Cyberpunk 2077 Creator Confirms Second City in Sequel, Won’t Accept It Gives ‘Blade Runner’ Vibes

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Cyberpunk 2077 Creator Confirms Second City in Sequel, Won’t Accept It Gives ‘Blade Runner’ Vibes

Mike Pondsmith just can’t help himself. The creator of the original Cyberpunk tabletop RPG has once again demonstrated the classic consultant’s dilemma: knowing too much and sharing just enough to make marketing teams break into cold sweats.

During the Digital Dragons 2025 conference, Pondsmith casually dropped some juicy details about the highly secretive Project Orion—the codename for CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 sequel. What started as a simple question about his involvement quickly turned into an impromptu reveal party that nobody at CDPR had even the slightest thought of scheduling.

“Chicago gone wrong”: A new cyberpunk playground emerges

The revelation came when Pondsmith described his recent visit to the development studio. Despite literally saying he wouldn’t tell us more, he immediately proceeded to do exactly that, confirming that players will explore a second city alongside Night City in the sequel:

I 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, and I’m not telling you any more than that. Night City is still there.

This suggests that our unnamed second metropolis won’t be mimicking the neon-soaked aesthetic that’s dominated cyberpunk media since Blade Runner defined the genre’s visual language.

Instead, Pondsmith described something far more intriguing—a dystopian vision of the Windy City:

I remember looking at it and going, ‘Yeah, I understand the feel you’re going for this, and this really does work. And it doesn’t feel like Blade Runner, it feels more like Chicago gone wrong.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I can see this working.’

The distinction matters. While Night City channels West Coast tech-noir vibes, a Midwest-inspired cyberpunk hellscape opens fascinating possibilities. Think industrial decay meeting corporate excess—rust belt infrastructure retrofitted with bleeding-edge tech while Lake Michigan serves as a toxic dumping ground for megacorps.

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Pondsmith’s description suggests that CD Projekt Red might be evolving beyond the genre’s visual clichés, potentially creating something that feels more grounded in American urban decay rather than the Asian-influenced aesthetics that dominated the first game.

The CDPR damage control playbook

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— CDPR, probably. | Image Credit: Fall Damage/

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Pondsmith’s candid revelations are almost certainly sending CDPR’s public relations team into a frenzy. The studio has maintained tight control over Project Orion information, with official channels revealing almost nothing beyond its existence and development location.

They’ve been here before. Just last year, Doug Cockle, the gravelly voice behind Geralt of Rivia, learned the hard way what happens when you spill The Witcher’s beans prematurely.

After casually mentioning that Geralt would appear in The Witcher 4 but wouldn’t be the main character, Cockle quickly found himself on the receiving end of CDPR’s displeasure.

The irony? Cockle was essentially correct. CDPR later confirmed Ciri as the protagonist of their next Witcher saga, with Geralt taking a supporting role. More recently, Cockle defended this creative direction against “woke” criticisms, showing his continued loyalty despite the earlier reprimand:

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For Pondsmith, however, the situation is different. As the original creator of the Cyberpunk universe, he occupies a unique position that gives him more leeway than voice actors. Still, his comments about wandering freely through development departments suggest a level of access that comes with unspoken confidentiality expectations.

Whether CDPR embraces these early reveals or attempts to put the genie back in the bottle remains to be seen. Either way, fans now have their first concrete details about where Project Orion will take them—somewhere in the Midwest, where Chicago’s architectural grandeur meets cyberpunk’s technological nightmare.

What do you think about this new setting? Would you prefer exploring a new city, or are you hoping to return to Night City’s familiar streets? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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