Learn of Night City’s districts and the Gangs that occupy them in CD Projekt RED’s Cyberpunk 2077 RPG. And check the PC System Requirements!
Night City Districts: a full tour
CD Projekt RED looks at Night City as a living and breathing character. One of the main ones at that. This city is not new to the Cyberpunk genre. It was present in the tabletop game as well, but its 2077 version is an absolute masterpiece in terms of size, diversity and endless opportunities.
Night City is a fictional city created on a “real” piece of land in the United States of America. Or the version of the USA in 2077, according to the game, of course.
It is located in California and is a coastal city. Because of that, it offers a unique landscape for both urban and industrial development.
CDPR took the details of Night City to the next level. Every single street has its own unique name. Just like the streets in my and your cities! This is just another way to feel like you are exploring a real city.
The vertical exploration element is crazy here. The map may not be as wide as the one in the Witcher 3, but the activities here are much more densely packed.
Turn into the next alley and you will almost always stumble upon a gang doing something secret they don’t want you to know about or discover a strange elevator that will take you to a surprising place you have not seen or heard of.
It is separated into six absolutely unique districts (zones), which magically form one whole city. You will always know which region you are exploring without even opening the map to check, but you will always have the same feeling of being in Night City.
The six districts of Night City are as follows:
- Watson
- Westbrook
- City Center
- Heywood
- Santo Domingo
- Pacifica
- The Wastelands (lands outside of Night City)
Now, let’s learn a little bit of each district! I’ll open up my copy of The World of Cyberpunk 2077 to get some extra saucy details for you!
Watson
Watson is the northern district of Night City. It is split into four sub-districts: Arasaka Waterfront, Northside Industrial District, Kabuki and Little China.
This is mostly an industrial district. In the past, it used to be a place to thrive and live a good life, but after the Unification War (2070) the Arasaka corporation took control and everything changed.
Little China resembles the poorer areas, but the food, shops and night live are fantastic here. This area does not officially belong to any gang, but this doesn’t mean it’s free for you to just take a careless stroll during the night.
Adjacent to Little China on its east side is Kabuki. The area is mostly populated by Chinese diaspora. Its structure consists of tons of shady tangled alleyways with cheap junk shops.
After dark Kabuki’s black market is a place of all kinds of illegal transactions – implants, drugs and prototype cybergear to name a few.
The most northern area of Night City is Watson’s Northside Industrial District. Once a factory-prosperous subdistrict, NID, as it is called for short, is quite dangerous during the night.
It is so unpleasant to look at, so some of the rich residents neighboring NID erected shiny new apartment blocks at the edge of the district to hide it from their view.
The Arasaka Waterfront is the bulwarked island of corporate authority in the lawless sea of Watson – The World of CP 2077 book states. This is an important link for the corporation’s local supply.
There is a giant wall around the Waterfront to hide it from the view of the ordinary people. What shady deals are happening inside, is up to you to discover!
Westbrook
Moving to the east from Watson and you will enter Westbrook. This district is split into three sub-districts: Japantown, North Oaks and Charter Hill.
Japantown is right next to Kabuki, but is also right next to the city center. Because of that, it suffered some serious damage from the explosions from the Nuke Incident in 2023 when a Nuclear device was detonated in the Arasaka Towers facility, much of central Night City got destroyed.
The two most eastern areas of Night City are North Oaks and Charter Hill.
Charter Hill is a very new district. It offers great apartment complexes for corpo workers, who work hard to keep their jobs (and lives) during the day, party hard in Japantown in the evenings and go to have a night’s rest in Charter Hill.
The North Oaks is home to the most elite of society. Rich movie stars and corpo highest levels agents are among the few who can afford the luxurious lifestyle available in this area of the city.
City Center
Following the nuke incident and the Fourth Corporate War, the City Center was rebuilt almost from the ground up due to the massive damage caused by the explosion. This district represents the city’s financial and economic power. The City Center includes Corpo Plaza and Downtown.
Fully rebuilt after the war, Corpo Plaza is now one of the most recognizable features of Night City. While roaming around it you will truly feel the enormous power of the corporations that rule the city.
Downtown is, much like North Oaks, a rather new sub-district. It was rebuilt almost from scratch after the nuke incident. This area also has its double life. If you visit it during the day, it’s quite peaceful and rather normal.
At night, however, dark alleys, shadowy areas, and all kinds of dangers lurk around. Downtown is where gang members from all over Night City come to have their own fun.
Heywood
A big contrast shines from the sub-districts confined within the borders of Heywood – Wellsprings, The Glen and Vista Del Rey.
The main population consists of Latinos of Mexican descent, the book tells us. Other ethnic groups reside in this district as well, though.
Wellsprings take the middle ground in terms of safety and quality of life. The area offers newer and relatively modern buildings with mid-tier to cheap apartments. This is where “average” people live.
The Glen is south of Corpo Plaza and is the middle sub-district in Heywood. The NC government owns this sub-district and it offers elegant architecture. Not far south from the new City Hall, the buildings start to drop in terms of appearance, quality of life offerings and style.
Dramatically inflicted with poverty and violence is the eastern sub-district of Heywood – Vista Del Rey. It is very likely that corporations will attempt to place their hands on this area soon since the corpo-owned areas are nearby.
Santo Domingo
One of the oldest districts of Night City, Santo Domingo, is located to the southeast. It neighbors Westbrook and Heywood but also touches sides with Pacifica on the south-western side.
Santo Domingo consists of only two sub-districts, but they are quite large in territory. Constant change is a perfect status that best describes this district, all the time.
The Arroyo district is in constant construction. There is an old power plant, robot factories, a big junkyard and a few more industrial buildings filling up the area. Most of the zone is a restricted area, as the properties are owned by corporations.
Rancho Coronado is a self-sufficient town in NC. The corporations, who own the nearby factories in Arroyo advertised this district as the perfect place for their workers to live the true American Dream. To some extent this is actually true, or at least appears to be so at first glimpse.
Pacifica
Chaos, destruction, poverty, dangers and deserved buildings – the best way I can describe the southern district of Night City – Pacifica.
Pacifica was planned as a wonderland with modern buildings, tons of fun places to spend your money and time. After the last war, however, government funding stopped and construction and expansion were stopped almost immediately.
After the end of the last war in 2070 some investors tried to resume the so-called Pacifica Project. This was not met with enthusiasm by the West Wind Estate and Coast View locals, who have already taken control of it.
Right now things seem to hang in limbo. The police don’t want to risk and intervene, the gangs are happy to conduct their deals in this territory.
It’s just easier for NCPD to leave things as they are instead of attempting to solve any problems or conflicts. The gangs are happy with that and continue to conduct their business.
Meet the Gangs of Night City
There are numerous gangs roaming Night City. Some are large and some are small. Some occupy specific territories and guard them severely, others spread all over the districts.
Each gang has its own unique goals and ideals. Some focus on trade, others on protection. There are gangs who live to create chaos and cause destruction, while others have a more refined way of living their lives.
“Gangs are so ubiquitous in modern cities that we’ve grown accustomed to their presence – especially in poorer districts” – from The World of Cyberpunk 2077.
Episode 3 of Night City Wire showed us a glimpse of the various gangs in Night City, but for the presentation of the most famous and interesting ones in the following paragraphs, I will once again be borrowing information from The World of CP 2077 book.
Maelstrom
Occupying mostly the Watson district and northern Kabuki the Maelstrom gang members are known for violence and are a big threat to anybody who dares crosses them.
The gang’s members are obsessed with cybertechnologies and their desire to constantly improve themselves has turned most of them into less human and more cyborg creatures.
Animals
The Animals are about 3000 in terms of numbers. They occupy a lot of areas of NC but have no specific isolated turf.
The gang members usually present a high threat and are known for using pain editors, using combat drugs and they often opt to augment their limbs.
The Animals are an aggressive street-fighting gang. They frequently organize ultra-violent raids and illegal underground fights.
Preferring brute force the members of this gang often organize and participate in cage fights, duels and all kinds of opportunities to demonstrate their raw power.
Voodoo Boys
The Voodoo Boys are a relatively small gang consisting of around 200ish members only. They do not present a high threat normally but are extremely dangerous inside the cyberspace.
Voodoo Boys occupy Pacifica’s Coastal View normally. Specializing in netrunning they are presumed to consist primarily of Haitian blood.
Because of their preferred home turf, there is not a lot of proven information about this gang. It is known, though, that they devote themselves to discovering the deep secrets of the Old Net.
Most of the financial income for the Voodoo Boys comes through hacking of databanks and accounts. They constantly violate NetWatch laws and regulations. They also hire themselves out as merc netrunners.
6th Street
The 6th street gang was founded by old-fashioned American patriots, who saw themselves as civil police.
The gang respects other gangs’ turfs. 6th Street members can be encountered in Santo Domingo and Charter Hill.
In the fifty years since its formation, this gang has changed somewhat. Today their primary activities and source of income are robbery, extortion, gun smuggling and car stealing. Not very patriotic, yeah.
While not very dangerous in general, gang members often equip themselves with cyberoptics, pain editors and health monitors to assist them in their daily activities.
The Mox
The Mox is another small gang, consisting of about 200 members. They usually can be encountered in and around Lizzie’s bar in Kabuki.
Members of The Mox often augment their bodies with optimal camo, cooling systems and cyberlimbs.
The gang was born following the death of Elizabeth Borden. She was an owner of a strip club and a former prostitute. She was known for caring for her girls and treating them fairly and protecting them.
The Mox are known to have a long-lasting conflict with the Tygers gang, who killed Lizzie in a revenge-inspired action.
Tyger Claws
One of the larger gangs in Night City is called the Tyger Claws. Their turf is Westbrook and Watson’s Kabuki. The gang is known to have a medium to high threat level.
This gang’s approach to business resembles the Japanese yakuza’s one. The gang owns more businesses than any other gang in the whole city.
Abduction, torture and sexual assault are a small portion of the repertoire of the gang’s members’ daily activities and source of income.
Valentinos
Counting 6000 members the Valentinos is a significant force in Night City. They call Heywood district their home and have a say in most of what happens on the illegal side of things in this region.
The majority of the members are of Mexican heritage. They are usually considered dangerous, but are far from the level of danger of the Maelstrom, for example.
Valentinos openly display their tattoos and religious beliefs.
The gang owns many legitimate businesses in NC – restaurants, car shops, nightclubs and more. They also specialize in braindance experiences.
Scavengers
There is much that is not clear and is still unknown about the Scavengers gang. They are ruthless lowlife scum with no respect for life and ethics.
Scavengers do not follow or obey any specific philosophy. The only thing they care is themselves and the profit they are making.
It is unknown if the gang has a specific turf. They can be encountered literally everywhere in Night City.
Assault, abduction, dismemberment and mutilation are among the most frequent activities that secure this gang’s regular income and define their living style… if you can even speak of one here.
Scavengers are the main supplier of low-end illegal cyberware. You should be very careful if you decide to purchase from them. The piece you buy may have been just freshly extracted from a poor citizen and there is absolutely no guarantee if that piece of hardware will fit in your body or cause any possible functional issues.
Nomads
The Nomads occupy the lands outside of Night City. Nomad is one of the starter paths, so I will not reveal too much about them to avoid offending some of you with potential spoiler-ish material.
The Nomads are so many and spread over a large area. They are split into smaller territorial-based gangs and often are based on families and relatives that live together.
Cyberpunk 2077’s official PC System Requirements
Cyberpunk 2077 is available for PC, Xbox and PS4 as of December 10, 2020. Here are the official PC Hardware System Requirements for the game.
Minimum PC Specs
- OS: Windows 7 or Windows 10, 64 bit
- DX: DirectX 12
- CPU: Intel i5-3570 or AMD FX-8310
- RAM: 8GB
- GPU: Nvidia GTX 780 3GB or AMD Radeon RX 470
- Space: 70 GB, SSD Recommended
Recommended PC Specs
- OS: Windows 10, 64 bit
- DX: DirectX 12
- CPU: Intel i7-4790 or AMD Ryzen 3 3200G
- RAM: 12GB
- GPU: Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB or AMD Radeon R9 Fury
- Space: 70 GB SSD
The game supports all of the latest hardware features on day one. Full HDR and Ray-Tracing will increase the quality of the experience beyond the maximum and DLSS will help you improve the performance of your machine and increase the framerate you play at.
Watch the full Episode 3 of Night City Wire here:
Cyberpunk 2077’s Night City Wire Episode 4 will release on October 15, Thursday. It will reveal new details about the vehicles you will be able to drive, pilot and use. New gameplay and more will also be shown.
“The 4th episode of Night City Wire is coming next Thursday, October 15 at 6PM CEST! This time, we’ll go into details about the looks, sounds, and specs of #Cyberpunk2077 vehicles. As usual, you can expect new gameplay footage, announcements, and more!”
