With Cyberpunk 2077 coming from the same developer as The Witcher 3, players may be expecting the upcoming game to feature the same sort of sprawling map seen in Geralt’s last adventure. However, it looks like that won’t be the case. CD Projekt Red confirmed that Cyberpunk 2077 will have a smaller but denser map than its predecessor.
At an interview with GamesRadar, Cyberpunk 2077 producer Richard Borzymowski explained CD Projekt Red’s approach to creating Cyberpunk 2077‘s world. As part of this, he makes a direct comparison between the new game and The Witcher 3, pointing out that Cyberpunk 2077 is mostly set in one city.
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“In The Witcher [3] we were an open world with vast lanes and forests in between smaller cities and larger cities like Novigrad,” mentioned Borzynowski. “But in Cyberpunk 2077 we’re set in Night City. 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.”
To make up for Cyberpunk 2077′s smaller map size, CD Projekt Red aims to pack much more into the game’s world. “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,” explained Borzynowski. “But it’s the density of the content, taking the world of The Witcher and squeezing it right in, deleting the wilderness between.”
One factor that does help the team do this is the game’s increased use of vertical space. So much more of Cyberpunk 2077s world is stacked up on top of other places thanks to its futuristic city setting, helping maximize the use of the smaller space. If CD Projekt Red pulls this off just right, then Night City might feel just as sprawling as the swamps of Velen or the orchards of Toussaint, despite sitting on a much smaller area.
