Let me take you back to the moment I first sat down with President Rosalind Myers in a dingy Dogtown hideout, listening to her talk about the NUSA like it was the next big thing since braindances. I won’t lie, at first I thought, “Why is the leader of the free world pouring her heart out to a merc with a ticking time bomb in her skull?” But the more Phantom Liberty dragged me into spy games, black ops, and political backstabbing, the more I realized something huge: CD Projekt Red had accidentally handed us the perfect ticket out of Night City.
I mean, sure, the base Cyberpunk 2077 story was all about that grimy, chaotic, beautiful dystopian metropolis. We got a front-row seat to corpo wars, gang shootouts, and a heist that went so wrong it practically defines the word “disaster.” Night City is a character in itself — no doubt about it. Every flickering neon sign and rain-slick alley whispered secrets, and I loved every second of being a small fish in that enormous, high-tech swamp. But here’s the thing: after Phantom Liberty, a return to the same old streets almost feels like storytelling regression.
Now, in 2026, with CDPR having patched up Cyberpunk 2077 so thoroughly it’s practically a different game, we naturally look ahead to the sequel — codenamed Orion, if you’ve been living under a rock. Official details are thinner than a cyberpsycho’s patience, but speculation is rampant. And I’ll stick my neck out: the sequel must take us to the heart of the New United States of America. Washington, D.C. — a cyberpunk twist on the American capital that the Phantom Liberty expansion has been practically begging for.
Why Washington? Easy. Phantom Liberty didn’t just give us a superb spy thriller; it dumped endless lore about the NUSA right into our laps. President Myers, Solomon Reed, the whole tangled web of intelligence agencies — they all spoke about D.C. as if it were a promised land (or a snake pit, depending on your point of view). The expansion introduced us to a government in decay, to the kind of conspiratorial madness that makes corpo rat-race look like a playground spat. Don’t you want to see what the cyberpunk Capitol looks like? I know I do. Imagine filing through the hollowed-out Lincoln Memorial, now crawling with Militech guards and holographic propaganda. Picture the White House, rebranded with NUSA insignias, surrounded by anti-grav drones and a populace that’s equal parts terrified and apathetic.
Some might argue that taking the action to Washington would mean losing that claustrophobic, street-level grit that defined the original. But I’d ask: isn’t that exactly what open-world sequels should do? They should expand, not repeat. The Grand Theft Auto franchise hops cities constantly. The Witcher moved from Velen to Skellige to Toussaint. Why should Cyberpunk stay glued to one locale? And, let’s be honest, the Phantom Liberty narrative already sets up a perfect excuse. V’s fate is left open, but what if the sequel follows a new protagonist directly entangled with the NUSA — maybe a covert operative sent to uncover a conspiracy that threatens to tear the whole pseudo-republic apart? The political chessboard is already drawn; we just need a new piece to move.
What about the characters we left behind? Panam, Judy, River — they’ll always have a place in my cybernetic heart. But Phantom Liberty itself showed that leaving supporting cast behind (and introducing fantastic new ones) can be emotionally devastating in the best possible way. I’d happily trade a few familiar faces for the chance to navigate a completely different kind of hellhole. This time, instead of gangs and fixers, it’s lobbyists, corrupt senators, and the ever-present influence of megacorps that have effectively purchased the government. The satire writes itself — and it’s so painfully relevant that I’d choke on my kibble while laughing.
Of course, there’s the fear that Washington might feel too clean, too monumental compared to Night City’s grunge. But this is CDPR we’re talking about. If they can turn a single district like Dogtown into a war-scarred nightmare of collapsed architecture, they can certainly transform D.C. into a vertical maze of surveillance towers, underground bunkers, and opulent government palaces floating above endless slums. The creative potential is off the charts. Maybe we’ll get to hack into a Senate hearing, sabotage a propaganda broadcast from the top of a decaying Washington Monument, or chase a rogue agent through the ruins of the Smithsonian, now turned into a black-site laboratory. I’m already drooling at the thought.
And let’s not forget — the sequel is still probably years away (2028? 2030? CDPR time is a myth). A proper new setting would give the development team a fresh canvas, avoiding the “been there, done that” fatigue that can plague long-running open-world series. Night City will always have its place, but the road to Washington feels like the natural next step. The breadcrumbs are already there; ignoring them would be like leaving a legendary chip slot empty.
So, my plea to CD Projekt Red: embrace the political cyberpunk thriller you dangled so brilliantly in Phantom Liberty. Give us the capital. Let us be the pawn in a game of shadowy power plays, conspiracies that reach the highest offices, and sci-fi shenanigans that only this twisted version of America can offer. I’m ready to hang up my Night City leather jacket for a government-issued badge and a whole new set of moral compromises. Who’s with me?
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