Cyberpunk 2077, a fantastic game by the famous CD Projekt Red, just clocked five years of existence and the developers have marked the event with a nostalgic video that has brought upon the players a feeling of mixed emotions. The Cyberpunk 2077 Twitter account, in the meantime, has proclaimed in a very solemn manner, “In Night City, you’ve made it so far – all your actions, all your views. We do not forget the last 5 years in this City of Legends, thank you!” The accompanying video is a montage of crucial incidents and personalities, with a melancholy tune playing in the background, and it is nothing but a love letter to the game’s hard but victorious journey. What about the community’s reaction? That is, however, quite a different story.

The first reaction can be described as absolute adoration and… well, a slight letdown? There is no doubt the video is an art piece and it seems to span through all the feelings starting from Jackie through Judy, Johnny Silverhand, and all other roles in between. A certain user, Galaxt1ka, called out one scene in particular that he found especially tragic: “Not me crying from Jackie being in the frame of ‘being something that fucking mattered’ 🥲.”

That sentiment was indeed present in the whole community. People were calling it a ‘thing of beauty’ and thanking CDPR for the journey. Anas22 tagged it ‘one of my all time favourites’ while Illusir gave a very revealing comment, saying that the game was there for them when they had the hardest times and they even made wonderful friends through it. That is Night City’s charm, right there.

However, things get interesting at this point. A good number of responses primarily had a focus on the other side of the coin. They were asking out loud ‘Okay, but where’s the real stuff?’ User MEME HEADROOM somewhat caught that viewpoint when he said, ‘That video was cool and all… But just to say “5 years. Buy the game.”? Seemed like a whole lot of hype for a whole lot of nothing.’ Some were very blunt. BABA YAGA declared that ‘no update for the 5th anniversary is just a crime.’ And kdmorant12 simply remarked, ‘So nothing ehh…… kinda hurt.’ Oof. The expectation was that there might be a new game plus announcement, a DLC tease, something coming in the flesh, that is physical form. User ItchyButRash admitted they thought the phrase ‘If you could go back to the beginning’ was going to segue into a new game+ stampede. It did not happen. So, for some, the splendid trailer felt like a bittersweet adieu with no gift to unwrap.

Incidentally, the issue of goodbyes has also been brought up due to the trailer and the anniversary that have certainly pushed the sequel speculation to the top. The trailer has a closing vibe that’s why the players are inquiring about what comes next for the series now code-named Project Orion. A hot topic? Will we meet V again? Fuoco136 started a whole discussion about it, bringing forth the question, ‘Damn it’s going to be such a shame not hearing cherami as the protag anymore.’

The exchanges of users to each other have also been quite touching with someone arguing that V’s story would not even be brought up. Fuoco said that to make a sequel financially viable developers often have to settle for a ‘canon’ choice which is extremely expensive and time-consuming so V might end up being just a mention at most. But VectorPrime disagreed and argued there are so many plot points that have been laid out for V that he could not just evaporate. It’s a classic gamer debate and it is still very much alive in the replies.

Then there are the… let’s call them ‘quality of life’ requests that are appearing everywhere as if they were flowers blossoming in spring. A lot of players were instant to spot the movie-like viewpoints in the trailer and started clamoring for a third-person viewpoint option as soon as the trailer got released. Łukasz was even sweeter than that when he tweeted, ‘I love this trailer ❤️ it just convinces me we should have a 3rd person view in the game.’ Cbapalma was even clearer, ‘Add third person cinematic pls.’ There were also players who wanted a male V version of the trailer because, as Jonny_Sad put it, ‘he’s the choice of like 60% of the players.’ And Zee simply asked for a wallpaper of the bar scene. These are easy requests but they still point to how deeply people are in the game world.

Of course, there are players who are just beginning to think about giving it a go. Ferecasier1 came up with the question, ‘I am so freaking late, gonna buy it for my PlayStation and Xbox.