GamesRPGCyberpunkCyberpunk 2077Cyberpunk 2077’s open world posed a “significant challenge” for CD Projekt RED when it came to “adjusting to the scale and characteristics of American settings"When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
GamesRPGCyberpunkCyberpunk 2077Cyberpunk 2077’s open world posed a “significant challenge” for CD Projekt RED when it came to “adjusting to the scale and characteristics of American settings"When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: CD Projekt Red)

When creatingCyberpunk 2077’s vast open world of Night City, it turns out that developerCD Projekt Redwas faced with a “significant challenge” when it came to “adjusting to the scale and characteristics of American settings,” simply because most of the team is European.
Night City is set in California, and as such, is very much an American location, even if it doesn’t exactly match up with any real cities that actually exist in our current time. Speaking about the creation of the location in issue 40 of PLAY magazine, CD Projekt RED senior environment artist Krzysztof Kornatka explains: “Since most of the team comes from Europe, a significant challenge was adjusting to the scale and characteristics of American settings.”
Ultimately, the goal with Night City was “to create a believable anti-utopian city,” but one that’s divided up into such distinct regions that players always know where they are. Of course, having that world be interesting enough to explore – regardless of how pretty it looks – with events to pull players into places they might not have ventured otherwise was also very important.
“I can create a very intriguing world with beautifully composed views, interesting architecture, and perfectly designed level layouts, but what am I supposed to do in that world once I’ve seen everything[?]” Kornatka posits. “Probably, few would even see everything if not for those events that act like a magnet, pulling players into previously undisclosed alleys.”
In other Cyberpunk 2077 news, last month, CD Projekt’s chief strategy officer Adam Kiciński said thatthe company is “finally happy"with the RPG and its DLC. It’s been a long time coming for the studio, given that the base game first released in late 2020, but it’s undeniable that over three years later, it’s in a very different place than it once was.
Be sure to check out our list of10 games like Cyberpunk 2077for more titles like CD Projekt Red’s futuristic RPG.
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