Cyberpunk 2077’s Scavengers are Russian, and Other Russian Influences in the Game

How about an unlisted 22-minute YouTube interview with Philipp Weber? Now, that’s a treat.

This is what CD Projekt Red prepared exclusively for its Russian community.
Appropriately, the first question of the interview was whether Russian culture will be featured and referenced in Cyberpunk 2077.

Once again Philipp reminded us that Night City will have influences from a great variety of cultures (obviously, backed by a multi-cultural developer!), including people of Japantown and Haitian Voodoo Boys. And, Russian culture will make its appearances as well. Some graffiti in the game might have Russian slang in it, for example, and we might hear about Russian youth culture or Russian literature.

So, it’s quite a treat for those of us who know a thing or two about it. What if Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina has lived on to become a part of the futuristic sci-fi world? Will we meet characters who are fans of Dostoyevsky? Will we have USSR jokes and amusing stereotypically Russian characters? Philipp’s brief mention in the interview comes with many exciting possibilities, and based on how diverse and especially Slavic the development team members are, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect so! (After all, this Q&A was made specifically for Russian fans. That tells you something.)

We already know that Russian SovOil will stand amidst the corporate giants and contribute a lot to the history that defined the Night City (hint: recent wars). Philipp implied that your relationship with this USSR-influenced corporation will matter and have at least some consequences.

However, one mention stands above them all: Cyberpunk 2077‘s Scavengers, also known as “Scavs,” are heavily influenced by Russian culture! They will be listening to Russian music and have Russian graffiti on their walls, for example. To those of us who know what to look out for, we have also seen that they look like Slavic gang members visually in some of the previews (see the screenshot above). Philipp also mentioned some “nice little details” and “secrets” we could look forward to.

And I am sure there will be quite a bit we will see from these talented Polish developers.