How big is the Cyberpunk 2077 map? Just how large is Night City and the surrounding Badlands area? It's clear Cyberpunk sports a large open world, though it might not be as huge or varied as The Witcher 3's. Let's take a guided tour through the various districts of Night City, while also giving you a rundown on its history and lore.
Night City is Cyberpunk 2077’s main attraction. A sleek, sweeping metropolis run by colossal corporations, it’s bathed in vivid neon and crammed with towering skyscrapers. The city is separated into six main districts, which range from areas of decadent excess to crime-ridden urban squalor.
But where exactly is Night City located? Well, Cyberpunk 2077’s fictional metropolis lies in the Del Coronado Bay, located on the US west coast. Night City forms part of the Free State of Northern California, situated about six hours from L.A. and San Francisco. Predictably with California, the city is surrounded by a vast expanse of desert known as The Badlands. Think of it as Cyberpunk’s shrunken down, crime-infested take on the Mojave. So let's get into it, here's what you need to know about the Cyberpunk 2077 map size, and my introduction to each major area.
Cyberpunk 2077 map size: Each Night City district
Here’s what we know about Night City’s districts and the surrounding areas:
City Centre
The beating heart of Night City, the central district covers the metropolis’ Downtown and Corp Plaza areas. The showiest part of the city, it immediately stands out from other districts thanks to its glittering skyscrapers. Over the decades, the City Centre has become one of the most heavily fortified areas of Night City. You'll pay a lot more than a congestion charge if you try to get in when you're not wanted.
Heywood
Heywood is a district defined by contrast. Like the city it is part of, this area plays home both the decadent and the deprived. The northern area of the district, spanning Wellsprings and The Glen, play home to trendy skyscrapers and scenic parks. Travel south, however, and slums soon pop into view. Gangs such as 6th Street and the Valentinos have claimed Heywood’s poorer districts for themselves, such as the rundown borough of Vista Del Rey.
Pacifica
Originally designed to be a holiday resort that would rake in tourist dollars, Night City's megacorps quickly gave up on this district. Once the money ran out, Pacifica was forgotten by the elite and left to fend for itself. Unfortunately for the people still living in this bereft district, the flush holidaymakers have been replaced by gangs like The Voodoo Boys.
Santo Domingo
One of the oldest districts in Night City, Santo Domingo is also the most industrialised area you’ll find in Cyberpunk 2077. Corporations have stuffed Santo Domingo full of factories, making it a hive of whirring, smoggy industry. Among the billowing plumes of smoke, you’ll find a vibrant community of factory workers who’ve made a home in the district. Most of these working class folk live in rows of identical housing, forming the self-reliant town of Rancho Coronado. Thanks to the workers, shops, schools, bars, and restaurants have popped up all over Santo Domingo.
Watson
Watson is another district fallen on hard times. And by “hard times” I mean super illegal ones. Once home to trendy clubs and bustling offices, an economic crash hit Watson hard. Its sub-districts of Little China and Kabuki are now heavily overpopulated, while the Arasaka Waterfront area should only be visited if V is packed to the nines. With thousands of illegal shipments passing through this port, it’s little wonder Watson has become a playground for gangs like the Maelstrom and Tyger Claws.
Westbrook
Probably the most decadent district in Night City, the bright lights of Westbrook play home to celebs and the cultural elite, with many of the city’s wealthiest citizens living in the neighbourhood of North Oak. Beyond the private villas and tennis courts, you’ll also find Japantown—a glamorous, bustling area where many of Night City’s prominent crime families can be found.
The Badlands
Away from the glitz and the grime of Night City lies these vast desert plains. The Badlands are sparse, but be wary of roaming Mad Max-style Nomads whenever you venture out of the city. Like the urban jungle it surrounds, The Badlands are also heavily polluted, with burning oil fields choking the skies above the desert.
The history of Night City
Like BioShock’s Rapture, it began as the utopian vision of an eccentric magnate, though free of Big Daddies and the soggiest corridors in all of gaming. Dreamed up by the businessman Richard Night in the early 1990s, the metropolis sprung out of a site in the Del Coronado Bay, though it wasn’t called Night City when construction began.
Initially named Coronado City, it was designed to be a futuristic mecca where crime and poverty no longer existed. During the early days of construction, an increasingly arrogant Night began to receive regular death threats. In 1998, he was found shot dead in the penthouse suite of his recently built Parkview Tower. To honour its deceased founder, Coronado City was renamed Night City by the newly formed City Council.
As the city continued to expand it became plagued by violence and corruption. Large megacorps like Arasaka, EBM, and Petrochem dominated the government, while crime syndicates—specifically the Mob—controlled almost all businesses within Night City.
During the early 2000s the Mob strengthened its grip on Night City, with several major mafia wars taking place between 2009 and 2011. The era of mob rule was eventually ended by Arasaka military forces, whereupon the Corporations quickly began to clean up the war-ravaged metropolis.
Over the coming decades, Night City would be hit by economic turmoil and various large-scale conflicts. In the early 2020s, the megacorp Militech International Armaments destroyed the city’s twin Arasaka Towers with a pocket nuke, causing seismic destruction and an unparalleled death toll. A dust cloud surrounded the area for years to come, scarring the skies above a city that would take decades to recover.
When V arrives at the city in 2077, the devastation caused by the bomb has largely been repaired, and several of the city’s districts are prosperous. Thanks to the Treaty of Unification, Night City is an independent city-state that is not seen as part of the NUSA (New United States).
