‘Cyberpunk 2077’ Update: Map May Be Smaller Than Previously Thought

“Cyberpunk 2077” is CD Projekt Red’s biggest game yet, but the developers say its map won’t be bigger than the map found on one of the studio’s titles.

CD Projekt Red’s upcoming title, “Cyberpunk 2077,” continues to be a highly-anticipated title among many players. Previous reveals showed how rich the game’s world is, but the game’s producer said the game’s map won’t be bigger than the one “The Witcher 3” had.

“If you look at pure surface [in terms of] square kilometers, then Cyberpunk 2077 might even be a little bit smaller than The Witcher 3,” Richard Borzymowski, “Cyberpunk 2077” producer, told GamesRadar in an interview during Gamescom.

Why is this so?

Previous reports indicated that “Cyberpunk 2077” is the studio’s biggest title to date. It reportedly has an installation size twice as big as that of “The Witcher 3” and requires a minimum 80GB free space on a console’s HDD. The installation size, as huge as it is, implied that the game will have a larger world compared to the one Geralt of Rivia walked in.

That, however, isn’t what CD Projekt Red had in mind when it developed “Cyberpunk 2077.” Borzymowski explained that latter’s map is “a little bit smaller than The Witcher 3, but it’s the density of the content, taking the world of The Witcher and squeezing it right in, deleting the wilderness between.”

The game producer said Night City, “Cyberpunk 2077’s” setting, is more densely packed compared to “The Witcher 3’s” world. While “The Witcher 3” had an open world that featured vast lanes, forest areas, countryside areas, villages and cities of various sizes, Night City has skyscrapers and districts that are distinct from each other. Players will find a lot of things to do in Night City’s rich world.

“It’s an integral part of the setting; it’s essentially a protagonist if you want to call it that, so it has to be denser,” Borzymowski said. “It wouldn't give us the end effect we wanted to achieve if the city wouldn't be believable [...] so we packed it full of life.”

“Cyberpunk 2077” might not have a world as wide as that of “The Witcher 3’s,” but if the studio’s words are to be believed, it’s going to be enough.