Highlights

• Night City is a place of extremes, loved by corrupt businessmen and tough gangsters, and hated by many for its scum and villainy.
• The city's rich-poor divide is massive, with the wealthy exploiting their power at the expense of the poor who turn to crime for survival.
• Night City is a dystopian setting in Cyberpunk 2077, known as the worst place to live in America, filled with crime, corruption, and disease.

Night City. A place that's both hated and loved. It is loved by those who see it as a place to thrive, like corrupt businessmen, opportunistic mercenaries, and tough gangsters. It is hated for almost the exact same reason. Many consider it a place of scum and villainy, and it's easy to see why this is the case. The rift between the rich and poor is massive, with the former exploiting their power to maintain their influence at the cost of the latter. In retaliation, those below the poverty line turn to a life of crime in the hopes of making it big and earning a lot of cash.

These things just make Night City all the more interesting as a fictional place. It is the perfect setting for a game such as Cyberpunk 2077, where the stories told are harsh and encounters with corrupt, powerful people are frequent. However, not that many players may know most of what needs to be known about this fascinating city. It's one of the most ambitious places that developer CD Projekt Red has ever created and there are so many small details and secrets to be found in Cyberpunk 2077's urban landscape.

Updated on October 4, 2023, by Ritwik Mitra: CD Projekt Red turned things around for Cyberpunk 2077 in a way that not many people could've foreseen. Almost all the bugs and glitches that ruined someone's playthrough were axed, while the poorly-thought-out support for last-gen consoles was axed with the 2.0 update and the introduction of Phantom Liberty. Fans were glad to see the studio come back to greatness once again, and exploring Night City continues to be a blast. This city's history is quite rich and something that people will love to uncover once they fall in love with this sprawling settlement, with brand-new additions thanks to the release of Phantom Liberty.

18 Pacifica Wasn't Totally A Lost Cause

The new expansion, Phantom Liberty, introduces players to a whole new borough of Night City called Dogtown. Players gain access to this area after completing the quests associated with the Voodoo Boys, following which they can find out about a section of Pacifica that is somehow even more riddled with crime and debauchery than the rest of the district.

Sometime after the Unification War, there were some investors who wanted to turn this area of Night City into another corporate playground. However, the locals weren't having it and hit back with strong resistance. Even the NCPD gave up after the violence reached immense heights, and Kurt Hansen took over the chaos to wall off one particular section of Pacifica, initially called the Combat Zone before people started referring to it as Dogtown.

17 Rat Fever Spread Across The City At One Point

There's no denying that Night City is far from the most hygienic city in the world. The rich live in their own bubble and leave the poor to fend for themselves, leading to rampant crime, corruption, and disease that is slowly polluting the city. One such epidemic that most people believed wiped out a major chunk of Night City's population is Rat Fever, which hit the city in 2072.

This hasn't been confirmed in-game, but the sudden drop-off in population certainly supports this theory. Night City is full of such details, and players can learn about this tumultuous period in the series' history if they check out one of the many news broadcasts detailing out this story.

16 The City Wanted To Be Neutral During The Unification War

When Rosalind Myers tried to federalize the free states during her reign as NUSA President, the ensuing opposition against this move led to a war between NUSA and the Free States, called the Unification War. This was a war where Militech and Arasaka flexed their muscles by opposing each other and supporting the two warring factions with their own state-of-the-art technology.

Surprisingly enough, Night City maintained its neutrality during this war despite being a part of the Free State of California at the time. This war lasted for about a year before the signing of the Treaty of Unification, following which Night City was officially recognized as an international autonomous free city.

15 CD Projekt Red Hired Real-Life City Planners To Create The Area

Night City genuinely feels like a lived-in space that is full to the brim with packed boroughs, crime-laden slums, and an expansive desert where nomads have made their homes. It's clear that a ton of planning went into creating this amazing urban landscape.

CD Projekt Red wasn't cutting any corners while developing this massive city. This can be seen in the fact that the company hired city planners to make Night City as well-made as possible, which is absolutely brilliant.

14 Many Consider It The Worst Place To Live In America

Night City is a place where crime and corruption run rampant. Sure, it might be a place where dreams come true...but this city also punishes people for being naive or ambitious, with only a select few managing to achieve long-term success in this region.

So, it's no surprise that Night City has, in the world of Cyberpunk 2077, been voted as the worst place to live in all of America. Given the cyberpunk dystopia that has taken over the entire world, this proves that Night City is a special brand of terrible on its own.

13 The City Was Meant To Have A "Disneyland" Design

Disneyland is an area where different cultures, IPs, and worlds are housed under the same roof. This is an enticing piece of design that was used in the creation of Night City as well.

Chinatown, Japantown, Corpo Plaza, Pacifica, and a bunch of other areas house elements from other cultures in one massive city. This helps each area of Night City look unique without feeling too out of place.

12 The City's Birth Rate Has Fallen By Record Levels

Night City is as dystopian a city as can be. It might be a beautiful urban sprawl at times, but that doesn't help anyone who stays in this area and is constantly exposed to its hardships time and time again.

The fact that the city's birthrate fell by 7% in 2076 shows just how much toll stress and death is taking on the people of Night City. It's the third-worst decline in North America, which is pretty damning indeed.

11 Its Famous Slogan Replaced The City's Previous Tagline

Most people know that Night City is called "The City of Dreams." Various people have either crafted a lasting legacy here or died in the process, which goes to show just how ruthless this city is and how this slogan is pretty ironic in its own way.

Speaking of which, Night City actually used to have an entirely different tagline: "City on the Edge of Tomorrow." Given how bleak the future of Night City is, it's easy to see why this slogan was changed over time.

10 It Is An Autonomous Free City

Before Night City's status as an autonomous Free City can be understood, one must first learn what it means to be an autonomous Free City in Cyberpunk. More commonly known as Free States, these states are still a part of the United States, but they have more independence wherein they can declare federal laws invalid, and even make up their own.

Night City is more of a unique case, however. It is the only territory that officially owns the title of "Free City." It is officially not part of any state, nor does it belong to any country. Night City is its own entity, and by 2077, it is mostly run by the Arasaka megacorporation.

9 Richard Night's Dream

Richard Night was a United States businessman who foresaw the Collapse during the late 1990s. This event saw an immense economic crash that would hurt millions of Americans, regardless of age and status. To be free from this catastrophe, Richard Night dreamed of an ideal new city where the hopeful could thrive. To fulfill this dream, he founded Night International.

Richard Night's company managed to secure a capital big enough to start the ambitious project. When the Collapse happened, tons of corporations turned to Night International, hoping to have a city free of crime and poverty where they could establish their businesses.

8 A City Run By Corporations

Richard Night's ultimate goal was to create a city where corporations could thrive. In this ideal city of his, the government would be run by corporations. Laws would be tailor-fitted to ensure corporate growth. Essentially, it would be a capitalist's haven.

Even before construction began, Richard Night had managed to bring in EBM, Petrochem, Meril, Asukaga & Finch, and Arasaka to invest in his dream.

7 It Was Constructed In 1994

Richard Night's goal of creating a metropolitan of progress officially began in May 1994 when the construction of his dream city finally began. The Night International's project was majorly bankrolled by Petrochem and Meril, Asukaga & Finch. There's just one problem with that, though, they weren't construction companies.

Because of this, they hired the West Coast Mobs, which consisted of the Mafia, Yakuza, and other groups, to oversee the construction of the city.

6 It Had A Different Name

When Richard Night was planning the construction of his dream city, he originally called it "Coronado City." During the construction of the city, Richard Night constantly received threats against his life. The construction was often sabotaged by mobs and he received threats daily.

Richard Night's partners dealt with these issues with an iron fist. However, on September 20, 1998, approximately four years after the construction of the city began, Richard Night was shot and killed in his penthouse suite. His killer was never found. In honor of Richard Night, the city was officially renamed Night City.

5 The City Stands On A Massacre Site

Back when Richard Night was still looking for patches of land upon which he would build his dream city, he read an article regarding a ghost town where a horrific massacre had occurred. This area was called Morro Bay.

Because of its history, Richard Night was able to purchase the land for a lower price. The Arasaka Corporation was then brought in to eliminate the gangs who loitered the place to make the area an official safe place, which is needed for construction to begin. To disassociate his dream city with the massacre that occurred on the land, Richard Night and his partners renamed the place Del Coronado Bay.

4 The Mob War

After the death of Richard Night, the mobs only got more aggressive. By 2005, the mobs had become a very powerful force in Night City. As the years passed, the corporations that established Night City and the mobs who wished to control it would engage in a war later known as the Mob War.

After putting most of their resources into the war, and especially after Arasaka rained down their well-trained paramilitary troops on the mobs, the war was easily won. The later years would then be dedicated to rebuilding, revitalizing, and ensuring Night City would be a proper place to live, free of mobs and crime. Of course, that would only go on for so long.

3 The Time Of Red

Night City became an important ground during the Fourth Corporate War, which ended up being majorly played by Arasaka Corporation and Militech International Armaments. During the climax of the war, in an effort to destroy the Arasaka master database, Militech decided to bomb the Arasaka Tower, which was one of the tallest buildings in existence at the time.

This bomb was personally detonated by Johnny Silverhand, though most who had a hand in the bombing were unaware of the extent of its destructive powers. As a result, the blast killed 12,000 people, and even more in the following days. The blast caused a dust cloud and its particles caused the skies to glow a crimson-red color. Those who lived to see it called the event "The Time of Red."

2 Lack Of Animals In Night City

By 2077, animals are a very rare sight in Night City. This wasn't always the case, though. Things changed when during the second half of the 21st century, Night City became plagued with animal-borne diseases. It got so bad that the casualties rose to about 12,000 by 2061.

This caused the city council to eliminate animals, mostly birds. Citizens can still own pets, but only if they're willing to pay huge tax bills.

1 Real-Life Location And Inspiration

According to Mike Pondsmith, the original creator of the Cyberpunk tabletop games, Night City is located in Morro Bay and Baywood-Los Osos, geographically speaking. Looking at Night City, though, the place has no resemblance with its real-life counterparts anymore due to modifications to fit the lore.

In the Cyberpunk 2013 and 2020 games, the city design of Night City closely resembles the street grid of downtown San Francisco. While designing Night City for Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt Red has cited Blade Runner, Akira, and Ghost in the Shell as inspirations.