According to Guru3D.com, Cyberpunk 2 creative director Igor Sarzynski has officially debunked the persistent myth that Cyberpunk 2077 used its elevator rides to hide loading screens. Sarzynski made the clarification in a public post on Bluesky, explaining that the game’s proprietary REDengine technology allowed for seamless traversal of Night City and entry into large interiors without such tricks. He argued that if loading were needed for small elevator transitions, it would be massively required for the game’s bigger area shifts, which don’t happen. Despite defending REDengine’s capabilities, Sarzynski reaffirmed that both Cyberpunk 2 and The Witcher 4 are now in development using Unreal Engine 5. The shift is a strategic move to free the studio from the resource drain of maintaining its own engine technology.
So, about those elevators…
Look, this myth was everywhere after launch. People were convinced those awkwardly long elevator rides were a clever mask for the game struggling to load the next floor. But Sarzynski’s point is technically sound. Cyberpunk 2077 could stream an entire district while you were driving through it. The idea that it would need to hide a load for a tiny apartment interior? It doesn’t really add up. The seamless entry into a massive building like Konpeki Plaza is a far bigger technical feat than any elevator transition. Here’s the thing: the myth probably persisted because those elevator moments felt like loading screens. They were slow, you were stuck in a box, and the immersion broke. But technically, it seems they were just poorly paced set-dressing, not a hardware crutch.
The real story is the engine shift
This is where it gets more interesting. Sarzynski is basically doing two things at once: praising the old REDengine for what it achieved, while firmly closing the door on its future. And you can see why. Building and maintaining a AAA game engine is a monstrous task that diverts huge amounts of talent and time. For a studio that wants to focus on crafting massive RPGs, that’s a tough trade-off. So the move to Unreal Engine 5 isn’t an admission of failure; it’s a pragmatic business decision. Use Epic’s constantly updated toolchain, leverage their support, and let your developers focus on content and story. It makes total sense on paper.
But what about performance?
Now, this is the big question for PC gamers, right? We’ve seen some Unreal Engine 5 titles struggle with stuttering and heavy demands, even on powerful hardware. Can CD Projekt Red, famous for its deep optimization patches, tame that beast? They haven’t disclosed their plans yet, and that silence is probably feeding the community’s anxiety. The promise of Unreal Engine 5’s features like Nanite and Lumen is incredible, but the delivery has been… uneven. The studio’s reputation is on the line here. They fixed Cyberpunk 2077; now they have to prove they can ship a polished Unreal Engine 5 game from the start.
A new era for CDPR
So what does this mean? It signals a maturation for CD Projekt Red. The era of the in-house engine, a point of pride and technical identity, is over. The future is about being world-class game makers using world-class tools. It’s a bet that the efficiency gains will outweigh the loss of proprietary control. For us players, the proof will be in the gameplay. If Cyberpunk 2 delivers that same dense, seamless world—but with more stability and even richer detail—no one will miss the REDengine. But if it launches with the technical woes of other UE5 games? Well, that “focus on games, not engines” line won’t be much comfort. The pressure is officially on.
