One of the gigs in Cyberpunk 2077 raised questions even at CD Projekt RED. „I would say that if you never have that discussion, you're probably not making art”
One of the gigs in Cyberpunk 2077 is so controversial that it has raised concerns even among some devs.
In Cyberpunk 2077, we will find many interesting side gigs, but one of them particularly stands out. The plot turned out to be so strong and controversial that it raised concerns even among CD Projekt RED developers. According to the game's Lead Quest Designer, however, this is an indispensable part of creating art.
WARNING, SPOILERS!
The following text contains spoilers from the side quest "Sinnerman." If you haven't had a chance to do it yet, consider yourselves warned.
Art requires diving deeper
The task mission "Sinnerman" is one of those that is hard to forget, even after finishing the entire game. Assuming that we make the right decisions, during its culmination, we nail a criminal named Joshua to the cross. He has nothing against it, because he believes that in this way he will atone for his sins. The entire event is also recorded by the studio to later sell it in the form of a braindance.
Cyberpunk 2077 doesn't beat around the bush and directly refers to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. CD Projekt RED is very keen to tackle strong themes, and they did so in The Witcher 3, for instance, with the widely praised quest with the Bloody Baron. In a conversation with GamesRadar+, Philipp Weber itted that it's important "to have the knowledge that you can afford to touch subjects that are very difficult."
Then he explained that creators don't use them just because they're difficult, but only when "they have something meaningful to say." However, this requires courage, as they know how easy it can be to cross the line then.
When specifically asked about the "Sinnerman" gig, Weber revealed that some studio employees "had problems with it." He explained to them that it wasn't just for show, but because there was a really interesting question they wanted to explore. It's been considered worth looking into, even if they don't find any answers.
I would say that if you never have that discussion, you're probably not making art, if there's never a question of 'maybe we actually have to be brave, dive deeper'. Maybe there's something that could also touch people the wrong way. Are we ready to do that?
And I think, you know, those are discussions that we have to this day, but I think it's important to have them, because otherwise you're never able to do something like this.
We're curious if the quests in sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 will also give us the same level of experience as the ones described above.
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