Cyberpunk 2077 Developer Teases the Effects of Overusing Cybernetics

Using cybernetics will undoubtedly be one of Cyberpunk 2077’s most fascinating gameplay features. In the game’s lengthy demo, they’re utilized in many ways. However, what we didn’t see were consequences for overusing cybernetics. In fact, the overuse of such technology has a name: cyberpsychosis. Without giving away too much, CD Projekt RED has detailed what players might expect from their avatar, V, overusing cybernetics.

Cyberpunk 2077’s cover story in the November 2018 issue of Edge Magazine features a brief explanation of cyberpsychosis. The name itself is borrowed from the pen and paper game Cyberpunk 2020, from which Cyberpunk 2077 is derived. Here is the official description.

Cyberpunk 2020’s ‘cyberpsychosis’ mechanic, in which players who overly augment themselves with cyberware start to see a negative effect on their mental health, will form part of the game—though CD Projekt won’t go into details. As a quest designer, the Faustian bargain behind transhumanism is fascinating to Patrick Mills.

Quest Designer Patrick Mills explained,

All the travails of the flesh fade away, and you become a perfect machine of chrome. But you had to buy those body parts from someone, and now you’re in debt to them; if you need parts, you’ve got to go to their store. You have this very utopian idea of being liberated by technology. And it’s like, not so fast–you haven’t solved the problems. The problems are still there, and technology actually makes them worse. ‘High tech, low life’ is one of Mike’s [Pondsmith, Cyberpunk 2020 creator] mottos.

How this will affect gameplay remains under wraps. CD Projekt Red could convey cyberpsychosis in a manner that resembles the extensive use of potions in The Witcher 3, whereby Geralt is poisoned and loses health over time. Or it could involve a system like one employed in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. If players enable too many of Jensen’s experimental augmentations, his system overclocks and he overheats. This results in an unstable HUD and Jensen losing the use of an aug.

However CD Projekt Red represents cyberpsychosis in Cyberpunk 2077, we likely won’t learn about it for a while. After all, the game itself is still years away from being released.

[Source via Wccftech]