"Mike Pondsmith Hints at Night City & Chicago in Project Orion"

The highly anticipated Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, codenamed Project Orion, remains shrouded in secrecy—but that hasn't stopped franchise creator Mike Pondsmith from dropping intriguing hints about undisclosed features.

When questioned about his involvement during Digital Dragons 2025, Pondsmith—who collaborated extensively on the 30 million-selling original—revealed he's less hands-on this time, though still reviews scripts and recently visited CD Projekt to observe development progress.

"Last week I toured various departments examining their work—when they showed me the new cyberware prototypes, I'd provide feedback like 'This implementation works well for this context,'" Pondsmith shared.

The veteran designer then teased a major revelation: alongside Night City, the sequel will feature an entirely new metropolitan area that Pondsmith described as "Chicago gone terribly wrong."

"One developer explained the new location's design philosophy," Pondsmith recalled. "Night City remains, but we're visiting another distinct city—I won't reveal details, but examining the environmental design made me recognize their vision. It achieves a unique dystopian aesthetic—not Blade Runner-esque, but rather like a corrupted version of Chicago's urban landscape."

Clarification is necessary—Pondsmith's comments don't confirm an exact futuristic Chicago setting, but rather a city evoking that dystopian atmosphere. The resemblance could be thematic rather than literal.

Questions remain about whether Night City will expand or be rebuilt entirely, and how both urban environments will function gameplay-wise. While many details are speculative, the sequel may deliver two fully realized, explorable cities.

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Currently prioritizing The Witcher 4, CD Projekt has established a Boston studio for Project Orion. Recent reports indicate 84 of their 707 developers are working on the conceptual phase—suggesting a distant release window with ample room for evolution.

Meanwhile, Netflix develops another Cyberpunk animated series following Edgerunners' success, while Cyberpunk 2077 prepares for its Nintendo Switch 2 debut in the interim.