"Cyberpunk: Edgewalker" looks like a spin-off

"CDPR should give Trigger a knock." Many players joked after watching the animation "Cyberpunk: Edge Walker".

, a game released at the end of 2020, has now been revived by a derivative animation, which is almost the best result that CDPR, the developer of the main game "Cyberpunk 2077", can think of.

In the middle of this month, "Cyberpunk: Edge Walker" produced by Japanese animation company TRIGGER based on the world view of the game "Cyberpunk 2077" was launched on Netflix, and then quickly set off a global viewing craze, with a freshness of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB It has a score of 8.6, and nearly 60,000 people on Douban scored a high score of 9.1. Some viewers who were moved by the work have begun to call it "the best animation of the year".

echoes that, "Cyberpunk 2077", which was once expected to be the "Best Game of the Year", but was almost nailed to the pillar of shame due to various problems such as false propaganda, numerous bugs, and poor updates, began to gradually glow second. spring.

According to Steam DB data, the recent peak of the game's online users on the Steam platform was 136,000 on September 25, which is still far from the grand occasion when millions of people were online at the same time when it was just released nearly two years ago. It is very difficult for the old work. With the help of "Edge Walker", on September 21, CDPR official Weibo posted that "more than 1 million players have entered Night City every day in the past week", that is, the number of daily active players on all platforms of "Cyberpunk 2077". Re-break through 1 million. On September 28, CDPR announced that 2077 had sold 20 million copies in total.

Game Mission Director Pawel Sasko shared in a live broadcast: "It's been seven or eight years for some of the early team members, and this is the moment people start to like our work, it still feels a little unreal, and people are finally starting to appreciate it. ."

How did Edgewalker cross the border?

"If you have an interesting story, you can make an interesting animation." According to the Japanese media Game Watch, CDPR did not have too complicated ideas for animation projects, and the attention of "Edgewalker" within the company Also low. They handed over the complete plan to TRIGGER and said: Make this an anime! Masahiko Otsuka, the president of

TRIGGER, also revealed in an interview that the animators initially only got the worldview information, and the plot would be written by CDPR, "I thought it would be done according to the script." But soon TRIGGER found that the initial plan given by CDPR "cannot be completed with animation", and the two parties began to complement each other for a long time.

Masahiko Otsuka's point of view is that the original plot paid too much attention to "atmosphere" and did not highlight the characters, which is not easy to make people feel emotional. A dispute between the two sides revolved around the character "Rebecca". The "violent loli" has a typical Japanese-style contrasting cute character design. CDPR thinks that she does not match the tone of the original work. , "This kind of cute character will Destroy the world of "2077"", , but TRIGGER, who was the "Part B", finally persuaded CDPR.

David Martinez, Lucy, Rebecca and other characters in "Edgewalker" have indeed successfully won the love of many audiences. It's a pity that the hero and heroine met romantically but failed to go to the moon. Steam There are also many players in the evaluation area shouting "kill Adam Hammer again (the final Boss in the animation, also appears in the game)".

Like most derivative animations, Edgewalker is essentially a fan-oriented work. There are many proprietary concepts in the animation that need to be understood, such as "Super Dream", "Cyber ​​Psychosis", "Arasaka Company", etc., and the electronic map, call ringtones, radio programs, etc. of Night City are exactly the same as in the game. Easter egg elements are familiar only after playing.

Weibo netizens explore the elements in the game

But the main characters of "Edgewalker" are all new and original, and replaying the game will not change their fate. In addition to the most basic "want to revisit the works with the same world view", why can this animation have a rare "traffic feedback" effect on the game?

has a widely circulated stalk about "2077", "You are the famous V", which is used to tease the NPCs while verbally showing their respect, while giving the protagonist V played by the player all kinds of dirty work that pays very little. But "Edgewalker" provides players with a new perspective to look at V - that is, the "self" in the game, and the other residents living in Night City. David, the protagonist of

's animation, talks about "he is special", but "it turns out" he represents the normal life of ordinary mercenary . Some players mentioned that David regards the "Sian Weistan" as a treasure (a modified prosthesis that can slow down time), and V went to the bar to scan around and saw a lot of NPCs wearing it, and even a few moments during the battle. There are also miscellaneous soldiers rushing towards them, and players usually don't even look at them. Once you think of "these people may have a similar experience behind David", the game experience will have some subtle changes.

has an animation as a foil, and the phrase "the famous V" is no longer empty talk. V in the game has three origins to choose from. The trough of the follow-up process conceals the fact that "the starting point of V may be the end point of David", and the player will eventually grow into the "King of the Night City" with a legendary equipment, killing Adam Hammer can kill David as easily as he does. 's sense of substitution for the animated protagonist is superimposed on the sense of the gap between the animated protagonist and himself, which easily gives rise to the urge to "do something" .

Aside from the fictional world that is more plump because of "Edge Walker", "2077" in reality has also achieved a "true linkage" that simultaneously launches new content. Not often.

"2077" update instructions Ten days before the launch of

"Edge Walker", CDPR introduced the 1.6 version of the game in the form of live broadcast. Players can receive a side quest related to "Edgewalker" in the game, get some equipment that the animated characters have, and can drink a cocktail called "David Martinez", which is a regular linkage. content. The livestream also highlighted 2077's massive paid DLC Shadow of the Past, as well as other new features such as "cross-platform sync progress."

has long been hopeful that CDPR will be able to patch the game in time and launch a high-quality large-scale DLC like the Witcher 3 due to the failure of the first launch. This is the first time it has released a trailer. CDPR has indeed not given up on repairing. Many players said that the 1.6 version is "already pretty good", and the DLC that will be released next year is quite accurately involved in the promotion and release linkage. Animations, DLC, patches, discounts, and a combination of punches can give people the feeling of "frequent major actions in the game recently". While the animation of

"Edgewalker" is hot, old players who haven't paid attention to it for a long time may just find out that the game has undergone a major version update. You can go back to Night City to see if CDPR has "delivered its promise"; but only watched the animation of new players who are also interested in the game will find that 2077 is on sale.

The last thing I have to mention is that there have been too many excellent works in the "cyberpunk" field, and its core is gradually evolving with the times, and the real world may even be closer to this sci-fi motif. Nowadays, "cyberpunk" as a subcultural concept already has properties similar to IP, which will naturally attract interested audiences, which has a certain blessing on the dissemination of works.

"2077" itself is a re-creation based on the world view of the board game "Cyberpunk 2020", and its popularity before its advent also has a theme bonus factor. After combining almost all previous works of the same theme in the visual and aesthetic levels, 's "2077" is still the largest "cyberpunk world" in the game field. The logic of theme-assisted communication will also apply to "Edgewalker" , and if you are interested in the world depicted by animation, it will be a natural choice to experience "2077".

What is the key to changing the animation of the game?

Objectively speaking, "Edgewalker" does not have the magical effect of "completely revitalizing "2077", and its story content has little connection with the main line of the game, just like a large advertisement, which will attract some old players to reopen the game and A group of new players are following the works.

z0The popularity of z

is still short-lived. How far "2077" can go, and whether CDPR can regain the favor of players and the capital market, still depends on whether the developers can produce sophisticated game content in the future.

In August, an article in Business Insider Poland reported that CDPR’s market value had evaporated by more than 75% compared to before the release of “2077”. We have reviewed in detail how CDPR came to the crossroads (previous article: Using "The Witcher 4" to eat the old book, "Polish Stupid Ass" got enlightened?). The feedback effect of a derivative animation on the game can stop bleeding, but it is not an antidote after all.

However, from a more positive perspective, CDPR has also been seeking transformation in the past two years. In April 2021, its parent company CD Projekt released a new IP strategic plan. One of the six goals is that will change from "focusing on 3A games" to "3A games + pan-IP ecosystem" , "Edge Walker" It was the first visible result of the entire transformation strategy, and it worked quite well.

"Our Transformation Journey"

If you look at history, there are actually quite a few animations adapted from games. In the same year in 1989, many animations such as "Dragon Quest", "The Legend of Zelda" and "Super Mario Bros. Super Show" were the first to be adapted. The "Digimon" and "Pokémon" ( After the official translation was determined to be "Pokémon"), the two series have almost become classics that are completely independent of the game.

However, most of the animation adaptations are not so lucky, "Devil May Cry", "Angel Hunt", "Sengoku BASARA", "Reverse Referee", "Danwan Lunpo"... This long list is not without good reputation works, but Basically, it can only be short-lived, and the reverse effect on the game can be almost non-existent.

"Warring States BASARA" is one of the few works that have been serialized

In the final analysis, most of 's past animations were adapted to "make money again with the help of the game's influence", not that was implemented as a parallel IP plan at the same time . Game companies often only license out IP, so the work does not have ambitions in terms of content quality.

has seen some changes in similar works in recent years. The "League of Legends: Battle of the Two Cities" launched in 2021 can be regarded as the most successful "game-to-animation" in recent years, and by the way, " Lonely Brave " has become a phenomenon-level divine comedy among the domestic primary school students. The launch of the

animation and the popularity of the game have been separated by a long time, but it was not made to take advantage of the residual heat of the game, but to prolong the life of the IP. There are similarities with "Edge Walker" in that "it is part of the overall IP planning, the game animation content is developed synchronously, and the work is controlled by the copyright owner".

​​"Battle of Two Cities"

Of course, "League of Legends" itself is not a plot-oriented game, the animation is good, the feedback logic of the game is not so smooth, the official method is in the built-in derivative game Genting Game Open up the "Battle of the Two Cities" season and strengthen characters such as Jinx to increase the appearance rate.

In the whole field of "game adaptation animation", the intervention of Netflix, which has paid more and more attention to "IP development" in recent years, has also become a force that cannot be ignored.

In addition to the already launched "Citadel", "Battle of Two Cities", "Edgewalker" and "Dota: Dragon Blood", Netflix will also launch "Onimusha", "Tekken: Bloodline", "Splinter Cell" and "Far Cry" in the future. A large number of animated series adapted from games such as "Tomb Raider". "Cuphead Adventures" producer Chad Mordenhall said bluntly: "I think this is a revival that Netflix has set off." With the concerted efforts of teams from various countries, it has also given this batch of animations a global audience market. It is no longer like the past, which was basically a Japanese animation company changing Japanese game IP to "entertain oneself". Even Netflix itself has a vision to enter the game industry, and recently even announced that it will open its first own game development studio in Finland.

There are also many game manufacturers in China who have noticed the potential of animation. Just this month, "Genshin Impact" announced that it will cooperate with ufotable (representative works "Fate/Zero" and "Ghost Slayer")."Blade", etc.) co-produced a full-length animation, and the adaptation of "Ark of Tomorrow", "Prelude to the Dawn", released a finalized PV. Their game bases are still in active operation, and the linkage effect between games and animations can also be expected.

Chinese cultural circles often use "ACG" to collectively refer to animation, comics and games, but the connection between games and the former two has not been so close over the years. But in the future, we should be able to see more "real linkage" like "Edge Walker", no matter which form you love, it's a happy thing.