Cyberpunk 2077

How truth underpins everything on the streets of Night City

- Andy Kelly

Cyberpunk creator Mike Pondsmith describes Pacifica, a district of Night City, as the “playground by the sea that didn’t work out”. I’m talking to him after seeing a new demo of Cyberpunk 2077 set in this part of the game’s metropolis – a forgotten, lawless community built around the half-constructed ruins of abandoned luxury hotels.

“The way I looked at it, it was supposed to be like if Atlantic City had gone tragically wrong,” says Pondsmith, whose tabletop setting is being turned into an open world RPG by Witcher developer CD Projekt RED. Pacifica is very different from Watson, the vibrant, bustling commercial district seen in earlier Cyberpunk 2077 demos. After beginning to construct massive skyscraper hotels, Pacifica’s investors pulled out and left it to rot – and that’s when the gangs moved in.