The first-person perspective of Cyberpunk 2077 has been a topic of discussion in the past, and it has come up once again. Marcin Momot, "Global Community Lead" for CD Projekt Red, has said that the decision to make Cyberpunk 2077 "100%" first-person will benefit its "gameplay and story-telling perspectives."

Yes, the cut-scenes will be FPP. While sure to be divisive, I don't think this approach is necessarily a bad thing.

A dedicated first-person perspective can certainly help a game feel more immersive. Prey and Bioshock, for instance, make stellar use of the player's one-to-one connection with a character. In addition to developing immersion, a FPP forces the game designer to use more nontraditional story-telling techniques. Both of the games I mentioned use environmental details to tell their stories, and I find this to be a compelling alternative to dialogue. The player-controlled character of Cyberpunk will still speak, of course, but I am sure environmental details will supplement expository scenes. After all, you'll be seeing precisely what they want you to see.

However, with the immensely popular Witcher franchise, CDPR used a third-person point of view. Changing the perspective for Cyberpunk risks alienating some of their fans. Momot seems to be trying to reconnect with them.

One concern I have about CDPR's dedication to a first-person point of view is that it threatens to make character creation in Cyberpunk meaningless. I struggle to see the point of carefully molding a character if I won't be seeing them anyway. Momot's followup tweet addresses such a concern. He points out that you'll see your character on the inventory screen, in driving sequences, and "very occasionally" in cut-scenes.

In the end, I suspect your character will still feel both unique and personal. Furthermore, I fully trust CD Projekt Red to follow-through with an intense, moving, and interesting story. They've got a pretty good track record so far.

Cyberpunk 2077 launches on April 16, 2020 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. A Google Stadia version will arrive at a later date. You can preorder it now on Amazon.