Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 review: "Another nova Night City story"

The interminable wait for a Cyberpunk 2077 sequel continues, but at least we have Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 to fill the void. A collaboration between digital worldbuilders CD Projekt Red and acclaimed Japanese animation house Studio Trigger, this follow-up to 2022's inaugural season of anime features an entirely new cast of characters navigating the same unforgiving Corpo-ruled world. And though nothing here can quite top the impact of David's tragic arc in season 1, Edgerunners 2 is another nova Night City story.

Four years in the making, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 can't be dinged for a lack of ambition. Orbiting a quartet of interconnected protagonists, at times it can feel like multiple seasons of TV in one. The closest to a lead is D. (Nazeeh Tarsha) – a spiky-haired netrunner who's out for revenge on those responsible for the massacre of his nomad tribe. Early on, he meets Roman (Valeria Rodriguez), a young wannabe filmmaker who champions analogue photography over BDs, and knows a great subject when he sees one.

Then there's Talia (Kimoy Lee), a gravely ill young woman who has progressively replaced each failing body part with chrome, and is now more machine than human. Her story dovetails with that of Weak Kingsley (Clancy Brown), a former Edgerunner who went cyberpsycho and had all his upgrades stripped. King, as he's otherwise known, was once close with Talia's mother, Avida (Cesili Williams), and makes saving the self-destructive Talia his redemptive mission.

Perhaps most intriguing of all, there's Capri (Brittany Lauda) – a mysterious, impossibly powerful digital construct that anyone and everyone wants control over, including Kang Tao corpo Kiril Yang (Daniel Wu), who also happens to be Talia's father. Unlike season 1's speed-enhancing Sandevistan, Capri is more than mere MacGuffin; she is unpredictable, revels in chaos, and has a history waiting to be unearthed that will be of particular interest to 2077 players.

Doom and chooms

For the most part, this more ambitious structure works. While it sometimes lacks the propulsion and greater intimacy that comes with following a single central character's journey across 10 episodes, there is a more diverse variety of story threads being woven here. D.'s revenge mission closely mirrors the escalating stakes of season one, delivering on the requisite spectacle and sense of impending doom, but Roman, King and Talia all offer very different flavors. Talia's thread, in particular, is deeply somber and sad, as she reckons with her failing body after maxing out her cyberware capacity. Likewise, King, once a legend, but with nothing else to live for anymore, ties his fate to Talia's in a way that is tender and caring – a rare glimmer of hope and decency in a cruel world.

Roman is the least successful of the four and more of a storytelling device there to connect the other protagonists, rather than a memorable character in his own right. Though ostensibly a coming-of-age story for the young documentarian, who finds himself in way over his head as D.'s public rampage escalates, more often than not he's simply a witness to proceedings, rather than an active participant.

If there's a downside to this structure, it's that D. and Roman's story is siloed off from Talia and King's for much of the season, with fairly minimal overlap. But as their paths fully converge in the final episodes, the long wait is paid off. It would have been easy for all involved to re-run David's story, perhaps with a different outcome, but Edgerunners 2 deserves credit for not simply rehashing its predecessor's winning formula.

Chrome is where the heart is

Where Edgerunners excels, once again, is its sublime animation. Studio Trigger has outdone itself here; it's an even more impressive and creative rendering of CDPR's world than the first go-round. The ultra-stylized character designs are distinct and full of personality, action is eye-poppingly fluid and dynamic, while fans of the game will revel in its recreation of familiar locales from across Night City. You'll almost certainly want to pick up a controller and (re)visit them yourself after rolling credits (which is exactly what the team at Studio Trigger did).

Netflix and co. have shown impressive restraint keeping Capri out of trailers, as she's an aesthetically stunning creation. Visualized as a piece of neon pink and green abstract art born of The Net, Capri has no limitations, and Trigger doesn't hold back on the chaos that follows in her wake. Indeed, as the season progresses, the scale and spectacle are more reminiscent of Akira than even David's Cyberskeleton-aided rampage. Quite what a figure as powerful as Capri means for the future of this world is a fascinating question.

What you might still be wondering is whether Edgerunners 2 continues the story of Lucy or dearly departed David Martinez from the first season. That is best discovered by watching, but there are connections – some overt (and rather clumsy), others more ambiguous or thematic. But it's important to note that Edgerunners 2 embraces the anthology format, rather than positioning itself as a direct continuation of the first season, and as such you could comfortably watch Edgerunners 2 after skipping the first season or the game. Though why you'd want to is another matter.

Whether you're coming to it completely fresh, or as someone who was in on 2077 from day one (bugs and all), Edgerunners 2 is yet another victory lap following Cyberpunk's extraordinary redemption story. It can't quite top its predecessor and is unlikely to be quite as beloved as a result, but Edgerunners 2 proves there are still plenty of stories worth telling in Night City.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 releases on Netflix on October 20. Make sure you're there the moment the new episodes drop with our Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 release schedule. Or for more from Night City, check out our exclusive interview with showrunner Bartosz Sztybor.