Cyberpunk 2077 Finally Has the Third Person Camera Mod Players Have Been Demanding
Overview & Key Takeaways
A new Cyberpunk 2077 mod rebuilds third-person animations and switches automatically for combat and cutscenes
CD Projekt Red developed Cyberpunk 2077 in first person for a specific narrative reason. Igor Sarzynski, creative director on the upcoming Cyberpunk 2, recently laid out why the choice worked so well for the original game: V spends the story as a mind trapped in a decaying body, with Johnny Silverhand’s digital ghost inside her head, visible to no one but her. A third-person camera, Sarzynski argued, would put V and Johnny on equal footing for the viewer, instead of keeping that presence locked inside her own point of view. This is extremely valid rationale, but Cyberpunk 2077 players have long been begging for a third-person camera for an equally valid reason: The game lets you go all in on character and outfit customization, then gives you very few opportunities to see that artwork in action.
But no longer are Cyberpunk 2077 players trapped in first-person.
The Cyberpunk 2077 mod Immersive Third Person – Best of Both Worlds addresses this issue while preserving the original game’s vibe. Modder CybrDrake released this new third-person camera mod on Sept. 3. With the mod, players can toggle between full third-person movement and first-person movement as wanted or needed. It also switches automatically when it needs to — dropping back to first person for combat, cutscenes, and terminal use, then handing the view back once you're clear. The mod rebuilds V's third-person animation set from the ground up, instead of recycling existing movements. Female V is fully covered for now, with a planned update shortly incoming for male V movements. The camera free-orbits with wall collision, and the mod gives you five savable profiles to let you set camera height and distance for the various moods you want to set.
To get the mod running, you will need to accomplish a few technical tasks, like installing the various files through a mod manager (or piling them in game folders manually, if you’re so inclined), and making sure you bind a camera toggle key — a quick step, but one that’s easy to miss, and the mod won’t work until that’s set. Whether you’re familiar with mods or this is your first one, it should only take a few moments, and the install and troubleshooting instructions on the mod’s page are comprehensive.
Image: CD Projekt Red
Player reception to the mod has also been comprehensive…and mixed. Some of those contributing to the discourse on X are delighted, joking that they can finally see “V the way God intended.” Others pushed back, citing CD Projekt Red’s description of the game as specifically a first-person RPG and noting — as of just a few weeks ago, on a subreddit dedicated to modding the game, that perhaps the reason no good third-person mod existed (at that point) was because Cyberpunk 2077 simply shouldn’t be played that way. (Commenters on the mod page itself mostly just want more features in the mod itself — requests that the modder seems extremely open to implementing.) The split likely comes down to the way people categorize and experience Cyberpunk 2077: Is it a first-person shooter with RPG systems attached, or an RPG shipped in first person?
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The mod doesn’t touch that debate, but it lets you play whichever version you believe in. And the payoff shows up in many in-game places you might not expect. Braindance sequences read strange and a little uncanny from a new point of view, built as they are around the gap between watching a scene and inhabiting it. Delamain rides might just look better from outside the cab than from behind the wheel. And walking through Adam Smasher’s part of the story with a full view of V’s cyberware makes those upgrades feel less theoretical and more earned — a bit more of a perceived payoff for every credit you spent at a ripperdoc. While Night City was always worth dressing up for, now, with this new mod, it might finally be time to enjoy watching your character walk through it.
