Netflix have released the trailer for long-awaited anime series Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, set in Cyberpunk 2077's (the game) Night City.

It doesn't look like a winner.

We love the game and have said so on many occasions.

In July we trashed their release of the series' credits as a promotion but expressed hope that the show might still be good.

After seeing this we're much less hopeful.

Artistically it looks great and as they say in the associated inside look, that's difficult when your source material is a graphically very high quality video game.

The animation studio deserves credit for that.

But trying to read and understand the subtitles which whiz by at breakneck speed while also taking in the animation in this trailer left us with a pained expression.

We are a fast reader, have watched a lot of subtitled content, played the game, and also watched other anime so would be one of the better primed potential audience members for this show.

Understanding this trailer required repeated pause and rewind.

Viewers less accustomed to subtitles, Japanese content and the Cyberpunk franchise might just think it completely insane.

Among the many news items we've looked at but not regarded as worth raising here are reports of a shortage of dubbing related services.

Perhaps Netflix and CDPR intended for this to be dubbed but just couldn't swing it.

Or maybe they're still working on it.

This trailer is titled "Studio Trigger Version" and the animated text - both the full screen bits and on computer screens etc. is English.

In March CDPR announced that their next Witcher game would be made using Epic's Unreal 5 engine rather than their own proprietary REDengine.

CDPR haven't dumped Cyberpunk 2077 and are still working on new content, but the Witcher in Unreal reveal essentially means that REDengine is a dead end and reduced Cyberpunk 2077's development prospects.

Theoretically Edgerunners has the potential to reinvigorate the Cyberpunk property and also potentially the game but realistically?

We'll still give Edgerunners a try but expect it to fizzle.

Then CDPR and Netflix to quietly put Cyberpunk aside and focus their efforts on The Witcher.

Which is awesome and we enjoy, but it ain't sci-fi.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is scheduled to release on Netflix in September.

[ Main Image: Cyberpunk Edgerunners Trailer. Credit: Netflix via YouTube. ]

References

Netflix (August 2, 2022). Cyberpunk: Edgerunners — Inside Look #2 | Netflix. YouTube.

Netflix (August 2, 2022). Cyberpunk: Edgerunners | Official Trailer (Studio Trigger Version) | Netflix. YouTube.