Apart from a few brief glimpses here and there, CD Projekt RED hasn’t shown off too much of the melee combat in Cyberpunk 2077. It’s probably for good reason, too. At present, the development team remains hard at work on ironing out the finer details of melee, since it still needs work.
After yesterday’s Night City Wire broadcast, Senior Gameplay Designer Paweł Kapała spoke with VG247. Partway through the interview, melee combat became a topic of discussion with VG247 noting that melee in the preview build of Cyberpunk 2077 “didn’t feel quite there.” While melee combat in first-person titles is usually hard to get right, CD Projekt RED seems up to the challenge. According to Kapała, the team continues to work on refining the experience.
We’re still a couple of months before release, and I’m actually right now working on melee. We’re spending a lot of time trying to perfect that… We’re not 100 percent happy, mostly with visual feedback on the hits, on the melee. So, we’re still working on it. We’re continuing to work on it. And I’m happy to say that, even right now, it’s much better than it was. It’s going to get even better. And we acknowledge that this is something that we need to perfect, basically.
But as you said, melee in a first-person game is extremely difficult, from the get-go. So, it wasn’t an easy task, since we basically come from a pedigree of creating TPP games. It was also a big part of our development to actually figure out, how do you do melee in a first-person perspective? We’re working on it.
The melee mechanics in Cyberpunk 2077 involve fisticuffs, swords, and cyberware modifications like the Mantis Blades. All were shown off during the recent Night City Wire. With such variety, it’s no wonder melee requires some fine tuning.
CD Projekt RED also used yesterday’s stream to detail Cyberpunk 2077’s lifepaths system. Essentially, players will choose either a Nomad, Corpo, or Street Kid lifepath for V. Each one affects the beginning of the game and the way in which the story unfolds throughout, as well as providing unique options for how you can handle specific situations.
Cyberpunk 2077 will release later this year for the PS4, PC, and Xbox One on November 19th. All who purchase a current-gen copy of the RPG will receive a next-gen upgrade for no extra cost.
[Source: VG247]
