Cyberpunk 2077 will feature over 1,000 NPCs with their own unique, hand-crafted daily routines. You know, just in case you needed a reminder that the upcoming CD Projekt RED game is shaping up to be ridiculously ambitious. The idea of NPCs that follow their own daily schedules is nothing new, of course, but the prospect of over 1,000 of them each living their own life in Night City... that's bananas.
This exciting nugget of info comes courtesy of German website GameStar, which recently chatted to developers at CD Projekt Red about Cyberpunk 2077 before uploading those chats as podcasts. While these interviews are behind a paywall (and in German), Reddit user Moraez translated the most interesting bits and uploaded them to Reddit. Thanks, Moraez.
"While there are some areas in The Witcher 3 where villagers don't have a daily routine, they are planing to improve this with giving more than 1,000 NPCs a handmade routine." writes Moraez.
Exactly how this will factor into the game itself remains to be seen. In games like The Witcher 3 or Red Dead Redemption, if an NPC had a routine that they stuck to every day, it usually meant that they'd play a role in a quest or side-mission somewhere down the line.
Advert
I doubt that every one of these NPCs in Cyberpunk 2077 will function in this way, and it's more likely that their day-to-day business is a way for CD Projekt RED to make Night City feel more immersive and believable. That sounds like a lot of work, especially considering most of us won't spend our time following around every single NPC just to see what they do and where they go. Still, it's pretty damn impressive.
As games get bigger and more ambitious, there's a lot more pressure on NPCs not to let the side down. Skyrim, for example, was for the most part one of the most immersive fantasy experiences I'd ever played... right up until any time I had to follow an NPC somewhere. They often shattered the entire illusion of the world by walking into a river by mistake and going for a swim until I reset the save.
Even Red Dead Redemption 2 suffered from this - to an extent. While the world was gorgeous and its main characters beautifully written, an awful lot of the NPCs felt all the more empty by comparison. It's something I think we've all come to expect, but maybe Cyberpunk 2077 will be the game to truly make its NPCs come alive.
Featured Image Credit: CD ProjektTopics: bandai namco, Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt Red