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Cyberpunk 2077 is “no place for happy endings”, says the writer of Judy Alvarez storylineMagda Zych is senior writer at CDPR
Magda Zych is senior writer at CDPR
Cyberpunk 2077has several endings and the recent Phantom Liberty expansion added more. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that none of these endings are uncomplicated.
“I know that some players were disappointed that we didn’t add a ‘good’ ending when Phantom Liberty was released,” says CD Projekt Red senior writer Magda Zych in anew interview. ButCyberpunk 2077is “no place for happy endings.”
Zych made the comment when asked about Phantom Liberty’s “decidedly bleak” potential ending.
I’m a big fan of any game developer interview that mentions “every human life ends in death.” Not a lot of producers at EA drop that into their conversations with press.
I loved Phantom Liberty’s new and bleak ending, which isn’t simply heartbreaking but is also, in its way, hopeful.I’m still thinking about it.
Zych was also asked about what she learned from working on the game and spoke about writing the character of Judy Alvarez.
“At one point while working on the game, we had to make a list of facts that influenced the quest’s possible outcome and all the dialogue variations,” says Zych. “I was responsible for the character of Judy Alvarez and her whole storyline, so after gathering these facts, I was surprised because that column in the spreadsheet was long as hell, and then — cut to just after the launch — I read in reviews that people expected the story to branch out more. That really surprised me, as I knew how many different choices and factors went into just that single story arc. So it felt like there was some disconnect between my view on it and the expectations of the audience.”
In my experience of playing it, I’d say Cyberpunk 2077 doesn’t branch much in the way we tend to think of branching. There is no The Witcher 2-style split. But it does reflect your decisions throughout via dialogue, leading to every quest having umpteen small variations. These kind of changes are less sign-posted than a big branching point, though, so you won’t realise it’s happening unless you go watch a bunch of different playthroughs.
“Later, when I was discussing branching narration with my students at the Warsaw Film School, I realized that people who develop games have a pretty good idea about features and possibilities, but like to be conveniently ignorant of limitations,” says Zych. “I was definitely guilty of that myself.
You can read the full interviewon GamingBolt.
