Mike Pondsmith, the creator of the Cyberpunk tabletop RPG that formed the basis of Cyberpunk 2077, has been discussing CD Projekt’s in-development sequel, saying it’ll feature second city that feels like “Chicago gone wrong”.
CD Projekt confirmed a Cyberpunk 2077 sequel was in the works back in 2022, and only a scant few details have been shared since then. We know it’s currently being referred to by the codename Project Orion, for instance, that it’s being developed by CD Projekt’s Boston and Vancouver studios, and… well, that’s about it.
Pondsmith, though, has now provided what might just be the first tangible details of CD Projekt’s Cyberpunk 2077 sequel. Speaking to TVGRY during this year’s Digital Dragons Conference in Krakow, he explained that while he’s “not as involved directly” with Project Orion as he was its predecessor, he still sees the scripts and has been visiting its development studio.
“Last week,” he revealed, “I was wandering around talking to different departments and seeing what they had, like, ‘Oh look, this is the new Cyberware, what do you think?’… I spent a lot of time talking to one of the environment guys, and he was explaining how the new place in Orion… because there’s another city we visit, and I’m not telling you anymore than that.”
Luckily for everyone (except, probably, CD Projekt, which is unlikely to have sanctioned any of these reveals), Pondsmith wasn’t quite done yet, after all. After confirming “Night City is still there”, he then described a little about how Project Orion’s two cities will differentiate themselves. “I remember looking at [the new location] and going, ‘Yeah, I understand the feel that you’re going for, and this really does work. It doesn’t feel like Blade Runner, it feels more like Chicago gone wrong’. And I said, ‘Yeah, I can see this working.'”
Interestingly, while Pondsmith chose his words carefully enough to only suggest Project Orion’s second location was like Chicago, fans have long speculated the actual city of Chicago would play a key role in CD Projekt’s sequel. As explained in a fairly comprehensive post on the Cyberpunk subreddit, the in-universe version of Chicago has struggled through both an economic collapse, a corporate war, and a bio-plague – so “gone wrong” would very much apply here. Additionally, Cyberpunk 2077’s Phantom Liberty expansion features a possible ending that can nudge players several years forward in the timeline, after which the Transcontinental Maglev Network project referenced in the base game – one linking Night City with Chicago – is revealed to be complete.
It’s certainly a compelling theory, especially given Pondsmith’s latest chatter, even if there’s no guarantee any of this will make it through the years of development required to turn Project Orion – which is currently in the pre-production phase – into a complete and released game. That won’t happen until sometime after The Witcher 4’s still nebulous release window, but that does at least mean you’ve got plenty of time to wrap up the original Cyberpunk 2077, which will soon be making its Nintendo debut on Switch 2.