Cyberpunk 2077’s main storyline will not be as lengthy as the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, a CD Projekt Red senior quest designer confirmed shortly after the developer’s third Night City Wire episode aired.
The Witcher 3 features a notoriously long main story campaign, even when compared to other open-world RPGs. This is partly because of the vast number of activities and side quests to get distracted by in the Northern Kingdoms, the game’s setting, and partly because of the number of quests that make up the main story. But while many fans appreciated the great amount of content, others never got around to finishing the game and complained of its length.
That is why Cyberpunk 2077’s main story will be slightly shorter than the Witcher 3’s, CD Projekt Red Senior Quest Designer Patrick Mills told Twitch streamer CohhCarnage today. “The main story run in Cyberpunk 2077 is slightly shorter than The Witcher 3, because we got a lot of complaints about the Witcher 3’s main story just being too long,” Mills said “Looking at the metrics, you see tremendous numbers of people played through that game really far, but never made it to the end.”
If a player focuses on The Witcher 3’s main story, it can be beaten between 30 and 50 hours, but most players take longer because of the side content. Depending on playstyle, it can take up to 200 hours to beat The Witcher 3. According to How Long to Beat, a site that gathers data on game completion, it takes about 51 hours on average to complete The Witcher 3’s main quest, about 105 hours to beat the main quest and do some side missions, and 179 hours for completionist runs.
While Cyberpunk 2077’s main campaign will be shorter in length, players should set aside a good amount of time to dedicate to the game, as it will likely still be a long experience filled with extra things to do. It's also important to note that Mills was only referring to the main quest, not the content in the game as a whole. CD Projekt Red has also asserted that Cyberpunk 2077 is a “much, much deeper,” roleplaying experience than the Witcher 3, which will add more replay value to the game.
The fans who might be disappointed to learn that Cyberpunk 2077’s story will be shorter can still look forward to more DLC, as CD Projekt Red recently confirmed that Cyberpunk will get more DLC content than the Witcher 3. The latter received free content in the weeks after its release, as well as two sizable expansions that came months later.
Judging from the trailers that have dropped so far, it seems safe to assume that there will be no shortage of missions and activities to do while in Cyberpunk 2077's Night City. The game looks to be one of the most detailed yet, and CD Projekt has earned a reputation for packing its games with quality content.
Cyberpunk 2077 releases on PC, Xbox One and PS4 on November 19. Both console versions will be backwards compatible on next-gen consoles at launch.
Source: PCGamesN