Cyberpunk 2077 Director Denies Claims that Early Game Montage was Cut Content

Cyberpunk 2077 Creative Director Igor Sarzyński has asserted that extending the game’s first act wouldn’t have made it better, and that it was always meant to be as brief as it was. While the sci-fi RPG got off to an infamously rocky start, it has since rebounded and become one of the biggest comeback stories in recent gaming history. Despite that recovery, Cyberpunk 2077 still faces some criticism from fans, but its narrative lead clearly disagrees with some of the feedback.

It’s now been five years since the action RPG came out, but it’s far from inactive. CD Projekt Red has released new Cyberpunk 2077 updates as recently as September 2025, and the highly praised Phantom Liberty expansion in 2023 gave it a strong post-launch boost. Even before these fixes improved the game’s technical performance, though, players have consistently pointed to Cyberpunk‘s story as one of its greatest strengths. Of course, there are still plenty who think the narrative could’ve been better in some areas, and Sarzyński hasn’t shied away from taking these criticisms head-on.

Cyberpunk 2077 Story Lead Says Act One Doesn’t Need to Be Any Longer

Sarzyński took to social media on January 5 to clap back at the notion that Cyberpunk 2077′s first act should’ve been longer. While some say Cyberpunk 2077 has one of the best stories of any open-world game, its relatively short opening act is a point of contention among fans. A common criticism holds that the game should’ve given players more time to bond with Jackie before his death during the mission that serves as the plot’s inciting incident. However, Sarzyński denies this idea, comparing it to saying Star Wars should have spent more time with Luke on Tatooine before he left with Obi-Wan and began his Jedi journey.

Image via CD Projekt Red

According to the Creative Director, extending the prologue would result in a “meandering, unfocused experience,” as there wouldn’t be a strong sense of motivation or purpose before the Arasaka heist. One of the reasons this section is comparatively short is that a cutscene uses a montage to skip ahead half a year as V and Jackie climb their way to the top of Night City’s criminal underworld. Fans have often speculated if these scenes were cut content, but Sarzyński denies this, saying the team “always planned it like this.” Back in 2021, fans discovered Cyberpunk 2077 did remove a significant amount of content in its day-one patch, but a longer first act was apparently not part of these cuts.

Sarzyński also pointed to the fact that fans can spend more time exploring all there is to discover about Cyberpunk 2077‘s Night City to stretch out the story’s early moments. Cyberpunk does offer a fairly large open world, which Sarzyński says can offer up to 20 hours of content before moving on with the plot. All told, the Director says he believes the opening missions offer a good balance between providing time to get to know Jackie and not leaving players wandering around in a loop before the story kicks into gear. Of course, there was plenty of disagreement in the replies, so not everyone feels the same way.

Image via CD Projekt Red

Regardless of how fans feel about Cyberpunk 2077‘s opening act, CD Projekt Red has confirmed that there’s more story left to tell in the franchise. The latest projections suggest Cyberpunk 2 may be targeting a late 2030 release, potentially releasing around the first game’s 10th anniversary. Unfortunately, that would mean fans are only halfway through the wait for the sequel, but the devs are working on it, and hopefully, it will launch in a better state than its predecessor.

Released

December 10, 2020

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs and Alcohol