Cyberpunk 2077 - Interview @Gamingbolt

Gamingbolt interviewed level designer Miles Tost about Cyberpunk 2077 and asked about the setting, freedom of choice, side quests, and more.

We saw hints of destructibility in environments during the demo. I know you’ve spoken about this a bit recently, and I understand that right now you may or may not have pinned this down, but is that something you’re looking to make a much larger part of the game?

We believe that having a world you can interact with and which reacts to your presence is a key part of a good open-world experience. Dynamic environments ultimately serve to fulfill that promise exactly: they help to enhance your immersion, the game world to become more alive and believable, and — what’s especially important when it comes to Cyberpunk 2077 — add a whole different level of weight and grit. Combat becomes that much more vicious too, enhancing the feeling of a world shrouded in violence and danger. Given all that, let me just say that we’re working hard on making sure that our environments look just as good when they’re untouched as when they’re getting blown up, without sacrificing the performance.

Night City has looked absolutely stunning so far, but will we be visiting any other areas in Cyberpunk 2077? Perhaps suburbs or lesser known townships in the vicinity of Night City?

Night City’s six districts are designed to be unique in many ways — their architecture, culture, atmosphere, people living there and the problems they are facing. We’re making sure that all of these districts blend nicely into one consistent and believable city environment.

Not all parts of the city are covered in darkness by shadows thrown from skyscrapers. Take for example Pacifica, which was a district planned to be Night City’s prime tourist resort. When the funding died, so did this dream, leaving many started construction projects unfinished and ultimately taken over by gangs as their hideouts. Each district has its own history which you will be able to uncover. It is really important to us to allow for this variety whilst also keeping it grounded within the lore of our world.

[...]