Looking back on the narrative of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners always reminds me how lackluster the world and stakes of 2077 could be, and how it seldom lived up to the potential of its very raw and very heavy subject matter. It showed us a hyper-corporate Earth in which capitalism had taken over the world and destroyed it countless times over. Yet only a handful of quests truly dug into this deeply, and it wasn’t until its Phantom Liberty expansion that it earned the right to call its titular genre home.

Edgerunners was superior at depicting the everyday life of normal people trying to survive in Night City, and how the tragic death of those closest to you, like the mother of protagonist David Martinez, only matters if money can be made from their decaying remains. Everywhere you look, there is an advertisement trying to sell you something or a corporation trying to kill you, and it can be hard to trust anybody who walks the streets of Night City because they too know just how ruthless one has to be to survive.

Dragging Cyberpunk 2077 aside, it’s still one of my favourite games of the past decade. In recent years, it has come into its own and offers a story and world that nothing else can.

2077, on account of being an open world RPG where you can poke and prod at everything, did an admirable job of presenting this fictional reality, but fell short at digging into it because it had to make our character feel like a morally complicated badass the entire universe revolved around.

But Edgerunners is simply one of many stories within a world that will continue onward long after its tale has been told. Another legend destined to be honoured by wayward souls amidst the Afterlife and nothing more. From a single teaser alone, Edgerunners 2 is positioned to carry on that legacy in spectacular fashion.

Edgerunners 2 will be directed by Kai Ikarashi with character designs by Kanno Ichigo. As for the narrative, it will once again be helmed by Bartosz Sztybor and Masahiko Otsuka. The dream team is back together again.

Meet The Characters Of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2

CD Projekt Red describes Edgerunners 2 as a story of “family, obsession, legacy — and how your lens reflects the stories of the people around you.” It once again seems like a narrative doomed to tragedy as we follow the trials and tribulations of four unique new characters that want to make their mark on Night City before it’s too late, or perhaps even make it a better place when all is said and done.

I’ve always viewed Cyberpunk as a world where the villains have already won, and it would take everything short of total nuclear annihilation to enact any form of true societal reform and start again. Capitalism is so entrenched that all anyone can do is figure out a way to eke out an existence within its confines, which is why the fragments of hope found within these stories are so poignant. The only way to escape is to leave it all behind, much like Lucy did in the first season.

As for the main characters, I’ve broken them down individually below, pulling from both the official synopsis and a bit of my own spitball theories. Both are equally valid, I promise.

  • Weak — Previously known as the ‘King’ and one of the finest edgerunners in all of Night City, Weak now struggles to live on in the shadow of his former glory. Judging from the trailer, it appears that Weak is stuck in a state of very violent cyberpsychosis, a common theme amongst the cast this time around.
  • D — This handsome fellow is an experienced Snake Nation netrunner who is seen to flip multiple vehicles and murder people with his mind in the trailer, and will embark on a vicious mission of revenge throughout the ten episodes.
  • Roman — I have never seen a character more destined to die in the final episode in my life. Roman is a young boy who is obsessed with cinema, and wishes to bring a version of film back that has long been abandoned in favour of braindances. But as he begins documenting the truth, he soon comes to terms with how violent the real world truly is.
  • Talia — As a former member of Maelstrom, Talia was raised in corpo towers and is wrought with myriad augmentations. She has clearly lived a hard life, but strives to remain independent in a world full of factions known for bitter betrayal.
  • Coming Soon — The official website has a fifth slot for the cast of characters that I imagine will be filled closer to the Fall 2026 release, teasing that we still have a lot to see when it comes to Edgerunners 2.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 Is All About Family, Legacy, And Revenge

From Roman’s character alone, I can already see Edgerunners 2 telling a story about how the creation and consumption of art made by humans and for humans is important to every facet of our existence, lest we succumb to never-ending piles of capitalist drivel designed to make sure the desire to create, critique, and feel emotions is taken away from us. With his old camcorder in hand, Roman feels like a faint flame of a new generation clinging to an admirable ember of hope that the world he calls home will one day get better.

Unfortunately, he will be surrounded by characters who have already been chewed up by Night City and spat back out, and now their only desires revolve around legacy, revenge, and finding a way to leave this world behind and not be forgotten. David Martinez had his dream to become a legend, while Roman wants to tell stories about these enigmatic folks before unfair circumstances have forced them to an early grave. As I said, this already sounds like it’s going to be a tearjerker for all the right reasons.

I adore the brief lo-fi images we catch from Roman’s camcorder in the teaser trailer and how they present the normalised violence of Night City in such a darker, more pessimistic light. It comes from the perspective of a young mind who deserves better from the world, but it only has bloodshed and corruption to give.

Perhaps his home videos will become a harsh lesson for the masses about how far cyberpsychosis can push normal human beings to the edge of existence, but also a sign that with the right company and the right vision, there is a way out of the darkness. It won’t come without tremendous loss, but it’s this faint light at the end of the tunnel that made the original Edgerunners so instantly iconic.

It was willing to kill off the characters we hold dear as it knew existence meant something, no matter how fleeting. In Night City, a place that offers nothing to everyone, holding tight to something worth fighting for is paramount, even if it kills you.

I can already picture Roman’s camcorder continuing to roll even as the bodies of him or his friends sit lifeless on the floor, emphasing how even in death our presence is doomed to be commercialised.

I’m spitballing a lot here, but the fact that a single teaser has ignited my imagination with such ferocity is proof that CD Projekt Red and Studio Trigger are once again poised to produce another masterpiece. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 comes to Netflix later this year.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2

Showrunner Bartosz Sztybor Directors Kai Ikarashi Writers Bartosz Sztybor, Kanno Ichigo, Masahiko Otsuka Powered by Expand Collapse