I think we all know by now the amount of shit cyberpunk has been getting about glitches, but one thing that has been less talked about is content. How much content has been cut. In all games, content is cut, but in cyberpunk, its clear they cut so much that it ruined the game. In 2018, they released a 45 minute demo that, in my opinion, was the same thing anthem did. Anthem had an amazing gameplay demo shown at E3 but it was later revealed that it was made just for E3 and nothing was made yet. I feel like in cyberpunk, that same thing happened. I am going to give a full rundown on everything I have found on cut content, changes, etc.
Later on I will go through some of the history of the project and a lot of the departures and how they affected the project. Some things may seem redundant at times(such as mentioned things that may have happened after confirmed they happened later on), this is because I am going out of order when going into the articles so some things, though correct, may slightly conflict with a word or two in later or earlier paragraphs.
Warning: Some plot mentions may be a bit off/wrong but the majority of it I am sure of.
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In 2013, the first video teaser was released, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P99qJGrPNLs. In this teaser alone, you can tell the plan was a very different game. The game was fully announced in mid 2012 so my guess is that they were working on basic stuff since around 2011. So that Is almost 2 years until the release of the trailer. The game in this trailer looks so much different from what we got. From the graphics style to the tone. The game has a much darker tone and vibe. It was brutal and bloody and gave off a depressing vibe. In the game we got, it had almost a cartoonish vibe at times, the gritty darkness wasn’t there as much.
At 0:23 you can see a bullet bounce off her face. This type of armored skin is not seen at all in the game.
At 0:49 you can see a whole squad of police officers coming to try to kill the woman who is going through cyberpsychosis. The rifles they are using and the outfits are totally different than what we get in the game.
In the game we got, they can easily be killed with a few shotgun blasts, a clip of basic rifle ammo, and a basic hack. In the video, they need a special group to kill the psycho, MAXtech. If it is so easy for a solo to do it, why does the NCPD take so many shots and so many men to kill one of them.
At 0:42, You can also see a cyberware shop, something that is not in the game from what I have seen.
At 0:56, you can see massive buildings that are a mix of gothic and sci fi. This is nowhere to be seen in the final game.
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In 2017, Mike Pondsmith was interviewed by gamereactor. In this he was asked about the 9 classes and if we can expect them in the game. He said “yes, yes you can. They are all going to be there but I think your gonna find some surprises about how we have done it.” This happened at 7:24 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQXim8oKt9c. This interview makes it clear that even in July 2017, they didn’t have even the basic classes ready. In cyberpunk, we were forced into one class with a few extra options, that is a MASSIVE change from what was in the final game and even the first demo.
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In the 2018 trailer, we see our first look at cyberpunk 2077 in the form we see in its modern look. It is clear as day that it is nothing at all like the original teaser from 2013. The first thing you see is that it is game engine footage, so not a full CGI trailer. The graphics are clearly better in the trailer than in the game we got.
When the actual thing starts, you are on a subway which was cut from the game, something we have seen in GTA4 over 10 years ago on the xbox 360 and something we see in RDR2, a game from this gen that is bigger than cyberpunk 2077. You also see a much larger variety of people in that one train than I have seen in ALL of night city. In addition, you can see that V’s jacket glows, which is seen at 0:13.
Two seconds later, you see 2 punks harassing a suit, I have not seen anyone looking that punk in the game. V’s voice actor seems to have changed also.
At 0:24, the place outside your apartment has a much higher population density along with a subway seen crossing the skyline.
At 0:26, you see a few things. First, a few open buildings in the background clearly showing missing interiors, a curb that shows advertisements, NPCs doing things that we do not see in the game(such as leaning against the curb hanging out with their stuff on the street. You also see a man in a 6 wheeled motorized shopping cart. None of this is seen in the final game. That isn’t even mentioning the amount of grafitti.
At 0:30, you see that the megabuilding has much more to access but is missing certain things such as the boxing ring and gunstore but that may be out of shot. NPCs are also doing stuff such as drinking and leaning on the edge, though he is glitched into the railing so it is a bit more faithful to the new game there.
At 0:35, it confirms there is children along with being able to sit and watch the hologram television in the couch. The man seems to be on some sort of original version of braindances.
At 0:40, you see Jackie sitting on a bench seemingly waiting for something.
At 0:41, you see a man getting beat up with what looks like V doing some sort of deal with a man in fedora. You also see two hookers talking to a man parked in a car. Clearly none of this happens in the game, especially at random. You also see “Wheres johnny” on a wall, its either an easter egg showing he is in the game or a plot point removed(as we know johnny died in 2024 so it would be obvious that people would have known. This also contradicts the 2018 demo where it says johnny died in 2076).
At 0:43, you see a pool table and people drinking at the bar, people playing pool, etc. This is not something you see in the game. There are multiple people wearing cyberwear in their eyes and a character that may be a nomad front and center. I am not sure if this person appears in the game or not. Characters are around and talking and drinking with others. NPCs do not interact in the full game like this.
At 0:46, you see a guy boxing along with other people exercising and such. You can box, but all the other stuff is not in the game. It also seems to be on another floor than where V’s apartment was. The layout is different too.
At 0:47, the taxi scene I do not remember and the men in the back I do not remember. This clearly points to a taxi service that is not in the game.
The scene at 0:51 shows a woman with a mount inplant that can be removed, pointing to customization that is not present in the game.
At 0:53, theres a man lying down with what looks like an early version of braindance on. You can see that he is interacting with something and his sunglasses are up. This would also support the man at 0:35 is also using a braindance. You also see what seems to be hookers being rented to night city and buildings that are not in the game in the background.
At 1:00, you see the flat heard bot in a scene that is not in the game along with other characters. Dex is scene in the game but he has a different type of arm, showing either this was an early design or there was more plot where he lost his arm and got a new one. You see a punk which seems to have been a major character. Also a version of the bot. This may be the first design of the afterlife as it seems like a similar set up as the first mission but after it.
At 1:03 You also see what looks to be someone who may be Jackie being robbed at gunpoint, something not seen in the game. He looks different but may be after something big happens or may be another character in the game. This also shows you could have been able to sit down and eat in the game.
At 1:05, you see people playing basketball and hanging out in a lesser part of town, something not seen in the game with NPC interactions. You also see that they may be maelstrom or at least some of them.
At 1:08 you see riots that I do not think are in the main game. From what I can find about it though, this part was not in the main game through it seems like a major plot point. On the text, you can read “Dozens killed since April amid a wave of anti-corporate protests”. It also mentions “stolen petrochem assets with intention to reduce inequality and poverty”. I cannot make out the first part. I have not heard of “petrochem” in cyberpunk 2077. It seems like this plot point was fully removed.
Also at 1:08, You alse see what was the map of night city, which is so much larger than what we got Along with a different type of police car than see in the game.
What looks like T-bug killed arasaka agents via the netrunner chair at 1:10 from what I know, is not in the game either. Plus, t-bug dies early on in the game.
At 1:13 You also see V, looking very different from her real game counterpart, hiding from a police vehicle which do not do this sort of thing in the game. Plus there is much more trash and such in this alleyway, along with her hiding the cycle.
Less than a second later you see a guy getting his eye ripped out, not seen in the main game
At 1:14, you see a scene where a punk is shot to death by a shop owner holding a shotgun, not something you see in the main game.
At 1:16, theres a scene with trauma team comes up and kills a bunch of dudes along with a dude who seems to be bulletproof. This may be the first scav mission we do but the first version of it. The bulletproof dude is clearly the boss and the environment around it is the same. Plus you can see a bit of the layout is similar and environment. This may have meant that you could have called trauma team in to do the work for you.
At 1:28, you see a camera showing you the back of the car, not something you see in the game plus a car chase. The male V design is also very different.
At 1:30, you can see there is so many more advertisements than what we see in the game.
From this 1:40 second trailer, we have at least 25 things that were missing/changed in the main game. From plot points to NPC interactions to mission choices to design. This isn’t a full in fake CGI trailer like the infamous killzone 2 trailer, this is in-engine footage as stated at the start.
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During E3, the press got to see the demo then later on the public did a few months later. Someone already did a great write up on everything but the mods of r/cyberpunkgame deleted it but there is a good screenshot so I will link that and I will use that as a outline to put things wrong about the demo. I will add what I find in the game along with elements of that outline. The user who made it is u/MrStuntAction
0:41 we see that V’s default appearance in the game has changed and cannot be recreated in the final game. People asked for years about this.
0:42, we see the character customization screen, specifically the “birth record”. There are 5 different panels seen. Birth record, Background check, biometric scan, appearance, and biostats. You see both characters are naked but censored. Apparently, according to an interview, this was so people don’t focus just on the nudity and in the full game, this would be removed and be fully naked. In the main game, they were clothed(until you changed their dick or vagina but even then you only see them that one time unless you glitched and V’s pants were removed and you saw your characters no no square).
At 0:47. They mention a deep customization system. Besides visuals, which do not really matter in the main game as you can rarely see your character, nothing is really deeply customizable.
At 0:58, they say “we want to give you a glimps at what will be possible in the released game” Even though there is the “work in progress”, this proves this was the original idea and this was what they wanted, not the lifepath system.
At 1:00, there is the background check system. This is not in the game at all. In the left side, you see your characters face, their ID, ID type, First Name, Last Name, Alias, Date of Birth, Gender, Prior convictions, Education, details, and authenitacation code. There is also an “Edit details” button, proving all of these were features. You were to be able to change your name, choose your past criminal history, your education, and details. These could affect how you are seen in the game by people and really get you in dept with the “Deep RPG” feeling.
Also at 1:00, they say “This is an RPG, so before we get into our appearance, we need to define our backstory. What you choose here will unlock different possibilities later in the game. ”
At 1:00, you see the backstory mentioned in the dialogue above. You have multiple options. Childhood hero, key life event, and why night city.
For childhood hero you could choose Johnny silverhand, morgan blackhand, and Saburo Arasaka.
For key life event, you can choose death of sibling, ran away from home, or first big kill
For Why night city, you can choose unfinished business, ex-lover in town, and something to prove.
All of this proves that before the lifepath systems which were deeply cut in the main game, the background was much similar to other RPGs such as the 2020 pen and paper game, which had all these details.
At 1:10, you see the biometic scan option. You see the original version of V and her jacket and different customizable options. These include: Body type, hairstyle, tattoos, makeup, skintone, tattoo locatons, tattoo colors, glow colors(proving tattoos can glow), eye mods, surface wiring, skin mods, body scars, eyes, eye color(many more colors), nose, mouth, jaw, ears. There is a better layout of the options, choose starting clothes, able to change the glow color of your eyes. All of this seems to be for third person cutscenes which were ripped from the game.
At 1:10 to 1:21, he talks about all the major types of modifcations Which are “Body type, hairstyle, tattoos, makeup, skintones, and many many more.” From this quote and all the options, even the “Deep” customization we got is not even close to how deep it is in the original design.
At 1:21, you see the biostats section. This includes: Strength, constitution, intelligence, reflexes, tech, and cool. You could assign points to these sections. In the main game, there is only body stat.
At 1:28, he says “You notice, we didn’t pick a class. Cyberpunk 2077 features a fluid class system.” This directly ignores what mike pondsmith said back in july 2017. Remember, even though the video was released in late august, the demo was released in June to the press and most likely made weeks earlier if not months. This means that either mike pondsmith lied about the class system or it was changed recently and this demo was thrown together.
At 1:35, the man says “This demo takes place near the beginning of the game”. In the final game this mission is the first real mission of the game past the lifepath missions which really was only 20 minutes each max. Back when this demo was released, they didn’t have the lifepaths. From what it seems, this takes place a few hours in maybe? The lifepaths aren’t even mentioned in this demo so I doubt they were even thought of. I don’t think they even knew where this would fit in anyway. This is also agreed with by the post I am looking at at times.
At 1:47, you see a third person cutscene, something that is missing in the main game.
At 1:47, you also see V and Jackie’s looks that are different. They are both wearing different clothes and look very different than from the main game. Jackey looks more serious and grizzled in this cutscene.
At 1:52, T-bug shows up on the upper left side, but whats different is that it is showing video, not the generic red picture. The UI also is different. This may have been cut due to performance on weaker hardware. Having NPCs not be there may be better.
At 1:54, the woman comes out of the apartment says dialogue and comes out much farther. You can also interact with this woman, telling her to go inside quickly. The hall seems to be different too.
At 2:14, the area seems much less cluttered in the first room.
At 2:19, the room looks mostly the same, maybe a bit bigger. Some stuff moved around too. The screens are also on and showing different things.
2:42, most things look the same in here environment wise, a few differences tho but mostly item placement
At 2:43, it shows Non Lethal takedowns could be done instead of fully lethal. This also goes with a quote said in an interview about being able to do a no-kill playthrough, which clearly isn’t the case. This interview will be brought up later.
At 2:46, you can see environmental takedowns, such as V shooting the scav under the water to muffle the sound. This is not seen in the game, you just snap his neck and throw him in. You also see body parts chopped up inside.
At 2:51, it mentions “Reflex boosters”, drugs to enhance abilites in the game. These are not seen at all in the game besides health. So, at least bullet time was cut
At 3:02, you can see the design was changed a bit. Some more detail in this area.
Another difference is that you can wait for people to leave in the final game as in the demo that is not shown. There is also grabbing shown. You can also hack into things which is not shown in the original demo.
at 3:24, you can see the pillar is more destructive.
At 3:39. You follow the main boss and he starts shooting through the wall, creating a big hole. In the main game, this boss is removed and you go into a mostly empty room.
At 4:02, it mentions a scanner. In the main game, the scanner you already have. There is also no bullet counter.
At 4:17, you get a better look at the boss. It seems to be the same character from the trailer who was bulletproof from trauma team, further proving that was the original scav mission design. The rifle he is holding is the exact same also. There is also a lot more destruction and debris everywhere.
At 4:24, Jackie takes the bosses gun
At 4:50, There are a few differences. You get a few more options in the demo than the main game. In the main game, there is a very clear downgrade in quality graphics wise. The info scene from the biomon on the demo and game are different too. The main game has a more complex look to it. The dialogue is a bit different too. In the demo, there is more dialogue, more detailed. In the main game, Jackie describes the area more, making it seem a bit like a horror show. The demo is more technical though. In the demo, you can use the airhypo to revive the girl or attempt to revive her. In the game, you only have the airhypo option. The woman is also nude in the demo while in the game she is clothed.
At 6:42, the trama team come in and there isn’t a lasered off area for the trauma team like the main game. The way the trauma team come in is a bit different too.
At 7:48, there is another third person cutscene. The dialogue is totally different.
At 7:58, instead of the entire driving scene back to Watson, V wakes up in her apartment in a third person cutscene. The Watson drive may have been cut from the gameplay though. But the conversation V and Jackie having in the game vs the demo would have had to be more towards the game if the Watson lockdown were to be included but the dialogue may have taken place later.
At 8:15, you see a man leaving the apartment and V looking like she just had a hangover. This refers to the one night stands they mentioned you were able to do in interviews and in the game. This is absent in the main game.
At 8:35, the radio host mentioned Johnny Silverhand and how its been a year since he went on his last ride. This means he died in the year 2076. In the game, he died in 2023. So, this proves the story was entirely different when the demo was made. It seems as if they didn’t have a story down anyway. That would make sense given the differences with classes as seen in the 2017 interview, made less than a year before the demo was released. If the classes were changed that much before the demo, I doubt they had much of a story ready. Another explanation may be that when Keanu Reeves hopped on board, they totally changed the story to give him more screen time. Could also be a mix of both.
At 8:41, it mentions the afterlife bar and how “gonks sitting in the afterlife waiting for something better”, meaning that, instead of the more upclass and excusive version of the afterlife we say in the game, the bar may have been much more open instead.
At 9:06, the old chippin in is heard, even though it is still in the main game, it is not the one made by samurai as that was changed to refused’s version.
At 9:13, you can see a news story, the temp, messages, and shades. You can apparently changed to morning and night along with a braindance mode. IT seems like there was much more interactivity. The braindance mode might be a reference to being able to buy braindances in-game, which you could in the game but unable to use them. Another thing is that in both other instances of seeing braindances, the user was in a dark area or an area with lower light than the rest of the area around them.
At 9:20, you can see there is a few differences in the demo version and the game version. It seems like a lot of the outdoor is placeholder and bland.
At 9:25, you can see a mix of television screens above hovering. The in-game version is much less detailed and has less color. You also can’t use them, you can only use a TV near the side
At 9:54, you can see a samuri poster, showing V knew about johnny silverhand in the demo. Also see a few differences in the apartment layout.
At 10:15, you can see the multiple jackets and you pick them out from the hanger intead of going into a menu. In the game. It also mentions how clothes represent certain stats, those are removed in the game for a simple armor mechanic.
At 10:22, the man says “V’s current apartment”. This means that there were more than one apartment in the game. In what was supposed to be a “Rags to riches” storyline, you become a millionaire and you still live in that shitty little apartment. It makes no sense. It seems that they cut a feature for buying apartments later on in the game, something GTA5 did. You might get all the most unique weapons supercars so expensive they are ultra rare. You still live in a shitty little apartment.
At 10:25, you can see a man riding a little motorized scooter, not something you see in game. Plus you see characters interacting with eachother.
At 10:33, you can see its more bright and theres more stuff going on, more levels.
At 10:58, the narrator says “A big part of our RPG experience is having a world that’s interactive”. The narrator shows the player interacting with an ad, which goes into a self tailored advertisement. This is not to be seen in the game at all. Interactive consumerism, which is huge in the cyberpunk genre, is not there. Honestly, at this point, the “punk” of cyberpunk isn’t in the game. Theres the cyber, but no punk.
At 12:05, when you go down the elevator, you can see more than normal
At 12:27, that interaction doesn’t happen.
At 12:37, a similar interaction with the silverhand album also is not there.
At 12:50, you can see there are so many more NPCs in the streets. In the main game, even in big areas, the city feels empty, even during the day. Night city is supposed to be more populated than big cities like Tokyo. Wheres the huge crowds of people?
At 12:56, the infamous quote occurs “We’ve greatly enhanced our crowed and community systems to creat ehte most believable cityh in any open world game to date”. This is clearly false. You can’t go sit down and eat, you can’t go play games like pool, theres no qwent-like minigame, theres nothing to do in the game. You can’t even get your haircut or interact with people. GTA san andreas had more to do!
At 13:16, you can see the crosswalk change colors when you stop and go, this is not in the full game.
At 13:45, you go and meet jackey at a railing. In the full game, you meet jackey at another point at a food stand. In the demo you don’t see him at a food stand, you see him on a corner. You also just walk down stairs to see dex, not go for a ride. Another difference is the order between dex and the ripperdoc. In the demo and game, its flipped.
At 14:00 when you go into the car, the dialogue is a bit different also. Some changes.
14:30, dex doesn’t have a heist for us. In the demo, its just about the flathead. In the game, they discuss a heist. It seems like they didn’t even have any sort of plot laid out yet. Wouldn’t you think they would have mentioned the heist?
At 15:25, dex didn’t pay for the flathead. In the game, he did and got scammed. That’s a decent sized change story wise for that mission.
At 16:15, dex says “See you at the afterlife”, this adds to my earlier point about how “Exclusive” the club is.
At 19:33, it seems like ripperdocs were butchered heavily. Viks conversation was mostly the same but the interaction with ripperdocs were stripped down heavily. Sitting on the operation table was cut, the screen that appears in front of your face as the cyberware menu still does in the cutscene but is useless. Installing new arms, legs, heart, valuves, spine in the final game gives you the same menu as a food vendor. Also, there is no sign that you actually got the cybernetics. Everyone else has signs? Even dex who is rich as hell. Why wouldn’t we see ours?
At 21:55, there is a zoom in feature not seen in the game. You can also zoom and scan separately in the demo, in the game you cannot.
At 24:10, there is a different quest flow. The way characters progress, as I mentioned earlier, is totally different. In the final product, Jackie never buys a car and the scavs don’t stalk it.
At 25:04, shooting from the car was cut except in scripted scenes.
At 25:47, the narrator says the scavengers looking for revenge is a random encounter and shows “how your actions directly influence your open world experience”. None of this happened.
At 26:34, Jackie comes with you but stays up and hides. In the game, the dialogue is the same but Jackie isn’t there, making it so the dialogue about other people there make no sense. IT seems like act 1 was glued together from half baked concepts and early version of the plot.
At 28:30, there is an option to grab the gun. You cannot do that in the main game.
31:41. In the demo, it says you can go in gun blazing, in the game you cannot. You have to go in the normal way.
35:19. The entire flathead part where you could own it was cut. It wasn’t shown in the demo but we found out later. You could keep it in your techie builds
37:44. The inspection system was completely cut. The only thing close is the shard system.
38:24, there is shown to be alternative fire types in weapons. In the main game, this only comes in power shotguns. Other weapons seemd to have had this either, maybe representing other ammo types.
39:43, weapon modules such as beingt able to make bullets kick off of walls and hit your target was removed.
40:10, the targeting system revealing enemies turned into marking them with your skanner ala far cry
40:15 may reperesent different ammo types
41:58, Jack never uses any advanced cyberware in the game. You can see him use cyberware here. This makes me think that he had a much bigger role in the story and they didn’t have the plot ready yet if any at all.
42:22, you hack into an enemy’s neural socket. This is greatly simplified in the final games netrunning.
42:57, mantis blade wallrunning is gone. Games like Wolfenstein and tomb raider allowed players to climb on certain walls. Why couldn’t CDPR do a similar system? Have a little way to see where and how you can climb using the blades.
45:48. “So many options, so many possibilities, and each will have consequences ripping through the game world and your story”. At least 90% of the games “choices” are make-believe and don’t actually matter in the long run of the game. The 2018 demo is the game they wanted to make but the 2020 was what they could scramble together in 2 years or so. It’s a miracle we got this much! I truly feel like CDPR pulls an anthem.
Also, I’ll be honest. Its fucking late. The last few things I skimped on, I am sure there is much more. Pretend I did it so the viewer can go investigate themselves. More interesting than the in-game investigating I’m sure.
In the 2019 demo, I am not as well versed as I didn’t do much netrunning and I also really lost interest and hope in the game so I didn’t make it this far, so I will say what I know but I am sure there is more. Plus it is 3:45 AM, I’ve been working on this since 11:30 PM. I’m exhausted and done with this shit. Gonna be longer than my fucking Poverty and social welfare final essay for uni.
In the 2019 gameplay demo, there seems to be a lot of netrunning stuff removed, such as the cyberwire to hack into enemies. The netrunner mechanics seem to be downgraded a lot also.
At 7:46, you see the MASSIVELY downgraded character creator. This is the first sign of the lifepath system. The Characters are also wearing clothes. The list of customization options seems to be much less than what we got in the main game.
In this demo, it also seems like there Is a bit more destruction than the final game.
Overall, the 2019 demo and above seems to have a lot less cut content than what we have seen so far, so unless anything notable is missing, I won’t bring it up.
In the 2019 CGI trailer, it seems like the way the ending of the heist mission is different than the game.
At 0:11, you see the city is much more bright and almost bigger than what we got in game. You can see more buildings.
At 0:55 when V goes into the room, it seems like the dialogue is different but it has a very similar outcome, just there are certain changes. This includes T-bug being in the room and the way the fight goes down. In the CGI triler, you fight the man at the door and he hits you when you come out. You also have the mantis blades which you don’t have at that point in the game beforehand. There is also a lot more dialogue when dex betrays V.
At 3:45, the way you meet Silverhand is different also. Instead of in your apartment, you see him at the junkyard.
This trailer mostly had a few changes to the dialogue and such, not many huge changes besides the end.
In night city wire episode 2, the one that covers lifepaths, there are a few lies in the lifepath trailier
At 1:25, streetkid is chosen. It shows a whole montage of what it makes out to be exclusive missions but is just normal missions all players get. This same thing happens for the other intros too.
Besides this, everything is pretty much the same
Everything after this was pretty much the same, so, now I am going to go more into interviews and older stuff.
Source: https://www.theverge.com/2013/1/25/3911942/inside-cyberpunk-2077-cd-projekt-rpg
In this article from Janurary 25th, 2013, around the same time the teaser released, there are a bunch of things talked about, a big one is braindances. It even shows an early version of braindances. It mentions how BDs are the most popularform of mass entertainment in 2077 but when you look through the game, it doesns’t really seem like that besides in a few areas. It also mentions “underground recordings” which you see a few, but one mentioned, about a serial killer murdering his victims and feeling all the emotions, is not in the game. In the picture, you see a MAXtec agent with the original and more badass design (https://assets.sbnation.com/assets/2066517/Definition_of_braindance_1020.jpg)
In the article, it mentions that Marcin Janiszewski, the lead gameplay designer, says “We want to assure fans of the -pen-and-paper this is still the same cyberpunk you know, Night city as changed in the interening decades, but there are still places that you know, this is the same city.” Compared to the pen-and-paper, it doesn’t really feel like it is. Lots of things from the pen and paper is not there. The Friday night firefight system, which was very lethal, is not there. Now you are a bullet sponge. The 9 classes are not there, the customizable backstory is not there. Besides the afterlife and a few names, the game doesn’t truly respect the material. The pen-and-paper was dark and gritty with a bit of dark humor. The game is almost cartoonish at times, not as dark as the material.
In the verge article listed earlier, there is some other information. It mentions how braindances are very much of a drug. People are living in gutters instead of homes because of their addiction. It also mentions that the feeling given off from the trailer is what they want to show off. In the article, it also mentioned they had multiple protypes, which may mean pre-production started in 2011 or even earlier depending if they mean in-engine protypes or just prototypes without anything made. They mention how they want to keep as many mechanics as possible from the main game. This entire article seems is a lie compared to the final project. It is clear the lead gameplay designer left and everything changed, which I will mention soon.
Along with the release of the 2013 teaser, it showed multiple pieces of concept art. They showed a very different type of game. More punk and showed a huge mech mech, seemingly inspired by the AT-AT from star wars.
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/cyberpunk/images/f/f5/ConceptArt_Gang_CDPR.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/720?cb=20120531212035
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/cyberpunk/images/0/02/ConceptArt_Char_CDPR.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/618?cb=20120531213204
There are also multiple other pieces of concept showing outfits of different MAXtec and NCPD officers.
The first lead gameplay designer, who I will call M.J., seems to have left the company around 2016 as that was his last credit according to a website called moby games, was his last credit. The last time I an see him with the project is this interview from June 19th, 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HO7CEj9kSRA
It seems that his creative direction, which was darker and more faithful, was left behind. Accord to a development blog by CDPR which is now gone but archieved by https://www.siliconera.com/cyberpunk-2077-draws-inspiration-from-these-other-games/
It lists a few of the inspirations for the game besides the pen-and-paper. This includes System Shock, Fallout 2, Baldurs gate saga, deus ex, witcher, and skyrim. The majority of these games are dark in tone and don’t have the cartoony aspect. This further supports the argument that cyberpunk 2077 was first gonna have a much darker storyline.
In 2012, Marcin Iwinski said “"Until not so long ago, we only had one team; but I'm really pleased to announce that since quite some time, we have a second team and I'm talking about it for the first time today - and the second team is based on Witcher dev veterans, so these are really seasoned developers. The guys who were working on The Witcher 1 and The Witcher 2 - actually they have been working quite a few years - if you gather all the nights they spent at the office working on this, it would be a few real-time years that they have spent on this project - they are really seasoned developer's and they're working on a new, AAA RPG. So I suppose you'd like to find out about what RPG it is [...] a Cyberpunk game; but not just a regular Cyberpunk game, on "The" Cyberpunk game - that's really important to stress."
This proves that cyberpunk was in development before 2012, proving my theory later on in this paper that game dev started at least in 2011. https://www.resetera.com/threads/cyberpunk-2077-was-in-active-development-prior-to-2012.165759/
In 2017, CDPR was looking for a lead game designer for 2077, this means that at this time, they lost their gameplay designer which normally isn’t a good sign. https://www.reddit.com/r/cyberpunkgame/comments/5ve680/cdpr_is_looking_for_a_lead_game_designer_for/ A reddit commenter points out a good point “Why are they looking fo ra lead for a game that’s been in development for 5 years?”
During this time, there was a huge scandal and backlash dealing with glassdoor reviews of the company and the mass departures of major developers, some who may have worked on cyberpunk. https://www.gamesradar.com/the-cyberpunk-2077-development-studio-addresses-silence-on-the-game-and-staff-leaving/ The environment described in the posts are not good and go in line with many other companies that have had failed games in the past. Many of these people may have been around for years, so having these people leave and new people come on did not help the game at all.
In 2018, according to a reddit thread from r/cyberpunkgame, there is some confusion on who the lead designer is at the time. https://www.reddit.com/r/cyberpunkgame/comments/8yqv28/who_exactly_is_the_lead_designer_of_cyberpunk_2077/
According to one of the comments, they claim the lead designer at the time was Adam Badowski who was also a member of the board of CDP and studio head of SCPR. He was lead artist of witcher series. I am not sure if lead designer is the same as lead gameplay designer but from what I have seen, they seem very similar/the same.
It is clear the lead game designer changed over time multiple times, this normally is NOT a good sign. According to a eurogamer article, pre production started in at least 2012 as they saw development in 2013. At the time of this article, which was around the time witcher 3 released, he mentioned pre-production but he was not sure. https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-08-17-inside-the-witcher-3-launch Games normally are in pre-production for 1-2 years or so. If pre-production started in 2012 and went on for 2 years, that means from 2014-2015 to 2020, they would have to develop the game. That is 5 years to 6 years.
This essay is continued in the comment section. Will also be linked to a PDF