How Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' Lucy Joined Guilty Gear -STRIVE-

Bet you thought Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was done! The highly-regarded surprise collaboration between CD PROJEKT RED (CDPR) and Studio Trigger was a bright spot in the tumultuous early years after Cyberpunk 2077's initial release. It was stated pretty firmly that Cyberpunk: Edgerunners wouldn't be continuing – the story was self-contained and it would be “one and done”.

CDPR went on to fix the many issues with the base game, shifting the critical reception from negative to almost universally positive. It could be said that Edgerunners helped keep that fire alive. CDPR released the Phantom Liberty DLC expansion for Cyberpunk 2077 in 2023, but as time went on, people thought Edgerunners was done. Then came the stunning announcement at 2024's Evolution Championship Series – the annual fighting game tournament in Las Vegas – that Lucy from Cyberpunk: Edgerunners would be coming to Guilty Gear -STRIVE- as a fully playable DLC character.

Jump forward to July 2025 at Anime Expo, where Guilty Gear fans were anxiously awaiting more Lucy DLC details, and we got the surprise announcement that Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 is in production! New characters in a new story, with the same great team responsible for Season 1. It's against this backdrop that we were fortunate to ask Satoru Homma, CDPR's Japan Country Manager and Producer of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, some questions about their involvement around the development of the Lucy DLC for Guilty Gear -STRIVE-.

What was the process of adapting Lucy from the anime to a fighting game character? Was it a challenge to come up with a specific fighting style for her in-game incarnation as opposed to how she's portrayed in Edgerunners?

The challenge was that if you watch the show, there aren't many scenes where Lucy is actively engaged in combat. She uses her Monowire a few times and performs quickhacks, but a fighting game requires a much wider variety of moves. One thing we mutually agreed on was that, while Lucy is a netrunner, her primary fighting style should focus on her Monowire, as hacking abilities could easily become overpowered in a fighting game. As a result, we developed quite an interesting character!

Fighting game characters have a lot of very specific animations beyond just their attacks, where they can express their personality. Can you tell us about the process of choosing how to express Lucy's personality in battle through her animations?

First of all, at CD PROJEKT RED, we focus on story-driven AAA RPGs, while Arc System Works is a specialist in fighting games, so we leaned on their expertise in this area. Arc System Works did an excellent job — it was clear they spent a lot of time watching the show and carefully considering how Lucy should be portrayed. On CD PROJEKT RED's side, we ensured they had access to as much reference material as possible. There was a wealth of Lucy concept art created by the Edgerunners animation Studio Trigger, which I believe must have been incredibly helpful.

Did you and others from the Edgerunners team have a hand in attack concepts? How much of it was left in Arc System Works' hands?

The vast majority of moves were conceptualized by Arc System Works. One idea we proposed was that, for her ultimate attack, Lucy should dive into cyberspace and hack the opponent. Arc System Works fully embraced the concept and created a fully animated cutscene for it. It's a must-watch!

Did you have any non-negotiable criteria for Lucy's appearance in Guilty Gear -STRIVE-? Like "she must do this type of attack" or "she has to say this specific line from Edgerunners"?

In the world of Guilty Gear, magic is a common source of power, which doesn't align perfectly with Lucy's character. We had to ensure that Lucy felt authentic and looked great within the Guilty Gear universe. For example, many of the default visual effects (VFX) in Guilty Gear are designed with a magical aesthetic, which didn't suit Lucy's cyberpunk style. We asked Arc System Works if they could adapt the effects to be more cyberpunk-inspired — like glitches — and they were kind enough to create custom VFX for Lucy! It was an amazing touch that helped her fit seamlessly into the game.

What sort of expertise or wisdom from anime production did you apply when collaborating on Arc System Works on Lucy as a guest character in Guilty Gear -STRIVE-?

We focused on her voice lines and spent a significant amount of time reviewing them. They were initially written by Arc System Works, and we ended up rewriting most of them. For instance, in the original dialogue, upon arriving in the world of Guilty Gear, Lucy was portrayed as wondering if she was simply dreaming. However, in the Cyberpunk 2077 universe, we felt it made more sense for her to suspect she had been hacked by AIs during a deep dive instead. This adjustment helped maintain her character's authenticity.

Did you learn anything from working with Arc System Works on bringing an anime character to life in a fighting game that you want to bring back to the anime production process? Any new tools, methods, or processes?

I believe Arc System Works has done a very solid job laying the groundwork for animating Monowire. If new characters are using Monowire in the future, this Guilty Gear crossover will serve as an excellent reference!

How did the decision to feature a character from Edgerunners in Guilty Gear come about? And why did you choose Lucy in particular over the other characters from Edgerunners?

Arc System Works initially approached me with the idea of bringing Geralt of Rivia from The Witcher video game series into Guilty Gear. However, I had already worked on a crossover with another fighting game, SOULCALIBUR VI, where Geralt was featured as a playable character. It was a fantastic project, and the developers did an excellent job making Geralt feel authentic. Because of this, I felt that bringing Geralt into Guilty Gear would essentially repeat the same process. Naturally, I counter-proposed a crossover with Edgerunners, as I was one of the producers of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. At the time, we hadn't announced any crossovers with video game IPs yet, so I thought it would be a fresh and exciting move — and something fans would enjoy.

For fans looking forward to Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2, all there is to go on is a shorter “Now in production” teaser trailer, but we can still get our Night City-set anime fix when Lucy's Guilty Gear -STRIVE- trailer drops at Evo at the beginning of August, with her full release expected not long after.