CD Projekt has unveiled Cyberpunk 2077 patch 2.2, which significantly expands the game’s customization options.
Developed in partnership with support developer Virtuous, 2.2 is called ‘Express Yourself,’ with the idea that players can express themselves more in-game. The update launches today, December 10.
2.2 lets players change the colors of more cars in a more detailed way, with an upgraded vehicle customization user interface. The new TwinTone feature lets you scan any car in Night City and add its paint job to your car. The idea is if you’re driving around and see a cool car, you’ll be able to save its paint job in a database and from there apply it to your cars. This creates a paint job collecting and exploration aspect to Cyberpunk 2077.
There are gameplay implications, too – if you change the color of your car while you’re being chased by the police, you’ll fade out your heat level. So, you can escape into an alley, change your color, then drive away Scott free.
10 cars previously unavailable to buy or own will be added to the Auto Fixer website, eight to the base game and two to the Phantom Liberty expansion.
Johnny Silverhand, played by Keanu Reeves, will spawn next to you in the passenger seat around 25% of the time. The idea here is to increase the presence of Johnny while playing, reinforcing the fact he’s stuck in your brain. He’ll make comments, too, some of which are insults. Johnny will not spawn when you’re in combat, when another NPC is sat in the passenger seat, or when you’re on main story quests (since he’s usually involved in those) but CD Projekt said you’ll see him quite a bit. You’ll be able to use photo mode when Johnny is sat next to you, too.
Speaking of photo mode, the camera is much improved. It now has a drone mode letting it fly around farther due to a bigger range. You can disable collisions, too, to help nail that perfect shot. The new aspect ratio feature is PC only, unfortunately, due to limitations with the consoles. There are new lighting options, too.
2.2 will let you spawn up to three NPCs from a list of characters taken from the base game and Phantom Liberty in Photo Mode. Smasher is one of the NPCs you can spawn, complete with unique poses, so you’ll be able to have your revenge on him if you want.
Generally, photo mode has a reworked user interface, with additional depth of field options. CD Projekt hopes that the improvements to photo mode will mean players won’t need to rely on mods or other external software to take their in-game pictures.
There’s a new gallery you can display in your apartment to show off your snaps. So you can hang a picture of your date with Panam up on the wall for… future reference, if you fancy it.
Moving on to the character creator, there are 112 new assets available for customization of V. Eight new face plates are available, so you can make your character look like they’re a member of The Mox if you’d like. New nail and even lip designs are in there, too, lifted from the various corporations in Cyberpunk 2077, and loads of new eyes (including double eyes). There’s a new randomizer, too, with a ‘plain to punk’ slider to influence what it might spit out. You can lock specific assets, too, then continue with the randomizer.
During a community broadcast, game director Paweł Sasko teased additions CD Projekt will let fans discover for themselves. There are a “bunch of new things that happen in the city,” which will no doubt set players on a hunt throughout Night City. There are a couple of secrets Sasko has yet to see appear online even from the base game, so there’s plenty to work towards.
Is this the true end for Cyberpunk 2077? CD Projekt has yet to say. 64 staff at CD Projekt are working on Orion, the sequel to Cyberpunk 2077, but most are working on The Witcher 4.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
