Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty's immersive soundscape was made using the most unexpected props, KFC soda machines and boiling vegetables included.
The thunderous boom of explosions, the pat-pat-pattering of raindrops, the way car engines sound like a popcorn machine gone wrong. Good sound design is one of those 'invisible' things in games that make all the difference, and CD Projekt Red's sound designer Sebastian Sagastume did the absolute most while working on Phantom Liberty.
In a lecture from the Digital Dragons conference, Sagastume shared an anecdote about the time he stumbled into a KFC at midnight with his pocket recorder at hand.
"I wanted to ask the manager if I could buy five soda refills in exchange for them to stay quiet and kill the music for five minutes," he said. "They were like, 'Okay, this is so weird, but whatever.' Well, the main reason is because I wanted to record the soda dispenser that eventually became one of the weapons engines in Phantom Liberty."
The machine's whirring and the soda cans clanking eventually became the sound of a gun firing and reloading. "So usually the main rule that I have before recording is I wanted to find sources that organically reminded me of the weapon... namely, props and random sounds," Sagastume continued.
"Again, another example. One time I was at home, my girlfriend was just boiling some vegetables. I heard it, and it sounded wobbly, sticky. And for the Hercules weapon, it's shooting some acid bullets. So it was perfect for me to add this layer on top of this weapon."
