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| Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty's Chimera bossfight in action |
Sometimes, the best things in gaming take a little—or a lot—of time. In the case of Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, one specific boss fight became a massive labor of love that spanned over two years.
Two years is more than enough time to jerry-rig a small project, but CD Projekt Red (CDPR) went the extra mile when developing Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty. In a recent reveal, the studio shared fascinating details about the creation process, shedding light on just how much work went into one of the expansion’s most iconic moments.
A Two-Year Endeavor
CD Projekt Red continues to pull back the curtain on its redeemed Cyberpunk 2077 title, which is slated to receive a second anime season on October 20. According to the developers, the Chimera tank boss fight in Phantom Liberty took the team more than two years to complete. However, the studio remains tight-lipped about the exact financial cost of developing the encounter.
During CDPR’s AnsweRED podcast, the developers revealed that the Chimera tank boss fight took an estimated two years to complete and went through four complete rebuilds. The encounter with the hexapedal boss reportedly required its own custom rig, weapon loadouts, and extensive scripted survival logic for V and NUSA President Rosalind Myers, rather than relying on existing enemy systems.
If you want to see this incredible encounter in action, you can check out the gameplay showcase here: Watch the Chimera Boss Fight.
Striking a Balance
During the podcast, game director Gabe Amatangelo, creative director Ignor Sarzynski, and art director Pawl Mielniczuk explained how the fight came together. Amatangelo felt that the Chimera boss fight reached a point where the gameplay, story, art direction, and world-building began pulling against one another instead of following a shared brief.
"Sometimes we're making content that's a nexus point of different disciplines; the Chimera is a great example of that," Amatangelo said. "It was gameplay, narrative, art, worldbuilding."
He continued: "There were so many moving parts. Sometimes it was too gameplay-focused, sometimes it was too narrative, sometimes too art direction. It was about striking a balance, and I think the three of us got into it and went: ‘Okay, beat-by-beat, let’s do this.’"
Four Major Redos
Mielniczuk, who also co-hosts the podcast, eventually revealed the staggering timeline: "I think we were reiterating it was two years to make this boss fight work." He added that the encounter went through four different revisions involving changes to its equipment and weapons. The developers, particularly Sarzyński, believe the Chimera boss fight represents Cyberpunk 2077 and Phantom Liberty’s "most expensive art assets ever."
Still, that may simply be his impression of the Chimera boss fight, given the time frame and the number of revisions that went into a single sequence. But for fans of the game, the result was undeniably worth the wait.
If you haven't experienced the intensity of Phantom Liberty yet, you can grab the ultimate package here: Buy Cyberpunk 2077 Ultimate Edition on Amazon.