Is Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 better than season one?
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 is streaming on Netflix. Polygon says it beats season one, while IGN and GamesRadar+ say it falls just short. Here is the critic split, what changed behind the scenes, and how to watch this week.
Four years after David Martinez, Night City is back on Netflix. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2, from CD Projekt Red and Studio Trigger, dropped all ten episodes today, October 20. CD Projekt's announcement calls it a standalone series with a whole new cast, and the official Edgerunners 2 site sets up the premise: Weak, a washed-up legend forced to live without chrome, and D, a nomad on a revenge path that drags him toward corpo secrets. Netflix's Tudum pitched it as "New crew. Same hell."
I have not watched it yet, so this is not a review and there is no grade here. What I have done is read the big early reviews side by side, because they disagree on the one question everyone is asking: is it better than season one?
What the critics said
| Outlet | Score | Better than season one? | The main point |
|---|---|---|---|
| Polygon | No score | Yes | The ensemble and its friendships make it "richer, more rewarding, and downright better" |
| IGN | 9/10 | Not quite | "Doesn't feel as monumental as its predecessor," but still a spectacular season |
| GamesRadar+ | 4/5 | Not quite | A worthy follow-up with stunning animation that "can't quite top its predecessor" |
So nobody is panning it. The split is about ambition. Polygon's review loves the move away from a single doomed romance. It argues season one gave the supporting cast too little room, and that this time the four leads get relationships worth caring about. GamesRadar+ likes the structure too, but says it can lack the push of following one character for ten episodes. It singles out Roman, the young filmmaker, as the weakest of the four, more a witness than a participant. IGN lands in between: not as monumental as the first, still a great sci-fi show about corporate evil, with action that keeps finding new ways to make bodies explode.
Everyone agrees on the animation. All three reviews go out of their way to praise what Trigger did here, and GamesRadar+ says it is even more impressive than the first season.
The fight is not over whether Edgerunners 2 is good. It is over whether four leads beat one.
Season one and season two, side by side
A lot of the "is it as good" talk is really "is it the same team." Partly. Here is what changed, from the season one and season two Wikipedia entries and CD Projekt's release.
| Edgerunners (2022) | Edgerunners 2 (2026) | |
|---|---|---|
| Premiere | September 13, 2022 | October 20, 2026 |
| Episodes | 10, all at once | 10, all at once |
| Director | Hiroyuki Imaishi | Kai Ikarashi |
| Character design | Yoh Yoshinari | Ichigo Kanno |
| Scripts | Masahiko Otsuka, Yoshiki Usa | Masahiko Otsuka, with Bartosz Sztybor as showrunner and writer |
| Score | Akira Yamaoka | Tsuneo Imahori (Trigun) |
| Opening theme | "This Fffire," Franz Ferdinand | "10:15 Saturday Night," The Cure |
| Ending theme | "Let You Down," Dawid Podsiadło | "Watson," Petite Meller |
| Structure | One lead, David Martinez | Four connected leads: Weak, D, Roman and Talia |
The detail I like most: Wikipedia says Sztybor picked Ikarashi to direct after seeing his work on season one's sixth episode, "Girl on Fire." That is the episode Polygon points to as having some of season one's most spectacular animation. So the new director is the guy behind one of the old show's best episodes. That makes me a lot less nervous about the change at the top.
Do you need season one?
No. GamesRadar+ says you could comfortably start here, since it is built as an anthology. IGN agrees you do not need the first season or the game, but says it pays to know the world, and both reviews mention connections back to David's story. Polygon places it after season one and likely before the events of Cyberpunk 2077. My advice: if you skipped season one, you can start tonight. If you loved it, go in expecting a different shape.
How to watch, and what is coming this week
- Netflix, now: all ten episodes, exclusively.
- Twitch, free, episode one only: CD Projekt Red is streaming the premiere on its official Twitch channels. Per the schedule GamesRadar+ posted, the last showing is at 12:00 PM PT (3:00 PM ET) today. Episodes two through ten need Netflix.
- REDstreams, October 21: CD Projekt will show the Edgerunners 2 Update for Cyberpunk 2077, with patch notes the same day.
- Update 2.5, October 22: a free update with content inspired by the anime, on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. CD Projekt says the Switch 2 version follows shortly.
- Pacing tip: GamesRadar+ notes that D and Roman's story is kept apart from Talia and Weak's for much of the season, and the threads come together in the final episodes. If episode one feels like half a show, that is by design. Give it a few episodes before you decide.
If you want Night City on the table instead of the screen, we covered Edgerunners Hunted, the real-time co-op board game built around David, Lucy, Rebecca and Maine. And for a premiere where the critics split in a very different way, see last week's VisionQuest reviews. It also lands less than a week after Helluva Boss Season 3 opened on Prime Video ahead of YouTube, so adult animation is having a busy October.
I will be watching Edgerunners 2 the old-fashioned way, too many episodes in one sitting. Based on these reviews, the question is not whether it is worth the night. It is whether you want season one again, or something that takes a different swing. All three critics say the swing connects. They just disagree about how far it goes.
How we made this: researched and drafted with AI assistance. Sources are linked in the piece.
How we made this: researched and drafted with AI assistance. Sources are linked in the piece.
Original commentary based on public reporting. Not a reprint. Editorial standards.