Few developers command the respect of the gaming industry with one franchise alone, but the quality and popularity of The Witcher series in the video game world has come to define the essence of an immersive RPG experience. The Witcher 3, to this day, still represents the standard-bearer of western RPGs, and CD Projekt Red is one of the most influential studios around. Their upcoming project, the open-world, sci-fi Cyberpunk 2077, is one of the most anticipated titles in recent memory, and on the last day of February, the Polish developers announced that the game will be making an appearance at this year’s E3.
In a short but revelatory tweet, the official Cyberpunk 2077 Twitter account revealed that the title will indeed be showcased at E3 2019, “for those of you asking”, implying that fan demand for the elusive game is still going strong. The futuristic RPG was first unveiled at Microsoft’s conference last E3 as a final surprise, a short cinematic trailer that gave a taste of the massive sandbox world to come. Unfortunately for the audience, the trailer gave little detail of actual gameplay, and not even a release date.
Two months later, in a special Twitch livestream, the company revealed the closed-door demo that had been available at E3 for the press to play, and gamers around the world witnessed for the first time actual gameplay footage, albeit an early build of it. Though no concrete date surfaced from that event either, fans were hopeful for progress as in the time since E3, news regarding its development has appeared from time to time. For example, Warner Bros. Interactive was announced to be its Western distributing partner in North America, while the ambitious scope of the project necessitated CDPR hiring outside help. Optimistically, the head writer for the game recently left the studio to go work for Blizzard, so the assumption is that his part of the title is complete.
There’s no telling what will be in store come this June, but considering a year has passed since its initial reveal, one can certainly expect definitive gameplay footage, along with an expected release date.