Cyberpunk 2077 Update Adds New Mode That Pretty Much No One Can Play

Cyberpunk 2077's Overdrive mode is now available, and if you have the right hardware, you'll be able to experience a technology preview that pushes the boundaries of what current hardware is capable of. You'll need to own one of the latest--and expensive--Nvidia 40-series graphics cards to get Overdrive Mode working on your PC, but if you have it, expect a really, really ridiculously good-looking version of Cyberpunk 2077.

If you're still stuck in last-gen, there is some good news here as CD Projekt Red says that a measly GeForce RTX 3090 GPU can run Overdrive Mode, but at 1080p and 30fps. Alternatively, CDPR has enabled the mode on older hardware, but with a neat twist. Ray-tracing-capable PC graphics cards with at least 8GB VRAM will be capable of rendering path-traced screenshots in Photo Mode. This is possible because it means that these GPUs just need to render one frame, as opposed to rendering several frames every second when playing the game.

"Note that the higher the resolution and the less powerful the GPU is, the longer it will take to take a screenshot (between a few seconds to several minutes)," CDPR explained in its new patch notes.

While Overdrive Mode is out of reach for most PC gamers, Digital Foundry has uploaded a guided tour of Night City that is now available to watch online. The gaming tech analysts captured footage of the game running at 4K and 60fps, using an RTX 4090 GPU with DLSS performance mode enabled.

In other Cyberpunk 2077 news, the game's first and only expansion, Phantom Liberty, will be out later this year and more info on it will be revealed in June. CD Projekt is pushing forward on a Cyberpunk 2077 sequel, and has established a new studio staffed by several developers from the first game to work on the project.