Night City Wire Gives First Look at Cyberpunk 2077 Braindance Mechanic

Night City Wire’s first episode gave us an action-packed new trailer for Cyberpunk 2077, and it also offered a deep dive into Cyberpunk‘s braindancing feature. It’s an integral part of the game’s storytelling and mechanics. 

In terms of Cyberpunk lore, braindancing is what happens when you get inside footage shot by what’s called a Roller — a bot of some kind filming things around Night City. Certain elements will pay high prices for a good bit of braindancing, especially if they’re full of heightened emotions and sensations. In short, they’re in high demand on the black market.

In gameplay terms, braindancing is a series of gameplay segments where you’ll live out scenes through the thoughts, experiences, and senses of someone else as you explore the city.

After going through the initial experience, you’ll enter editing mode and analysis mode where you can freely look around and examine the scene and play or rewind whichever parts you need to.

It’s a completely new perspective on scenes, not just because you’re seeing them in third-person instead of first. Analysis mode lets you scan important items and filter out sounds, then try to isolate the sources of individual sound signatures or identify important elements of a scene you’d miss out otherwise.

Your job is solving crimes and mysteries using braindances. It’s closely intertwined with the gameplay and story as well, rather than just being a collection of side quests. But CD Projekt Red’s Pavel Sasko said even the side quests have meaning, whether it’s giving you a deeper emotional look at Night City or fleshing out the story and its various themes.

And that wasn’t all. Night City Wire’s first episode teased Cyberpunk‘s expansive prologue (and “beautiful” Keanu Reeves) alongside an announcement for a Cyberpunk anime series.

Related Content

• Why Cyberpunk is rated M
• Where you can get your Keanu Reeves figurine
• What to expect from Cyberpunk’s branching prologues
• Why we’re so excited about Cyberpunk 2077

We’ll be getting another episode in the coming weeks. Stay tuned to GameSkinny for more Cyberpunk 2077 news, and if you’re just tuning in to Cyberpunk 2077, check out some of our other coverage of it in the links above.