 2077 will definitely feature some romance options. However, it's unclear whether these characters are just paper thin partners you can spend the night with or if they actually have their own stories which in turn will affect your story as well.
In The Witcher 3, choosing between Yennefer and Triss will have specific consequences (and you can even choose both!). This seems the most realistic path, too, and it's why we hope it'll also be the case in Cyberpunk 2077, with compelling, emotionally engaging romance partners that truly influence V's story.
5 Hope Not: Haggling Mini-Game
Mini-games can really enrich a game and bring some spice to mundane interactions. Cyberpunk 2077 developers have already confirmed there'll be a mini-game for hacking, martial arts, boxing and shooting ranges, as well as car racing. However, we don't quite know yet if any other interactions will have mini-games, such as haggling.
The concept in The Witcher 3 is so simple we wouldn't even really call it a game, as it simply consists of an annoyance meter you need to balance. Hopefully, the games in Cyberpunk 2077 will have more substance to them than this haggling game.
4 Hopefully: Alchemy
We already mentioned toxicity, but tying into that is the ability to mix and create your own potions. In a highly futuristic world the concept is of course much different, and could include drugs and other boosters that can tremendously help you in combat by either enhancing your attributes, your damage, speed or even slowing time.
Ingredients could function the same way as in The Witcher 3, which means they can be found all around the open-world and then mixed to create whatever concoction you need. You could even make poisons or craft your own explosives, both of which are features that can fully be transplanted from The Witcher 3 into Cyberpunk 2077, despite the different setting.
3 Hope Not: Adrenaline Points
From what we've seen so far, the combat systems between the two games will be somewhat different. The Witcher 3's combat is against mythical creatures from a 3rd person perspective, making combat fast yet slow at the same time. However, Cyberpunk 2077 is set in the future, where much more lethal weapons are available.
Although some builds might require the adrenaline mechanic, we feel like having to wait to charge an attack would be a huge annoyance in a dynamic, futuristic game where finding ammo is already a struggle of its own.
2 Hopefully: Time-Sensitive Dialogue
Dialogue choices will be a thing for certain, just like in The Witcher 3. However, sometimes it can be easy to just stand there and take your time trying to think of what you want to say or do. The Witcher 3 counters this by sometimes introducing timed dialogue actions.
This is a great concept which open-world games should utilize more to enhance immersion. Hopefully, this will also make its way to Cyberpunk 2077, where the fast-paced lifestyle in the underbelly of Night City definitely calls for such a mechanic.
1 Hope Not: Repairing Items
We're not going to lie: not all realistic mechanics are fun to play, and one of them is fixing any items you have. Whether it's armor or weapons, it never seems that much fun to have to fix your favorite piece of gear. If anything it just presents a small drawback to having that item in the first place.
Although it's very likely that this will become a mechanic, simply due to its realism factor, we hope that the developers come up with another solution for managing your gear, and especially broken or damaged cyberware, that works better in Cyberpunk 2077.