Cyberpunk 2077was a great success by some metrics, but remains polarizing, initially falling short of its monumental expectations. Despite that, the game is a remarkable technical achievement with a powerful narrative and compelling gameplay, especially in its first act as its stage is set and unfolded are the layered complexity of its setting and lore. The iguana egg, which was added toCyberpunk 2077post-launch, was a subtle bit of set dressing that added a surprising amount of flavor for a thing so small, and CD Projekt Red would do well to expand on that sort of world-building and delayed gratification for its inevitable sequel.
CD Projekt Red’spost-launch support forCyberpunk 2077helped to keep it in the public discourse, and now with Netflix’sCyberpunk Edgerunnersand the impending Phantom Liberty expansion, the game is riding a wave of renewed relevance in 2023. Scant details exist about Phantom Liberty, with the highlights so far being that Idris Alba will play a role and it will take players to a new district of Night City. Still planned for release within the year, more news regardingCyberpunk 2077’s first major expansion should be right around the corner.
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Cyberpunk 2077’s Attention to Detail is Where it Shines
The firstintroduction to iguanas inCyberpunk 2077occurs during the Nomad path introductory quest, where V is tasked with smuggling the adorable lizard into Night City. A few quests later, during The Heist, CD Projekt Red added a well-hidden iguana egg tucked into a tree trunk on the first floor of Yorinobu’s penthouse. It sits nearby another, already hatched iguana that in-game dialog hints is not the same one as was smuggled into the city by V earlier on. If players are savvy enough to spot the egg, take it with them back to V’s apartment, place it on a table side bowl and wait around 90 in-game days, it will hatch into the player’s very own iguana pet.
The iguana egg might seem inconsequential on the surface, with its place in the game being such that many players might never even find it. For those on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the iguana egg was never even added to the game. Still, its existence adds substance toCyberpunk 2077on three fronts. First, chiefly, it adds a touch of humanity to V, incubating and nurturing a helpless animal. Second, itbuilds out the world ofCyberpunk 2077,highlighting the ruinous cost to nature that the corpo-centric, technocratic future has wrought on the world, with iguanas so near to extinction that they are considered incredibly rare and coveted. Finally, its delayed payout is the sort of reward that more games should strive for, giving players that initial rush of discovering something, and then later down the line, the gratifying surprise of another fold to that discovery.
CD Projekt Red Should Build on What Works for Cyberpunk’s Sequel
Despite many feeling thatCyberpunk 2077was not up to the sterling pedigree of the studio, it remains one of the most capable studios at delivering immersive open worlds with storylines that are nuanced and morally ambiguous. The iguana egg was deft touch by the studio, and it is exactly the sort of world-building it shouldstrive for in Phantom Liberty, and the eventualCyberpunk 2077sequel. With CD Projekt Red already green-lighting another entry in the series, there is optimism that it will double down on what made the first great while avoiding its missteps.
There are numerous ways the nextCyberpunkcould expand on the iguana egg style of in-game additions. A more fully-fleshed out pet system could be just the ticket to make returning to V’s abode more comforting and rewarding. There are other facets of the game that could benefit from the delayed gratification of the egg, with any number of collectibles, quest rewards, and dynamic events that could only trigger after a certain amount of time has elapsed in the game.The nextCyberpunkadventure is years away, but is never too early to speculate on what it might entail.
Cyberpunk 2077is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. ThePhantom LibertyDLC is due to launch exclusively on current-gen consoles sometime in 2023.
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