Can you pet the dog in Cyberpunk 2077? It's complicated

Cyberpunk 2077 might have given us Keanu Reeves at E3 2019, but the internet wants more. It wants dogs. We sat down with CD Projekt RED's quest director on the game, Mateusz Tomaszkiewicz, to get some answers on why we haven't seen any good bois in the game so far. Can you pet the dog in Cyberpunk 2077?

"This is something actually that we're still talking about within the studio," reveals Tomaszkiewicz. 

"Some of them are lore questions that we're asking ourselves, we discussed birds for example. You might have seen in the demo there's no real meat [in Night City], most of it is synthetic. The reason for this is that at some point in the timeline the birds were transferring diseases, not unlike the bird flu we had for a while.

“So at some point different states around the world decided to exterminate birds. Some people are breaking those laws, so Placide has chickens and actual meat but it's illegal. With most animals, it's a similar situation. Both related to the laws the corporations are enforcing, and all the climate disasters and catastrophes the world has gone through."

It's not time to lose hope just yet though, as it sounds like the team is still deciding. 

"So to some degree it's intentional that we will have very few animals, but from time to time we do have them. You might have seen a cat in last year's demo. So still in the air." 

Start your petitions for a dog in Cyberpunk 2077, even if it's a robot one, now. We'll have more from Tomaszkiewicz and the Cyberpunk team on Gamesradar+ soon. 

Can't wait for Cyberpunk 2077? Want to know what's out now? Release Radar picks the best games, movies, and shows of the next seven days.

Rachel Weber
Managing Editor, US

Rachel Weber is the US Managing Editor of GamesRadar+ and lives in Brooklyn, New York. She joined GamesRadar+ in 2017, revitalizing the news coverage and building new processes and strategies for the US team.