Sanboxes are tricky things. I mean, the label’s shared by Grand Theft Auto, Skyrim, Just Cause 2, and Mount and Blade – among zillions of others – but it means very different things in all of those cases. I was recently informed that it can also refer to a box full of sand, which isn’t a videogame at all but instead some kind of devilishly effective trap for children. So when CD Projekt Red started throwing the phrase around in relation to the decidedly de-witched Cyberpunk 2077, I couldn’t help but wonder exactly what it meant. Fortunately, CDP detected the fluctuation in my neural implant and acted accordingly. By which I mean it answered my question – and also filled in a few blanks about the magnitude of Cyberpunk’s choices, how close it’ll come to exploring real-life issues, and whether all that snazzy art’s actually indicative of the final product.

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