Sasko was asked by a viewer how he feels about Cyberpunk 2077 being criticised for how linear it is (or more accurately, how linear it was compared to what was presented ahead of release), saying “well I think it’s completely justified.”
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Cyberpunk 2077 does have three drastically different opening options, plenty of external quests that impact the main story, branching main quests, and five different endings, all of which are acknowledged by Sasko, who still adds that “players expected more.”
Sasko says that there are enough systems to have two playthroughs that aren’t identical but adds “that’s not enough,” before explaining how they think this came to pass.
“There are many things that happened. First of all, players expected more, they expected more because of how The Witcher 3 is built, and I think that Cyberpunk has an insane amount of non-linearity, but I think expectations were higher.
“Second thing is, the expectations were specifically regarding big branches [in the narrative]. And again there are a bunch of big branches in Cyberpunk […] but you are thinking about branches in a different manner.” With Sasko later adding “I think smaller branches were not satisfactory enough.”
The example Sasko highlights here is Takamura, explaining how while you have the choice to save his life in the game, the relationship the game helps you build with him almost makes it a non-choice, with most players wanting to save him either way.
