An unofficial multiplayer mode for Cyberpunk 2077 may finally be on the horizon thanks to a massive mod, which has been in development for a number of years by one solo developer.
As the name suggests, CyberpunkMP will allow you to experience Night City alongside other players for the first time. The RPG's developer, CD Projekt Red, once had a whole standalone multiplayer experience in the works for Cyberpunk, but it eventually decided to "reconsider", even if multiplayer elements are being contemplated for the sequel. However, modder s1nger clearly never gave up on the idea, with their latest video showcasing a test of the mod that reveals some really promising gameplay.
To be clear, the mod isn't planned to support co-op, so you won't be able to run around completing story missions alongside friends. However, that doesn't mean you won't be able to explore Night City together, as it'll allow players to make their own servers and then seemingly use the world like a futuristic sandbox. For example, the creator has already showcased PvP death matches, allowing players to use their Perks and battle it out against others, as well as huge races across the city. For the latter, mod testers were able to spawn in the vehicles they wanted and then take to the streets, overtaking other players or taking a more aggressive approach by just crashing into them to knock them out of the race.
Plenty of new details were revealed in a new video by content creator JuiceHead, who took part in one of the tests for a slightly older version of the mod. JuiceHead was able to join a server with "10 to 20 other people," and noted that it worked "shockingly well," even on the older build. It's not clear if that 20-player limit might eventually get increased, but even at that, it's an impressive number of people to be able to experience Cyberpunk 2077 with at the same time.
One of the prevalent problems that the mod had until recently – which was pointed out by JuiceHead – was its lack of animations for fellow players. Although from a first-person perspective, you could see yourself moving around as normal, other players just appeared to slide around like strange, stiff action figures. In s1nger's most recent update video, however, we can see that these have been added in, which makes an enormous difference to the overall polish. The creator still hopes to improve these further, though.
While updates on the mod's development progress have been distributed in the creator's Discord server since September 2021, s1nger still hasn't given any indication as to when it's expected to release. According to the modder, CyberpunkMP is still in a pre-alpha state, and for now, they're working on making the multiplayer itself more stable. Hopefully though, it'll be worth the wait, and might be able to give us all a different way to experience CD Projekt Red's RPG.
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