Does Edgerunners Need Its Old Heroes?
Getting attached to another Night City crew feels like asking for trouble. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 arrives on Netflix on Tuesday, October 20 with ten episodes and new characters. CD Projekt Red describes it as a standalone story.
That makes this a reasonable place to start if the setting intrigues you. You do not need to finish Cyberpunk 2077 first. Returning viewers have a different question: will we care about the new people as much as the ones who brought us here?
Give the camera to somebody new
Roman Carax is the newcomer who caught our attention. He wants to make films in a city that has moved on to braindance. The character descriptions also introduce the vengeful netrunner D, a veteran called Weak and Talia, whose life connects corporate privilege with the Maelstrom gang.
Roman offers the more intriguing problem. A filmmaker has to decide what to record, whom to believe and when to put down the camera. We would like to see an action series take those decisions seriously. Watching can be a form of cowardice too.
The new crew also needs time to be annoying or funny before we're asked to mourn anybody. If each pleasant conversation feels like a warning that someone is about to die, dread becomes routine. Give us something to like about these people beyond how much losing them might hurt.
The shortest route back
Does Edgerunners need its old heroes? No. The strongest reason to revisit a fictional city is the suspicion that other lives are unfolding there. A new cast lets the series follow that possibility without spending half its time reminding us of what we already loved.
This is a case for the announced approach, not a verdict on the episodes. The original Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is an optional warm-up if you want to try the animation first. For this new story, start on October 20.
If Night City becomes the attraction, the game is the next place to go. Let the anime earn that curiosity. There is no need to treat a long playthrough as an entrance exam.
