Cyberpunk 2077's 2.0 update brought a lot of changes to the game. However, I think the most impactful was the revamped skill tree. I had only played about two hours of Cyberpunk in 2020, so when I immersed myself in 2.0, I was shocked to look back at the previous tree design. There were still some cool skills there, but there was no clearer build path or synergy in 2.0. I asked CD Projekt Red how this change was brought about.

"After discussing what improvements we wanted to see in update 2.0 regarding Perks, the team researched progression systems in various games such as 'Dying Light', 'Borderlands', and even 'Dota 2'," gameplay design lead Karol Matyasik said in an interview with PC Gamer. These are popular games, and it's understandable that "Dying Light" and "Borderlands 2" in particular would serve as references for Cyberpunk 2.0. But when you look at how CD Projekt changed things, what Matyasik said next really makes sense.

"When it comes to the Perk structure in 2.0, there is a clear path and progressively more powerful (and fun!) abilities, the old-fashioned design of the Diablo 2 skill tree is something we often referenced in our discussions.

The 2.0 tree is filled with meaningful choices and a large number of new abilities that encourage experimentation and specialization. I especially like the fact that some of the tricks that change playstyle dramatically are seemingly minor, derived from major nodes. For example, I wanted to slice and dice, so I opted for a monowire finisher from the Intelligence tree. Most of the perks in that tree specialize in hacking, but by involving monowire, it fit very well with how I wanted to envision V."

"For the individual perks, by looking for actions and defining who the "strong solo" or "cyber ninja" is, for example So we have always tried to allow people to role-play certain characters through abilities," Matyasik said. For many combat abilities, the "Doom" games have been one of my personal sources of inspiration, thanks to their fast, relentless, visceral, thrusting combat.

Even the animated "Cyberpunk Edge Runners" was a direct source of inspiration for the revamped skill tree. It is obvious if you look at the Parks icon, one of the first Parks in the body tree is Rebecca with a shotgun from The Edge Runners. For example, at the top of the Technical Abilities tree is "Edge Runners," a skill that, like the cartoon's protagonist, puts her in a state of rage after using too much cyberware. A good skill tree gives you cool abilities to play with and choices at each step, but a good skill tree does just that and makes you feel like you're making some sort of fantasy a reality.