The upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, codenamed Orion, is slated to improve upon its branching storytelling, starting with players' life paths. CD Projekt Red's narrative director, Philipp Weber, expressed on the Answered Podcast a desire to make the life paths feature—first introduced in Cyberpunk 2077 with options like Street Kid, Corpo, and Nomad—more impactful on the game's narrative. The original game's life paths affected the beginning of the game but quickly converged into a singular storyline, something the development team aims to expand upon in Orion.

Despite this focus on life paths, lead quest designer Błażej Augustynek hinted that life paths are a prelude to the character V's new life post-prologue, and while they wish it had more significance, it's considered part of V's past. Details on the sequel are sparse, with even the perspective (first-person or third-person) not yet decided. However, after a comprehensive final update to Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt Red is turning more of their attention toward the sequel. They have pledged not to repeat mistakes from the turbulent launch of the original game, which had considerable negative repercussions, including being pulled from the PlayStation Store. The studio has already made significant changes to its development processes in response.

What improvements can we expect from the life path feature in the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel?

CD Projekt Red is working to make life paths substantially impact the game's story and player experience in the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel. Rather than life paths converging into a single storyline early in the game as they did in Cyberpunk 2077, the team aims to integrate life path choices more deeply into the game’s narrative, providing a more varied and personalized experience depending on the player's initial life path selection.