Cyberpunk 2077’s Night City Is Way Older Than You Think

Cyberpunk 2077 has undergone a lot of changes since its release in December 2020. Cyperpunk 2077 has evolved into a game known for solid gameplay, an impressive narrative, and an immersive world. Night City, Cyberpunk 2077‘s setting, has a long history and, like the game itself, has undergone a lot of changes.

Cyberpunk 2077 is set in an alternate future where paramilitary organizations, megacorporations, depravity, and crime go unchecked. The name Night City reflects that, but according to in-world lore, that wasn’t always the city’s name. It earned that later, even if the reason it earned that name was nowhere near as dark as the city eventually became.

Night City Started As Coronado City

In the early 1990s, the world began to collapse. War broke out across the globe, and natural disasters occurred much more frequently than ever before. The global economy was manipulated and eventually destroyed in 1994 by a group known as The Gang of Four.

After that meltdown, a businessman named Richard Night stepped in to attempt to control the surrounding chaos. He proposed building a haven, a sort of corporate utopia, that was entirely separated from the collapsing government and society he saw. Investments from three major megacorporations allowed construction of what was then called Coronado City to begin on a nearly abandoned parcel of land on the western coast of California.

It Became Night City After Its Founder Was Murdered

Coronado City thrived for four years, from 1994 to 1998. During those years, Richard Night allowed the megacorporations and other criminal organizations to spend exorbitant amounts of money on construction. He then shut them out for cheaper, independent workers who were not associated at all with the large, powerful groups.

This made Richard Night a target, and in 1998, he was murdered. The culprit is officially unknown. After this tragedy, it did not take long for the city to rename itself on behalf of its benefactor, becoming Night City only four years after its christening as Coronado City. While the urban sprawl was technically named for its founder, the irony is that the city became much darker and more dangerous after that, almost as though it were adapting to its new identity.

Megacorporations Save Night City From Gang Wars

In only seven years, Night City is under governance by underworld factions and gangs. Corruption is rampant, and danger is commonplace. The city has degenerated from a haven from the collapse of the world outside to a black mirror that reflects only the worst parts of humanity.

Arasaka Corporation, among others like Militech International Armaments, decided to take action and began what came to be known as The Mob War in 2009. Rather than being governed and controlled by a corrupt city council of gangsters, the megacorps spend the next two years wiping Night City clear of the underworld that had seized control of it. They then instated a council of businesspeople who would represent the megacorps’ interests and begin the work to turn Night City into the corporate utopia that Richard Night had originally intended it to be.

Golden Age From 2011 to 2022, Ice Age Until 2065

The megacorporations succeeded in bringing Night City into the light. For just over a decade, the city prospered under the control of Arasaka and others. But when a nationwide military conflict broke out, Night City became ground zero for a nuclear attack. A thermonuclear device was detonated above Arasaka’s corporate plaza, bringing the brief golden age to a close.

Arasaka is in shambles. In what becomes known as The Big Lie, they are found responsible for the bombing of their own property and forced to leave North America, no longer allowed to conduct business there. By 2024, the North American conflict cools down and so do conflicts across the globe, often into cold wars. Decades pass and the former continental United States is divided into two factions, separatist states to the west and the New USA to the east.

The Cold War Turns Hot, And Arasaka Saves the Day

Night City is a hotbed of activity during this period of tension, and what is known as the Unification War ends in 2070 as the New USA’s encroachment into Night City is thwarted by a well-timed Arasaka Corporation ship showing up in the waters outside the city. With a battleship a reminder of the resources and power the megacorp had at its disposal, the New USA retreats and officially gives Night City sovereignty of its own rather than risk an even larger conflict.

This gives Arasaka the opportunity for North American business once again. The megacorp even became part of the city council. Life in Night City is back to as normal as it gets, but that still means lots of crime and corruption. One thing that does hold true after Arasaka saves the day is that Night City residents resent the New USA and their militaristic expansion into their city.

That resentment can be seen in the timeline and events of the original Cyberpunk 2077 and, more specifically, the DLC expansion Phantom Liberty. While still in Night City, Phantom Liberty takes place in Dogtown, a new district that players have not been able to travel to before. A sort of city of its own within Night City, Dogtown is the product of everything that’s happened to Night City since 1994. The Phantom Liberty DLC is a spy-thriller packed with espionage, broken alliances, and political intrigue, all of which fit right in with the sordid and varied history of Night City itself.