CDPR dev says opening up gender options in Cyberpunk 2077 is "important to the lore of this world"

Cyberpunk 2077 will be the first game from the studio behind The Witcher 3 to let you create and customize your own protagonist, and that will extend to their gender expression. The studio confirmed over the summer that it doesn't put binary limitations on how players can create their own V, and in a recent interview with VGC level designer Max Pears explained how players will see those choices reflected in the game.

“We really want to make sure players get the representation that they want," Pears said. "In the genre of Cyberpunk as well, it asks such deep questions about what it means to be human, let alone what it means to define your gender."

This is done not only important to make more players feel welcome and comfortable in inhabiting the role of V, it's also "important to the lore of this world," Pears added. That said, character creation won't give you a ton of different options to reflect your V's gender identity and expression: you pick a body type from masculine or feminine options, then do the same for their voice. Your character's genitals will be determined by which body type you pick - and yes, you will be able to see that for yourself, since Cyberpunk 2077 has some nude sex scenes.

Rather than asking players to set their own pronouns for V, the game will often opt for a pronoun-free approach when other characters talk about you. Consider it one of the many practical benefits of going by a monosyllabic mononym.

“One of the things we’ve done to make sure the game addresses things a certain way is a lot of the time NPCs are just going to refer to you as ‘V’, because you won’t be able to choose your name."

Watch what may be the coolest making-of video ever, a behind-the-scenes look at making Cyberpunk 2077's E3 2019 cinematic trailer.