Cyberpunk 2 director says there’d be no level in giving gamers extra time with Jackie in Cyberpunk 2077: ‘It is like saying we must always spend extra time on Tatooine with farmer Luke earlier than he acquired concerned with all this Jedi stuff’

Jackie Welles, for some avid gamers, is among the most beloved videogame companions of all time: A strong dude of hidden depths whose destiny was sealed the second he crossed paths with V. He made sufficient of an influence that former PC Gamer author Emma Matthews referred to as him Cyberpunk 2077’s greatest character, and bemoaned the restricted period of time we acquired with him earlier than, effectively, you recognize.

However not everybody agrees that we must always’ve had extra time to spend with Jackster—together with Cyberpunk 2 artistic Igor Sarzynski, who says Jackie may’ve been an incredible man however he wasn’t actually a part of the story.

“So would extending Act 1 (earlier than the heist) in CP77 make the sport higher?” Sarzynski wrote on Bluesky (through FRVR). “No it would not. It is like saying we must always spend extra time on Tatooine with farmer Luke earlier than he acquired concerned with all this Jedi stuff.”

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Sarzynski additionally identified that whereas some gamers ended up shedding Jackie in a short time, others (together with, probably, yours really) “handle to squeeze 20h out of Watson,” Cyberpunk 2077’s opening space, the place gamers are confined earlier than embarking on the large Arasaka heist. And since the objectives and motivations of that space are very vaguely outlined, prolonging it “would end in [a] meandering, unfocused expertise.”

So would extending Act 1 (earlier than the heist) in CP77 make the sport higher?
1. No it would not. It is like saying we must always spend extra time on Tatooine with farmer Luke earlier than he acquired concerned with all this Jedi stuff.
(1/3)

— @srznsk.bsky.social (@srznsk.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-01-05T23:48:58.222Z

He additionally rejected strategies that Cyberpunk 2077’s Jackie-heavy prologue montage is constructed on minimize content material, saying CD Projekt “all the time deliberate it like this.”

“Is it sufficient time to bond with Jackie? For some it’s, for some it is not,” Sarzynski wrote. “All issues thought-about I feel we struck a very good stability.”

Sarzynski’s thread naturally drew some replies from followers satisfied that he is flawed, and he made some equally attention-grabbing factors in response, corresponding to saying that the majority gamers want a selected, measurable purpose to pursue so as to correctly advance the sport, which is why V has no development within the recreation’s first act.

V additionally has no development in Act 1 as a result of the *precise* story – Terminal illness, what do i do with the time i’ve left? What does it imply to stay and to develop into immortal? – hasn’t began but.
Sure, i am saying that is all by design and Act 1 being longer wouldn’t profit the principle story.

— @srznsk.bsky.social (@srznsk.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-01-05T23:48:58.258Z

He did acknowledge that the urgency of V’s scenario was belied considerably by the presence of aspect gigs, which enabled the character to horse round in Evening Metropolis with no unwell results—one thing I felt acutely throughout my lengthy, oft-diverted Cyberpunk 2077 playthrough.

“I do not disagree with the ludonarrative dissonance between saving your self and doing different shit,” Sarzynski wrote. “If I had been to do it once more, I would contextualize gigs and aspect quests as escaping demise otherwise—by creating your individual legend. And possibly gate a selected ending behind doing sufficient aspect content material.”

He additionally made the purpose that regardless of its open-world trappings, Cyberpunk 2077 is a narrative-driven recreation, and that is what nearly all of CD Projekt followers are on the lookout for: “We’re not doing GTA, our video games are rather more story / character pushed.”

i am not saying it might be boring. i am saying that it would not carry story-oriented gamers (and that is giant a part of our model) for lengthy. we’re not doing GTA, our video games are rather more story / character pushed

— @srznsk.bsky.social (@srznsk.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-01-05T23:48:58.296Z

The dialogue is completely educational, nevertheless it additionally offers some attention-grabbing insights into what we’d count on from Cyberpunk 2: When Sarzynski says “if I had been to do it once more,” in any case, it will probably simply be construed as a delicate reminder that he successfully is doing it once more. He is additionally fairly clear that no matter whether or not strategies are being made in good religion or in any other case, CD Projekt already has a reasonably good thought of what it is doing: “We cannot be doing ‘identical story however with participant suggestions’,” he wrote in response to at least one follower, “so requests for particular structural modifications to ’77 are usually not actually related.”