8 Controversies That Have ALREADY Hurt Cyberpunk 2077

The ‘Animals’ shown were all people of colour, and a few who got their hands on the demo reported feeling uncomfortable. After all, you spend the early exchanges of the game killing faceless, nameless black men only referred to as ‘Animals’.

If you squint a little, you can kind of see what they’re going for.

Taking race off the table, juice-addicted criminals are faceless monsters, dehumanised to make them easier to kill. It’s dystopian propaganda messaging 101.

Taking race off the table is easier said than done in 2019, especially for a game with a title which is inherently political.

Now, CD Projekt Red have insisted that the ‘Animals’ are a variety of races, and it was just the starting district which caused them to all be of colour. If that’s the case, fine. It’s arguably more realistic than even the multi-racial gangs often shown in media.

They surely should’ve twigged that if they were only going to show a snapshot, they were going to draw some ire from their (as it stands) heavy handed depictions of morality along race lines. As well as the Animals, the Voodoo Boys have been caught in the blowback too.