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Cyberpunk 2077 Demo From E3 2019 Will Go Public During PAX West 2019
The Cyberpunk 2077 demo from E3 2019 that was shown behind closed doors will finally be going public at PAX West 2019, according to developer CD Projekt Red's global community lead Marcin Momot. Cyberpunk 2077 was a contender for the best game shown at the conference this year, with many suggesting it smoothed over some of their fears regarding the title's design direction, in particular how it would handle first-person combat after CD Projekt Red had developed such a smooth system for third-person fighting in their previous Witcher games.
Cyberpunk 2077 is set in a futuristic dystopia where corporations rule the world and anti-establishment hackers attempt to usurp control from them. It's based largely on the Cyberpunk 2020 property, a tabletop game created by Mike Pondsmith. Pondsmith has been working closely with CD Projekt Red to develop the game's narrative, and recently leapt to the defense of the team in light of the Cyberpunk 2077 controversy over representations of race and gender in-game. Since then, CD Projekt Red has also attempted to address concerns from fans, going so far as to being work on including transgender options in character creation to give players even more options for representing themselves in Cyberpunk 2077.
The Cyberpunk 2077 demo that was shown at this year's E3 2019 was done so away from the public eye, however, which meant that many fans simply had to trust what other's had seen in the nearly hour-long hands-off experience. According to CD Projekt Red's Marcin Momot, however, consumers won't need to wait too much longer before they get a glimpse themselves, as the game's demo will be shown at PAX West over the August 30-September 2 weekend in Seattle. Here's Momot's tweet confirming it:
The Cyberpunk 2077 demo was one of the highlights of E3 2019, showcasing not only some more story involving Keanu Reeves' Cyberpunk character but also a lengthy look at combat. In particular, the hands-off experience highlighted level design and how there would be various options available to players regardless of the way they build their character. The protagonist could hack gym equipment to malfunction and injure enemies, or burst in through doors using cybernetics-enhanced strength. It all looked and played quite smooth, too, with a polish that didn't seem as though it belonged to a game that's almost a year away from release.
With anticipation already building for August, which houses both Gamescom and PAX West, CD Projekt Red has staked an early claim at being the developer to watch this summer. We'll see if the studio can manage to avoid generating too much more controversy over its game in the meantime, as outside of that, Cyberpunk 2077 has few peers that can rival its size, scope, and ambition.
