Cyberpunk 2077 sequel will feature at least two cities says franchise creator
The sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 will involve 'another city', as tabletop game designer Mike Pondsmith offers the first detail about the new video game.
It was a bumpy ride getting there, but Cyberpunk 2077 is now uncontroversially accepted as one of the most critically and commercially successful video games of all time. And there's only one thing that means: a sequel.
One has been announced, under the codename Project Orion, but very little has been said about it so far, by developer CD Projekt Red – who are currently more concerned with Switch 2 launch title Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition.
Although many don't realise, Cyberpunk 2077 is based on a tabletop role-playing game that dates all the way back to 1988. Creator Mike Pondsmith was a consultant for the first game and has some involvement with the sequel too, which he's probably said more about than he was supposed to.
Speaking at the 2025 Digital Dragons conference in Poland, Pondsmith mentioned that he, 'spent a lot of time talking to one of the environment guys and he was explaining how the new place in Orion… because there's another city we visit.'
He seemed to be aware that he probably wasn't supposed to be saying any of that, but continued on anyway, confirming that Night City is also still part of the sequel.
Although he didn't state what the new city is called, he recalled another conversation with CD Projekt Red's developers: 'I remember looking at [the new city] and going, 'Yeah, I understand the feel that you're going for and this really does work. It doesn't feel like Blade Runner, it feels more like Chicago gone wrong'.
That doesn't mean that it literally is Chicago, but perhaps not coincidentally, that has been rumoured as a destination in the sequel for some time now.
There are several posters in Cyberpunk 2077 that mention the city, with one that reads 'Travel from Chicago to Night City in under three hours, coming in 2080.' You can view that as simply a bit of environmental detail or a purposeful clue, perhaps even to the name of the sequel.
Things get even more suspicious when you take into account the DLC expansion Phantom Liberty, one of whose endings is set several years later, after the 'Transcontinental Maglev Network' to Chicago has been completed.
That does seem to add up to a pretty compelling rumour, but whether it's just a made-up city that looks a bit like Chicago, or the place itself, Pondsmith does make clear that the original Night City is not the only location in the sequel.
Despite insisting that he's not as involved with the follow-up as he was with the original, Pondsmith says he's still shown scripts and, as his anecdotes make clear, gets to visit the development studios, which this time round are in Boston and Vancouver.
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