Cyberpunk 2077 Orion Unreal Engine 5 Development Is a Challenge; Advantages Are Quite Apparent

Nov 14, 2023 at 08:00am EST
Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077's sequel, currently only known as Orion, will be powered by Unreal Engine 5, and developing the game with the new engine by Epic is proving to be a challenge.

Speaking in a new interview with The Neon Arcade, the game's lead quest designer Pavel Sasko talked about the second entry in the series, saying that it is still at a very early stage of development and that the core development team includes the first game's director Gabriel Amatangelo, narrative director Igor Sarinski and expert quest designer Sarah Gruemmer.

Related Story CD Projekt RED CEO Admits Cyberpunk 2077’s Redemption Arc Isn’t Complete, but Hopes The Witcher 4 Wins Back Fans

While game development is always challenging, the Cyberpunk 2077 lead quest designer highlighted how working with the Unreal Engine 5 and with Epic is both a challenge and an honor. This challenge, however, is more of an opportunity, according to Sasko, as he sees "much space to actually do something awesome." At this point, the developer has been working for quite some time on Unreal Engine 5, and even at this early stage, the advantages the engine provides are quite apparent, although Sasko doesn't go into detail.

Given how much of a glow-up Cyberpunk 2077 received with the 2.0 update and the Phantom Liberty expansion, it will be very interesting to see how Orion will move the original's open-world experience forward and how the team will take advantage of the Unreal Engine 5's capabilities to recreate Night City and possibly other locations from the world originally created by Mike Pondsmith.

Cyberpunk 2077 is now available on PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and Xbox One worldwide. The Phantom Liberty Expansion is now out on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S.

About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.

Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.