Cyberpunk 2077 Follow-Up Codenamed Project Orion Boasts New Talent From Hitman, Mortal Kombat, Control, And More
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<p>Project Orion is still a deeply mysterious game. We know it is a follow-up to Cyberpunk 2077, we know CD Projekt Red is developing the game in North America (Boston, specifically) as opposed to Poland where the main studio is based, and <a href="https://www.gameinformer.com/2024/01/03/cd-projekt-red-not-interested-in-being-acquired-says-ceo">eventually development will expand to Vancouver, with support from the main Polish headquarters</a>. Beyond those details, we don't know much. Implications from CD Projekt point to it being a sequel, but it could be a spin-off, or something entirely different. Of note, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion)">Project Orion</a> was a study from the 50s and 60s about the viability of nuclear power for space travel. Maybe <em>that's</em> what CD Projekt's Cyberpunk 2077 follow-up will be about.</p>
<p>We may not know much about the game, but based on a press release from CD Projekt this morning, we now know some of the folks who will be working on it. Dan Hernberg is now a Project Orion executive producer who was head of production at Amazon Games, and also has history at Panic Button and Blizzard Entertainment. Ryan Barnard was a game director at Massive Entertainment and Ubisoft, but perhaps most notably, was the gameplay director at Hitman for developer IO Interactive. Barnard is joining Project Orion as a design director. Alan Villani is now an engineering director on Project Orion and worked on several Mortal Kombat titles. Anna Megill is a Project Orion lead writer with history on titles like Control, Dishonored: Death of The Outsider, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Guild Wars 2, and the upcoming Fable from Playground Games. Alexander Freed is an additional writer on Project Orion and is a <em>New York Times</em> bestselling novelist and comic book writer who previously worked at Bioware on Star Wars: The Old Republic and more.</p>
<p>We're eager to learn more about Project Orion, but suspect it will be some time before we do. For more on Cyberpunk 2077, follow the link to read <a href="https://www.gameinformer.com/review/cyberpunk-2077-phantom-liberty/so-long-night-city">Game Informer's review of Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty</a>. You can also read about how CD Projekt has no interest in being acquired <a href="https://www.gameinformer.com/2024/01/03/cd-projekt-red-not-interested-in-being-acquired-says-ceo">here</a>.</p>
