Last week brought us the stunning first proper trailer for Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Season 2, which is introducing and following an all-new cast of characters and storyline (even if we’re not leaving Night City). Soon after, some lucky fans and members of the press were able to watch its first episode before the season premieres on Netflix in fall 2026.

As explained by Gizmodo’s Isaiah Colbert, roughly 6,000 people at Los Angeles’ Crypto Arena watched the season premiere during this year’s Anime Expo event. He first described the debut episode as “both a sequel that expands itself outward, weaving a bigger, bolder, ambitious tale, while also feeling viscerally intimate and small-scale” before calling it “exhilarating”.

Elsewhere, reactions are similar. Polygon’s Ryan Epps claimed it’s a darker tale, with a first chapter that’s a stunner “packed with incredible colors, gorgeous framing, and punchy sound design”. Even if we haven’t watched it ourselves, the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Season 2 trailer alone painted a more striking picture than Season 1’s already stylish and bold presentation. Its massive success has probably emboldened Studio Trigger and CD Projekt Red to push things further, which is the ideal way to do some IP expansion while we wait for the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel.

Social media reactions are similarly positive, with some notable comments adding intriguing bits from the creatives, like comparisons to Michael Scorsese’s films when it comes to tone. Kotaku backed similar claims, adding it’s “a very different beast from its predecessor”.

Meanwhile, CDPR’s global PR director Radek Grabowski has thanked attendees for not recording any footage and trying not to spoil any surprises for all of us stuck waiting a few months.

All the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Season 2 news arrived as Cyberpunk 2077 crossed the 40m sales mark, with the rehabilitated action RPG also seeing a new boost in player numbers that has made it reach a one-year peak on Steam of 101,558 concurrent chooms.