Cyperpunk 2 goes beyond Night City to a new location that “feels more like Chicago gone wrong,” according to the creator of the original tabletop RPG

Cyberpunk 2 – currently only officially known by the codename Project Orion – was officially announced way back in 2022, but the devs at CD Projekt Red have spent the past few years being pretty reticent to reveal any details about the new game. But Mike Pondsmith, creator of the original tabletop RPG that the games are based on, has just let slip a few new details on Project Orion’s setting.

During an interview presented at the Digital Dragons conference earlier today, Pondsmith said he’s “not as involved directly” with Project Orion has he was with Cyberpunk 2077, but also that he recently visited the devs at CDPR. “I was wandering around talking to different departments and seeing what they had,” Pondsmith explained, offering his opinions on features like new cyberware.

“I spent a lot of time talking to one of the environment guys,” Pondsmith continued. “He was explaining how the new place in Orion, because there’s another city we visit – I’m not telling you any more than that, but there’s another city we visit.”

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You can see this moment for yourself at the 3:45:47 mark in the video above, and the brief hesitation Pondsmith has really makes it feel like he’s revealed a bit more about the game than he was supposed to. Nonetheless, he went on to give us a few more details.

“Night City’s still there,” Pondsmith said. “But I remember looking at and going ‘yeah, I understand the feel that you’re going for in this, and this really does work.’ It doesn’t feel like Blade Runner. It feels more like Chicago gone wrong. I said ‘yeah, I can see this working.'”

Rumors and fan theories have persisted for years that the Cyberpunk sequel might go to Chicago, but it now seems certain that even if the game doesn’t go to the Windy City itself, it is going someplace very similar.

Here are all the upcoming CD Projekt Red games you need to know about.

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