Cyberpunk 2077’s Night City shows how the genre builds its world. The videogame, based on the 1988 tabletop role-playing game, puts players in a city filled with tall skyscrapers, bright neon lights and crowded streets. It’s a chaotic mix of luxury and poverty, where high-tech riches sit next to rough urban areas, with streets full of motorcycle gangs and skies patrolled by corporate mercenaries
The world’s visual design follows four styles: Kitsch, Entropism, Neomilitarism, and Neokitsch. Kitsch shows the middle class, where people use cyberware for looks, featuring bright and flashy buildings. Entropism represents poverty and focuses on function over style, using everyday items with a “cyberpunk twist,” like holographic displays on mirrors. Neomilitarism is the style of megacorporations, which looks sleek, simple and powerful, with big structures like those in Blade Runner. Lastly, Neokitsch is for the ultra-wealthy, using rare materials like gold and leather in its designs.
Though Night City is inspired by cities like Hong Kong, LA and Detroit, the developers didn’t use actual maps or plans. They aimed to create a city with its own dangerous personality while keeping it believable. Urban designers ensured the highways, districts, and layout felt realistic. Concept artists designed everything from skyscrapers to small props, while 3D artists made digital models, and level artists brought them into the game. Experts in architecture and landscaping helped make it feel real.
Cyberpunk 2077 co-creator Mike Pondsmith on creating a cyberpunk world.