CD Projekt RED explains the reasons for the change of engine with its new video game set in a science fiction city.
The Polish developer is blunt: Cyberpunk 2077 would not be possible with the graphic engine of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. At least not with the exact technology they used. This is revealed by Richard Borzymowski, producer of the video game on CD Projekt RED. According to the study, the new tools allowed them to capture the world as they had conceived it, that is, from a first person perspective.
"First, we could not have developed Cyberpunk 2077 with the same engine as The Witcher," he says in an interview with MCV UK. "The benefits of the new engine are that we have been able to develop Ciberpunk 2077 with a first-person perspective", but maintaining "all the verticality of the different buildings and skyscrapers" in Night City.
The producer also highlights the lighting system, which affects the game in different ways. "When we create something, in this case the city, you need to have two versions of it, that of the day and that of the night." When the sun goes down, says Borzymowski, “all those neon lights” stand out, especially in the rainy moments. "We could have developed only one geometry for the buildings and added neon lights on it." However, this would not have been enough. During the development they had the lighting in mind to ensure that the result was surprising.
In the new generation?
Cyberpunk 2077 is in development for PS4, Xbox One, PC and Google Stadia. The Polish developer has not ruled out that in the future they will work on the new consoles, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, although they have explained that they almost certainly do not reach the launch date of these machines. Therefore, we will have to wait longer to know what the next steps of CD Projekt RED are.
Meanwhile, Netflix's The Witcher has just been released, a few months after The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt did it on Nintendo Switch. The title is available on the Nintendo eShop with a small discount.
