Month: August 2019

CD Projekt Red shared a ton of new details about Cyberpunk 2077 during its latest deep-dive stream. The gameplay demonstration gave us a look at Pacifica, a rundown district of Night City that has been overrun by two rival gangs, and we learned a bit more about these warring factions from series creator himself, Mike Pondsmith.

As previously mentioned, two major gangs have staked out territory in Pacifica. First are the Voodoo Boys, a group mainly made up of Haitians who arrived in Night City after the environmental changes caused Haiti to be completely flooded.

“When I created [the Voodoo Boys] many, many years ago, I was looking at kind of a really interesting idea, which is what we would now call cultural appropriation: what happens when somebody comes in and tries to adopt a culture that they know little or nothing about and does it really badly,” Pondsmith explained.

He continued: “The Voodoo Boys in [Cyberpunk] 2077 are really Voodoo Boys. They inherited the name, but it was sort of a natural fit; they were coming from Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and they were the real thing, and they managed to take a lot of the elements of their original culture and meld it into the world of 2077, bring that cyberpunk vibe into a very old and respected culture. So they’re a gang, but they’re not really; they’re more of a cultural phenomenon, they’re more a way of cultural exploration.”

On the other side of the spectrum are the Animals, who are driven by their desire for strength. “They’re in it to basically build themselves up and become the tigers of their particular urban jungle,” Pondsmith explained. “They want to be big, they want to be bad, and they want you to fear them just because they exist.

“But the Animals are very simple. They have an ethos: get big, lift, get strong, lift. So unlike the Voodoo Boys, who have a culture, the Animals have a thing, and contrasting that is interesting because in 2077, you get a chance to see that not every gang is the same as every other gang, and what motivates them depends on the people you meet on the street.”

We learned a lot of other interesting details about Cyberpunk 2077 during the deep-dive video, including how sidequests will work in the game and how cyberware will change gameplay. CD Projekt Red also confirmed the game will allow for non-lethal playthroughs, and the studio is working with real city planners to design Night City.

Cyberpunk 2077 releases for PS4, Xbox One, and PC on April 16, 2020. The game is also coming to Google Stadia. For more about the title’s collector’s edition and pre-order bonuses, be sure to check out our Cyberpunk 2077 pre-order guide.

CD Projekt Red revealed more new details about its upcoming RPG Cyberpunk 2077 during a recent gameplay stream. In this presentation, the developer detailed a few of the significant playstyles in the game. One of the more exciting playstyles is Netrunner, which focuses more on hacking anything that’s connected to a network. But as a Netrunner, one of the most practical and useful tools at your disposal is the Nanowire. With this handy wire you can hack an enemy’s implants from a distance.

According to senior level designer Miles Tost, the Nanowire goes hand-in-hand with the Netrunner playstyle, which makes sense since you’re probably going to breach a lot of networks. With the Nanowire, you’ll gain access to unique attacks and solutions, such as remotely detonating an enemy’s hand grenade or hacking a benchpress weight to slam down onto an unsuspecting foe mid-lift.

While the Nanowire is mostly a functional tool, it can also be used as a deadly weapon. If you’re so inclined, you can whip it around at enemies and slice them into bite-sized pieces. It all sounds relatively brutal.

Cyberpunk 2077 is releasing on April 16 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. For more Cyberpunk 2077 news, be sure to click from the links in the list below.

• Cyberpunk 2077 Created A New Team To Make Sidequests, After The Witcher 3
• Cyberpunk 2077 Netrunner Class Seems Perfect For Causing Mischief
• How Cyberpunk 2077’s Sidequests Will Work
• Cyberpunk 2077’s Life Paths And Character Creation Sound Very Deep
• Cyberpunk 2077 Will Allow For Non-Lethal Playthroughs, Here’s How It’ll Work
• Cyberpunk 2077’s Weapons Come In Three Flavors, Here’s What You Need To Know

In Cat Lady you need to save your grandmother by collecting magical cats with weird powers. Captured on PC at PAX West.

Cyberpunk 2077 takes place in a far-off future where man and machine are coming together as one and technology permeates every facet of our existence. Of course, what that means in a video game is that players will have a wide array of weird tools at their disposal. For those who find themselves in conflict, CD Projekt Red presents the option to use weapons to fight for survival. As discussed in the Cyberpunk 2077 deep-dive stream, the weapons on offer come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and capabilities.

“Our guns are divided into three main categories,” explained quest designer Pawel Sasako. “There are smart guns, [which] basically shoot homing bullets that follow targets. There is also tech weapons, and the tech weapons are those that have additional capabilities to the–for instance, they could pierce cover.

“Then there are power weapons … mainly focused on being street-grade weapons. They have additional skills and capabilities connected to the fact that have been [modified] in some way. For instance, there is a bursting shotgun or something like that. We have put plenty of work into making sure that the weapons feel [good] and they have weight.”

Naturally, weapons have various quirks to them that players will be able to use to their advantage. “There’s lots of really cool examples that I can give. For instance, there’s a handgun that, as you use it, it actually speeds up the bullets and the longer you use it the faster the bullets become, so they can do more damage,” Sasako explained.

“There’s a class of handguns that have been created by a Russian company to fight cyborgs and that weapon is able to heat up the bullet to the point where it almost becomes like melted plastic. It’s done so you can shoot off a cyborg’s arms, for example. There’s always a small piece of story wrapped up around the weapon and what it does.

“What’s interesting is you can use a second firing mode for a weapon. Not all weapons have them, but some of them if you use it in a specific way, like for example the tech rifle, it changes the way it collapses together and allows it to pierce through cover and enemies. Or you can bounce bullets off the walls using ricochet. We tried to put enough depth into the gun.”

Even as development continues, more outrageous weapons are being created. Sasako recounted seeing “an awesome shotgun that has eight barrels and it shoots out of them at the same time.”

Senior level designer Miles Tost added that a lot of the companies that make the guns and tech in Cyberpunk 2077’s world have lore and history. That includes the brands and ads in the game, which are crafted by an entire team at the studio.

Phillip Weber, another quest designer, also noted that there are a variety of melee weapons, ranging from broken bottles strewn around the city to knives. You can specialize in melee weapons–perhaps because you want to be a cyber ninja–and often there are weapons that cater to this style, such as katanas. Cyberware for melee also exists, as seen in previous demos where a character punched his way through different environments.

The deep-dive had plenty more to offer in terms of details. We got lots of information on how sidequests will work in Cyberpunk 2077, as well as how cyberware will change gameplay. CD Projekt Red also teased that it wants to solve an annoying RPG problem with the game.

Cyberpunk 2077 launches for PS4, Xbox One, and PC on April 16, 2020. You can read more about the title’s collector’s edition and pre-order bonuses in our Cyberpunk 2077 pre-order guide.

Michael Higham talks in-depth about his time with Astral Chain and how Platinum Games has created another hit on GameSpot After Dark.

At PAX West, Gearbox announced the first stage of post-release content for Borderlands 3. The loot shooter has three content drops scheduled to release this year, with more on the way in 2020. The full Borderlands 3 Fall/Winter 2019 content calendar is pictured below.

Following its release, Borderlands 3 will get a Halloween-themed limited-time event called Bloody Harvest. The event will include thematically spooky activities and side missions, and completing these will allow you to unlock unique rewards. Later in the year, a much larger expansion called Maliwan Takedown will release. This expansion adds a whole new map to Borderlands 3, and the area will contain brand-new enemies, a never-before-seen boss, and powerful weapons and rewards. Both Bloody Harvest and Maliwan Takedown will be free.

Finally, before 2019 ends, Borderlands 3 will receive the first of its major DLC expansions. These larger expansions are not free, but they include a lot more content than the free add-ons. The DLC will also be included in the Season Pass, so pre-ordering the Borderlands 3 Super Deluxe edition unlocks all of its content automatically. Like the free add-ons, this DLC adds new side missions, enemies, and loot but it also expands on Borderlands 3 with campaign missions that act as a sequel to the game’s story.

It will be interesting to see how Gearbox handles Borderlands 3 going into 2020, given the landscape of loot shooter games. Post-release content for Borderlands 2 was largely new playable Vault Hunters or additional story missions that could be tackled with another person if you wanted. Including free pieces of content like holiday-themed events and map expansions in the post-release calendar is a new strategy for the series. Then again, Borderlands 3 changes a lot of what makes a Borderlands game a Borderlands game–such as adjusting how skill trees and active skills work, giving the Vault Hunters more personality, moving the setting off the planet of Pandora, and implementing movement mechanics inspired by modern day shooters like Titanfall 2.

Borderlands 3 is scheduled to release for Xbox One, PS4, and PC on September 13. On PC, the game has a limited-time exclusivity deal with the Epic Games Store. Borderlands 3 is also scheduled to release on Google Stadia, a cloud-based game streaming service.

Apparent leaked voiceover recordings from the anime production company Funimation allegedly reveal voice actors from Dragon Ball Z (including what appears to be Goku’s English voice actor Sean Schemmel) making homophobic, incestuous, and overall offensive jokes while recording.

Multiple audio clips were slowly revealed by Nick Rekieta over the course of his Rekieta Law livestream, which he claims violates Funimation’s own workplace guidelines. Rekieta also notes that he obtained the clips “absolutely, 100% legally” and that he is distributing them in a journalistic capacity. Funimation notably distributes (and facilitates English dub work for) Dragon Ball Z, which is created by Toei Animation.

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