Cyberpunk 2077’s Night City Has Six Districts; Here’s What We Know About Each Of Them

Cyberpunk 2077‘s impressive demo from E3 2018 generated tons of buzz for the game, but it wasn’t shown to the public. That same demo again popped up at Gamescom, and with that event now concluded, CD Projekt Red is finally showing gameplay off to the public. Now that you should have a better idea of what the game is all about, we’re reviewing some of what we’ve learned over the past couple months.

Night City, the setting of the game, is shown extensively in the demo, but there’s much more to it than what we see the game’s protagonist, v, visit. A pamphlet handed out to those who saw the demo at E3 revealed some additional details about the game’s setting and how you’ll interact with it. We learned that Night City, which your character V lives in, is divided into six districts, with each of them representing a different aspect of the game’s cyberpunk aesthetic. Here’s what we learned about each:

• City Center: Night City’s biggest pride, this is the heart of corporations, the cluster of neon, and the quintessence of luxury.
• Watson: A unique mix of Asian cultures, it is a fallen corporate giant now populated by immigrants, hiding various bazaars and markets in a tangle of narrow alleyways.
• Westbrook: Featuring tourist-oriented Japantown, it is a place for the wealthy who like to work hard and play hard.
• Heywood: Living in one of the neighborhoods of the predominantly Latino area means you successfully managed to climb the social ladder — it’s a massive suburban housing district, with an underlying gang problem.
• Pacifica: On the other end of the spectrum, this is the most dangerous part of town, abandoned and overrun by gang activity. Separated from the rest of the city, it’s a place of immense poverty.
• Santo Domingo: All of Night City is powered from here, with its countless power plants and industrial factories, stuck in an endless cycle of modernization.

Another reveal from the demo’s pamphlet is that Cyberpunk 2077 will have vertical exploration, and that it will play a major role in gameplay. “For example, V’s apartment from the demo is located in a megabuilding with multiple floors,” it reads. “Each floor is home to many NPCs, secrets and potential quests.” We also learned that players will be able to explore the city by car and motorcycle, and vehicle combat (with destructible cars) will be possible in the game.

Cyberpunk 2077 takes place in a massive urban environment encompassing different warring factions. There are apparently no load times, meaning you’ll be able to freely explore the city both on foot and in your vehicle, even engaging in high-speed shootouts on freeways, tightly packed streets, and alleys–leading to some of the more unsavory parts of town.