Cyberpunk 2077 could probably be regarded as the defining ‘rags to riches’ game of our lifetime. It emerged in 2020 to a woeful reception, boasting more bugs than any game ever released (probably) and hitting an all-time low with fans in terms of sentiment. It was an absolute shocker for CDPR, but it was ultimately turned around, and by the time the game’s first and only expansion was released, it was regarded as one of the best open-world games ever made.
Recently, evidence emerged online of a cancelled DLC set on the Moon, which has plenty of lore around it in the Cyberpunk universe. In a series of images, we see concept art, blueprints, file repositories, and some map-based data for what might have been the first out-of-map expansion for Cyberpunk 2077.
Never Going To Get It
Phantom Liberty was released in September 2023 and emerged as one of the best expansions for a game ever made. It heralded a new generation of Cyberpunk 2077, which from then was penned as ‘Cyberpunk 2077 2.0’ – and for good reason. It was the ultimate turning point for the title, with CDPR signing off and acknowledging that the game was in the best state it would ever be.
Recently, images emerged on social media diving into the discovery of an unnamed Moon-based expansion for Cyberpunk 2077. In the game’s universe, the Moon has been colonised and cities have been built on the rocky satellite. It’s being used for resources and is a key point of interest for the corporations that effectively run Earth by the time of Cyberpunk 2077’s story. It reportedly has a population of around 58,000 people, and it would have served as the base of operations for Cyberpunk 2077’s second and final expansion.
In the string of images uploaded online, we get a look at file repositories, a rough map of the proposed Moon location, and shots of some early conceptual images and set pieces. As the story goes, CDPR originally intended for the Moon to be a featured location in the base game but recognised that it was too ambitious a goal, so they cut the content and instead decided to use it for an expansion – which ultimately never surfaced.
Cyberpunk 2077’s development has officially ended, so there’s no chance this will ever see the light of day.
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Cyberpunk 2077 isn’t a rags-to-riches tale, it’s a tale of how powerful (and unjust) a herd mentality can be. It wasn’t any more buggy than a typical Bethesda title on release, unless you were on an oldgen console. Nor was it an entirely different game when Edgerunners and Phantom Liberty dropped.
The only thing that really changed was the tune of the bandwagon.
Bruh phantom liberty sucked ass. Yeah man I really want to be forced to play as a cop in my “punk” game.
I do disagree with the “rags to riches” sentiment as it implies they were forced into that position before clawing their way out of it. But the issue is that they put themselves in that position due to poor direction and crunch and released it out of the door knowing the poor state it was in.
Yeah Cyberpunk had a comeback but their comeback was making the game into a playable state and added content they promised would be in their from the start. Essentially updating the game to be in a state of how it should’ve released.
For the cancelled DLC, wasn’t there rumours that Cyberpunk was developing a sequel? Perhaps that DLC will be content for that instead.