The creator of the Cyberpunk tabletop system, which was adapted by CD Projekt Red into officially been acknowledged by CDPR with the working title Project Orion, though all other information about the game remains a mystery.

Mike Pondsmith, designer of the Cyberpunk TTRPG and its setting, may have recently hinted at Orion moving to a new location. Per Gamepressure, Pondsmith made an appearance at Digital Dragons 2025 in Poland, where he made a remark that seemed to suggest Cyberpunk 2077's sequel will take players to the universe's version of Chicago, Illinois. A clip ed to YouTube by tvgry shows Pondsmith recounting a discussion with an environment designer about "another city we visit," which eschews Night City's Blade Runner influence and instead "feels more like Chicago gone wrong."

Project Orion May Take Players To Cyberpunk's Version Of Chicago

The Windy City Of The New United States Of America

Pondsmith's comments aren't entirely clear, and he's likely accidentally discussing details that aren't really supposed to be public knowledge yet, but they're interesting regardless. "Visit" is the key word here: it could mean the game takes place entirely within Chicago, but it could also be a secondary location visited at some point in Project Orion. The latter feels a bit more likely, since Night City's long history in-universe is inextricable from Cyberpunk.

Visiting "Chicago gone wrong" would take players well into the heart of the New United States. Night City is a free city, run by megacorporations like Arasaka, and situated near the border of Northern and Southern California (two separate, free states in Cyberpunk lore). Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty has already dealt heavily with the NUSA, featuring President Myers, who becomes stranded in Dogtown.

What We Know About Chicago In The Cyberpunk Universe

Reconstructed By 2077

Chicago has been suspected as a new setting because of ments found in Cyberpunk 2077, which promote a Maglev train line going "from Chicago to Night City in under three hours." Adding fuel to the theories is the new line "coming in 2080," prompting speculation that Project Orion may take place three years after 2077. By the time Cyberpunk 2077 takes place, Chicago seems to have undergone reconstruction after being devastated during the Collapse.

The Collapse was total economic and societal chaos around the turn of the millennium, which left most of Chicago in ruins. According to Cyberpunk lore, the city is slowly recovering after a bio-plague in 2012, partly thanks to corporations founded in the 1990s, which took to salvaging resources from the city's ruins. Arasaka was responsible for a major setback in Chicago, using a virus bomb there during the Fourth Corporate War in the 2020s to stop Militech from growing in strength.

Pondsmith's "Chicago gone wrong," if it does actually feature in Project Orion, would show what has become of the city in the 60 years since. The Maglev line implies a relative level of safety, though if the state of the world in Cyberpunk 2077 is anything to go by, there's still plenty of chromed-out gonks likely to be wandering the streets.

Sources: Gamepressure, tvgry/YouTube