Cyberpunk 2077 Sequel Will Evolve Much Like The Witcher Games in CDPR’s Plans

wccftech.com:

With Cyberpunk 2077's only expansion, Phantom Liberty, now firmly in the rearview, CD Projekt RED is free to look to the future. There's the new The Witcher trilogy, of course, but also the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel codenamed Project Orion.

Announced about a year ago, Project Orion will be developed by the core team behind Cyberpunk 2077, although they will move to Boston to establish a US branch of CDPR, with help from the studio's Vancouver and Warsaw offices. The game is currently in concept phase, with proper development slated to begin in late 2024. It will be directed by Gabe Amatangelo (who also directed Phantom Liberty).

Speaking to PC Gamer, CDPR narrative director Igor Sarzyński has now explained that the developers are looking to evolve Cyberpunk 2077 in a similar way to The Witcher.

Consider The Witcher games and how much they changed with each installment. We want a similar evolution here. Cyberpunk 2077 was our first venture into a futuristic sci-fi world with a ton of new gameplay mechanics, narrative tone, themes, and art direction. Some of the stuff worked almost right out of the box, such as the art, city design, music, interactive scene system, and playstyles. Other aspects took more time to get right, like character progression, NPC interactivity, and optimization. That’s natural; it’s impossible to nail everything on your first try. Now, with all the game elements iterated and working well, we’ll focus on connecting them even tighter and creating a coherent, total immersion experience.

While it is true that a sequel is expected to improve upon the first iteration, The Witcher is known as a trilogy where each game vastly surpassed its predecessor. That's mostly because CD Projekt RED experienced massive