Cyberpunk 2077 will feature more than 1,000 non-playable characters who all have their own daily lives, developer CD Projekt RED has revealed. Fans may get to see more of these NPCs in the Cyberpunk 2077 Night City Wire event which has now been delayed to the end of the month.
German gaming site GameStar spoke to Cyberpunk 2077 senior level designer Miles Tost and senior quest designer Philipp Weber in a new series of podcasts. Fans translations on Reddit reveal that the developers confirmed that more than 1,000 NPCs in the game will have "a handmade routine." In comparison, there are areas in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt where NPCs just had no routine. In theory, this should allow players to follow an NPC as they move from work, to a nightclub for drinks at the end of the day, and back home to their apartment, if that is the routine that CD Projekt RED has designed for them.
Giving NPCs things to do throughout the day is not a new idea in game design. It's something that players of Cities: Skylines could enjoy when that city management and simulation game released back in 2015. That game featured more than one million unique city citizens who all had daily schedules. Cyberpunk 2077 may be doing that on a much smaller scale but it could be an important part of making Night City feel lived in, like a real city where characters live and not just a playground that only moves because the player happens to be watching.
The daily routines feature also isn't the only way that CD Projekt RED has learned from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and its NPCs. CD Projekt RED has confirmed that the Cyberpunk 2077 map will be smaller than The Witcher 3's, meaning that NPCs will not be as spread out. It may also mean that players will not have to travel as far a distance if they're to watch a full, daily schedule play out.
The buildings in Cyberpunk 2077, such as the high-rise apartments, will have several floors which may offer several missions. Without seeing more gameplay, it's unclear if Cyberpunk 2077 NPC routines will be on that fine a level, but it is a possibility.
In a 2018 interview, CD Projekt RED also said that Cyberpunk 2077's NPCs will be much more reactive than those in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. When the player turns to look at something in the game, the NPC may react to this or may change their facial expression. This may sound like a small thing too, but it's the difference between feeling an emotional response to dialogue and not.
Cyberpunk 2077 will be available September 17th for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One, and later for PS5 and Xbox Series X.