CD Projekt RED might be opening a new area of Night City in the future.
A Cyberpunk 2077 dataminer recently found data that revealed that CD Projekt RED might be including the Combat Zone in the game's upcoming expansion, per PC Gamer.
The expansion in question is still being developed, with its expected release date in 2023.
Cyberpunk 2077 Expansion Leak
According to PC Gamer's article, the dataminer found an archive containing folders with text files written in English and Polish. These folders were labeled as "quest" and open_world," with the latter having subfolders for "fixers," "mini_world_stories," "scene," "street_stories," and "world_encounters."
These folder names may indicate that the expansion will include fixer quests, world stories, and new world encounters, per Video Game Chronicle.
Additionally, the dataminer leaked the expansion's files and data to Reddit's r/GamingLeaksAndRumors subreddit. The dataminer mentioned in their post that they originally leaked the files on the r/ff06b5 subreddit, but was deleted.
You can find a link featuring the screenshot of the original post on the dataminer's r/GamingLeaksAndRumors post.
The text describes a storyline that begins with Cyberpunk 2077's player character and main protagonist, V, infiltrating the Combat Zone, an area in the Pacifica Region of Night City that was unexplored during the events of the main game.
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Another inaccessible area of the base game, the Sports Dome, is also alleged to be accessible when the expansion comes out due to the location playing as the venue of one of the expansion's main missions.
The quest giver is allegedly a netrunner using the codename Songbird, who hacks into V's head and temporarily replaces Keanu Reeves' character, Johnny Silverhand.
Songbird is a character whose finished model was datamined from the base game.
While the expansion seems like a side story to the main game, playing through it before finishing up the base game will change some of the dialogue in the ending sequence despite the changes being unsubstantial.
During the ending sequence, events in the DLC, including the expansion's Songbird arc, will be referenced by both V and Silverhand.
Speaking of endings, Game Rant reported that there's a new epilogue for Cyberpunk 2077 involving Hanako, an expansion on the Arasaka ending.
Overall, the expansion will have seven main missions.
Cyberpunk 2077 Expansion Availability And Price
As previously mentioned, Cyberpunk 2077's expansion isn't expected to come to the game until sometime in 2023. However, what's even more unclear is if the expansion will be free to download or not.
CD Projekt RED has a history of developing expansions and giving them away for free. This practice is a way to show gratitude to fans and players alike, as was the case when the developer released The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's expansions, Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine, for free.
However, this may not be the case due to Cyberpunk 2077's lackluster performance during its initial release. In this case, the developer might make the expansion free of charge as an apology due to the fact. This angle could be true as IGN reported in 2020 that the game will have free and paid DLC.
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