Out of all of the Switch 2 launch games, CD Projekt Red's port of Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition is perhaps the most impressive feat on the platform. I started playing the game on PS5 Pro earlier this year, and continuing my playthrough on the Nintendo Switch 2 has really set in stone how much of an uncompromised version it is. CD Projekt Red has released a blog post, talking about how the studio made the Switch 2 version of Cyberpunk a reality.
One of the defining features of Cyberpunk 2077 on Switch 2 is how it uses the console hardware to its advantage. You have access to the touch screen for menu navigation, gyro and mouse controls for more precise aiming, and full-blown motion controls; so you can pretend we lived in a universe where Cyberpunk came out for the Wii when you waggle to swing a melee weapon or bring a JoyCon up to your face to heal.
CD Projekt gameplay technical design expert Filip Downar said, "The philosophy was to do it but not force it." He adds, "We really wanted to add these features, but decided we would only do so if it was genuinely good, if it actually added to the experience. We didn’t want to include something as an afterthought."
However, when it came to the motion controls, Downar explained it was somewhat of a challenge, "We had to create patterns that matched players’ expectations — for a system that no one had used yet!" He added that making sure the motion inputs didn't get too overwhelming was a priority however, "we found that players get confused if there are too many… different players have unique interpretations of mechanics, and have different means of movement, are playing in different spaces, and so on, getting too granular isn’t effective."
And while I'm sure hearing "motion controls" conjures up the word "gimmick" in your mind, Downar was also unsure at first. "I was really, really reserved about the feature," he says, "I usually don’t love motion controls in games." However, after the game released, Downar now says it's his favourite new mechanic: "When actually playing, kind of by accident, I learned that I’m able to do things in Cyberpunk 2077 that are impossible to do without."
