As CD Projekt Red marches forward with a host of projects in the works, the Polish studio reflects on how it can improve on its Cyberpunk 2077 franchise, with the sequel possibly taking inspiration from the Dishonored series. While it’s not everyone’s favorite genre, stealth games are a huge hit among many, with plenty of titles to choose from. The idea of sneaking around an environment, silently taking out assailants, stealing in-game items, or cowering from horrifying threats is something that a lot of players get a thrill out of.

While it typically works in third-person, first-person games like Dishonored have successful stealth mechanics, too, largely down to fantastic level design. As such, Arkane Studio’s steampunk-themed assassin series has had quite the impact on the genre. It’s a bit of a shame that there hasn’t been a new entry since the 2016 sequel, but it looks as though it’s still leaving its mark on the industry, even inspiring other developers.

In a recent interview with IGN, Miles Tost, lead level designer at CD Projekt Red, seems keen to learn how the next Cyberpunk 2077 game can be improved upon. The developer turns to both Dishonored titles, citing the way they reward players for choosing different paths during missions, adding that CDPR needs to “treat paths as special” in order to create “value in the choices players make.” Tost then goes on to say that Cyberpunk‘s paths would bottleneck, essentially leaving gamers feeling like whatever choice they made didn’t matter. He then outlines some basic principles that could be implemented, which would make the player feel that whatever route they took has been “worth their time.”

The Cyberpunk 2077 sequel was announced in late 2022 with the working title Project Orion. Not much is known about the follow-up yet, but it sounds like the studio is taking on board what it learned during development of the first game in order to make the next one a better experience. However, with CDPR also working on a new Witcher saga, it’s may be a long time before fans hear anything about the next Cyberpunk installment.

On top of the sequel, Cyberpunk 2077 is also getting a shiny upgrade. This new mode will add Nvidia’s RTX Path Tracing Overdrive, which aims to vastly improve the overall lighting of the game, making it look even prettier. For those interested in making Night City really pop, this free upgrade will be launching on April 11.

Cyberpunk 2077 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

Source: IGN