Cyberpunk 2077's best shopkeeper was originally a "vapid" side character devs had no idea what to do with, says actor, until a few redrafts made her "one of my favourite characters I've ever voiced"

Actor Erica Lindbeck hated Misty Olszewski, one of the characters she plays in Cyberpunk 2077, until developer CD Projekt Red gladly transformed her into someone completely different.

Before rewrites, fan-favorite tarot reader Misty was disappointing and completely "vapid," Lindbeck tells The Gamer in a new interview. The new age goth girl was limited to only a fistful of one-liners, and Lindbeck expected Militech manager Meredith to be the most significant example of her work on Cyberpunk 2077.

After all, "The character that I booked in Cyberpunk was Meredith," Lindbeck explains, "and then Misty was a random side character that they threw me." She made quips like, "Babe, your chakras are all out of whack!" and Lindbeck despised it.

"We recorded her several times because we didn't know what to do with her," she recalls. "I went, 'Oh, my God, what are we gonna do?'"

Then devs figured it out: the spiritually healing saleswoman Misty could just be a "soft, New Jersey Harley Quinn thing. And now she's one of my favourite characters I've ever voiced," Lindbeck says. "I love her so much. And they kept writing more and more and more for her, so that Misty became a much bigger character than Meredith."

I can't resist Ideal Misty, either (Lindbeck calls Cyberpunk's original Misty character "Punished Misty"). She provides the important counterbalance of old incense smoke in a city otherwise defined by cold, new technology. I just hope Lindbeck can forgive me for loving her Barbie: Dreamtopia voice a little more.

Cyberpunk 2077 is a better role-playing game than The Witcher 3.