The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 devs put "a considerable amount of effort into side stories," Cyberpunk 2 lead says: "Quality in those was a must"

The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 arguably stand the test of time as two of the best RPGs ever developed – and a lot of this stellar reputation boils down to the quality of not just their main stories, but their side missions, too.

Heck, I don't think I'll ever forget the Land of a Thousand Fables – and I'm certainly not alone in feeling that CD Projekt Red does some excellent side stories. In fact, a thread over on Twitter about the developer's stellar "side quests and DLC" has prompted a reply from Paweł Sasko – quest designer on The Witcher 3 and quest design director on Cyberpunk 2077, who now works as associate game director on Cyberpunk 2. According to him, a lot of elbow grease goes into those "side" missions.

"We put a considerable amount of effort into side stories," writes Sasko. "Those most of the time have same budget and production timeline, talented teams, and more creative freedom (by not being tied to main story, mostly)."

Honestly, I'm not surprised to hear that – and in The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, he says, "quality in those was a must," not just a "nice to have" thing. That's not hard to see if you've played either RPG.

The Witcher 3 boasts nearly 200 hours of content (if you include its main story and the side quests), but I've easily poured hundreds more into it myself. Cyberpunk 2077 is similarly lengthy, and a quick browse on Steam shows folks with 1,000+ hours spent in-game leaving reviews.

In other words, many players find themselves lost within CD Projekt Red's various side missions and lively worlds – a testament to the studio's hard work.

It does beg the question – just how expansive will upcoming CD Projekt Red games be, like The Witcher 4 and Cyberpunk 2? I'm willing to bet that they, too, will end up proving some of the greatest RPGs, with much of that falling to their optional content as well as their undoubtedly massive main stories.

Only time can truly tell, however… but for now, I think I'll go replay The Witcher 3 for the umpteenth time.

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