Things About Cyberpunk 2077 That Were Too Good To Be True

For better or for worse, Cyberpunk 2077 may be the biggest and most talked-about game of 2020. The futuristic open-world action RPG impressed some critics by delivering on many of its promises in review copies provided by CD Projekt Red before the game went live on all systems. However, once it hit consoles, visual downgrades, performance issues, and rampant bugs have left it with a much different legacy.

CD Projekt Red has had games arrive in a somewhat unfinished state before, but the company has made good on its promises to resolve those issues. Despite a rocky launch, gamers remember The Witcher 3 as one of the best RPGs of all time. Cyberpunk 2077's developers have made it clear that it intends to grant refunds and commit to fixing the game, so only time will tell how the video game community will remember it.

However, one thing that may not be fixed in the upcoming patches is the cut content promised to gamers during the development cycle, much of which CD Projekt Red either abandoned or couldn't pull off. Here are the things that Cyberpunk 2077 promised that were just too good to be true.

While Cyberpunk 2077 has been in one form of development or another at CD Projekt Red since 2012, excitement for the game hit a fever pitch when the developers released a 48-minute gameplay demo in Aug. 2018. The video dove deep into what the game would offer and serve as the basis for what many gamers would come to expect from the finished product.

Towards the end of the video, the player equips a set of Mantis arm blades and then proceeds to wall run through an alleyway. While Mantis blades would make it to the game's final version, wall-running did not. The announcement that CD Projekt Red had cut wall-running came in July 2020, about half a year from its eventual release date. GameReactor asked Cyberpunk 2077 level designer Max Pears about the maneuverability seen in the gameplay trailer. Pears said simply, "[T]hat is something that we removed due to design reasons, but there's still going to be a lot of flexibility in how you move, that's for sure."

Due to this reveal being after the first announced delay, but before the last two delays, fans began to question if mobility in the game had been limited.

A vital piece of the advertising campaign for Cyberpunk 2077 came in the stylish and technologically impressive E3 2018 trailer. Some of the images from that trailer became iconic, replicated in gaming media and CD Projekt Red's official artwork. However, some of the scenes from that trailer also gave fans a false impression of features that wouldn't make it to the final cut.

The trailer opens with a close up of a Night City metro map and backs out to show the main character V making his way across the city on the subway. While subway travel was never explicitly promised, despite some Facebook comments from official sources that hinted otherwise, fans had already begun to expect it. It eventually reached a point where CD Projekt Red senior level designer Miles Tost had to tell the German-language publication GameStar (translation via Gamepressure) that subway travel would not be featured in the game.

While the game ultimately would feature a fast travel option similar to The Witcher 3, gamers hoping for a more immersive public transit alternative and train enthusiasts alike were left disappointed.

Cyberpunk 2077 features many characters that players have a chance to team up with throughout the game, but none are directly controllable. However, that wasn't always the case as CD Projekt Red once promised the Flathead robot the player acquires in The Pickup would serve as a controlled companion.

The reason behind the removal of Flathead as a persistent companion was related to the Techie class' overall reduction. There were too many overlaps between the Techie playstyle and the more popular Netrunner class, Miles Tost explained to GameStar. Ultimately, Flathead's powers ended up merely serving the same purpose as Netrunner's skills, making the robot (via Google Translate) "a pet – as cute as that would be – (that was) superfluous for the developers."

Fan speculation had been building as to the role of Flathead since its appearance in the 2018 gameplay demo, and fans were once again disappointed. One Redditor wondered, "Why would they announce it just to disappoint their fanbase?" While the mission shown remains in the game, Flathead's ultimate role in Cyberpunk 2077 was significantly reduced.

The Cyberpunk 2077 experience has been one that the developers have promised to cater to player preference, in everything from gameplay approaches to character customization. Some of those customization choices caused a stir when the game's infamous trouser problem began to crop up, exposing V's privates to the virtual world. However, diehard fans were more disappointed when CD Projekt Red revealed that vehicles would not be customizable.

Lead level designer Miles Tost seemingly confirmed vehicle customization in an interview with Game Fanatics during E3 2019. Tost said, "There will be some customization options for [vehicles], although, for the bike, I believe they are fairly limited at this point in time." However, in June 2020, lead quest designer Pawel Sasko told IGN that individual vehicle customization had been cut. While players could acquire individual vehicles with custom features, they would not be able to design personalized cars or motorcycles themselves.

Once again, fans were upset. A petition went up to protest the decision, although it garnered few signatures. Some hope was renewed when CD Projekt Red mentioned that some vehicles might have upgrade potential. However, fans were quick to point out that this might indicate performance increases instead of visual customization, which ended up being the case.