Look, let's be honest. On October 15, key production staff from CDPR and Studio Trigger made a trip to South Korea to drop some juicy details on Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2, which drops on Netflix on October 20, complete with an exclusive screening of the very first episode.

Without dropping any spoilers, let's just say the premiere of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 is absolutely mind-blowing. The art style has seen a staggering leap forward—hell, call it a bloody revolution. The gore showcased in earlier trailers is rendered even more starkly here, and certain sequences boldly throw out the traditional art style entirely in favour of media-art-inspired flair that leaves a lasting impression.

Yoshiki Usa, Representative Director and Vice President of Studio Trigger who served as executive producer and writer for the first season and returned as executive producer and writing collaborator for the sequel, pointed out at the event that "the core strength and selling point of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 is undoubtedly its art style." Usa urged fans to keep a keen eye on the 90s-inspired aesthetics crafted by director Ikarashi and designer Kanno. True to those words, that nostalgic 90s look forms the bedrock of the show, punctuated by occasional stylish flourishes that stand out as the sequel's most striking feature. One of the main protagonists, Roman, insists on lugging around an old-school camcorder in a cyberpunk dystopia drowning in cutting-edge BDs and video recorders—a cheeky directorial touch that surely elevates the overall presentation.

Next up, let's talk about the narrative pacing. The first season of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners carried the heavy burden of dragging newcomers—those who hadn't even touched the source game, Cyberpunk 2077—up to speed on the lore. To pull that off, the storytelling was kept fiercely linear, crammed with exposition about the cyberpunk universe. Perhaps that is why David was practically the only major character given any real spotlight in the premiere.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 sheds that baggage right out of the gate, mostly because the vast majority of viewers have already binged the first season. That gives the creators plenty of breathing room to focus squarely on character-driven drama. Take the main promotional posters: season one shoved David and Lucy front and centre while relegating everyone else to supporting fodder, and aside from Rebecca, that is pretty much how their actual screen time shook out. But the sequel boldly flaunts a four-protagonist setup right on the official poster, effectively doubling the main cast.

That reduced burden of world-building exposition is immediately evident in the first episode. While we are keeping things strictly spoiler-free, the premiere wastes no time introducing all four protagonists—and we are not talking about fleeting background cameos either, but substantial screen time. There is Wick Kingsley, a towering middle-aged bloke; D, who gives off an oddly Sasuke-esque vibe; Talia, hailing from the Maelstrom gang; and the internet's current obsession, little Roman. The premiere hammers it home with absolute clarity: every single one of them shares the spotlight.

Finally, the element we are most buzzing about is Maelstrom. Sure, Maelstrom is practically synonymous with cyberpunk street gangs, but let's be real—they were criminally underutilised in both the original game and the first season of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. In the game, aside from the Brick-and-Royce encounter, they were largely brushed off as third-rate goons, serving little narrative purpose beyond kidnapping monks to slap unwanted cyberware on them. In the first anime season, they were basically extras, save for a mid-season raid. Since one of the main protagonists, Talia, rolls with Maelstrom this time around, we are crossing our fingers for a much deeper dive into their twisted culture.

Speaking of Talia, let's unpack a rather peculiar detail: for a card-carrying member of Maelstrom, the aesthetic is dead wrong. As established lore dictates, joining Maelstrom requires carving out your optic nerve and replacing it with their signature cybernetic ocular implants. Yet Talia rocks jaw-line cyberware while keeping a completely natural pair of eyes. Of course, they could easily be top-tier custom implants, but visually speaking, there is not a single glowing red lens in sight.

CDPR producer Satoru Honma admitted that Talia's design sparked massive internal clashes with the team at CDPR. He clammed up on specifics to avoid spilling spoilers, but noted that several alternative designs existed before they settled on this one. Honma even dropped the teaser that Talia is not a "100 percent pure Maelstromer" but rather a "half-baked Maelstromer," hinting at some juicy internal gang drama. For fans craving a proper, gritty exploration of Maelstrom, this is music to our ears.

Rounding things out are the themes of "family" wrapped in that signature grim, grimy, and oppressive atmosphere. Honma revealed that "family is a pretty crucial theme" in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2. Even in the promotional materials released so far, we see hints that Wick and Abida used to be an item, while D hails from a nomad clan where the concept of family is practically religion. The poster itself groups the four characters together with a distinct domestic vibe. If David found a twisted sense of belonging in Maine's crew back in season one, these four look poised to carve out a very similar dynamic.

The real question, though, is what kind of bloody tragedy unfolds when these themes crash head-on into the dark, dingy, menacingly sticky atmosphere of the show. Happy endings are rare enough in the cyberpunk universe, and life is infinitely harsher for those running on the edge. Then again, that is just our two cents—we will all have to wait for the full anime drop on October 20 to find out for sure.

All in all, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 is shaping up to be the absolute pinnacle of the sprawling Cyberpunk 2077 universe, bridging the original game and the previous anime masterpiece. Visuals, storytelling, character charisma, world-building—it ticks every single box. If we had to slap a score on just the first episode... well, we aren't a traditional film or anime review outlet so our authority is questionable, but that just means we can pull numbers out of thin air. We are giving it 110 out of 100.