Cyberpunk: Night City Deep Dive (History, Gangs, Neighborhoods)

Night City, the City of Dreams... You would be hard pressed to find a better exemplar of the dark future of corporate excess and rampant criminality. Night City has an expansive history starting with utopian ideals and going through two wars that left great impacts on its people. This video will seek to explore that history with special deep dives into the Night City of 2020, 2045, and 2077.

Sources:
Night City, City Sourcebook for Cyberpunk (Supplementary Sourcebook for Cyberpunk 2020 TTRPG)
Cyberpunk RED (Core Rule Book for Cyberpunk RED TTRPG)
Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
The World of Cyberpunk 2077 (Lore Book for Cyberpunk 2077 Video Game)

Music Used (All from Cyberpunk 2077, OST or Radio Tracks):
0:00-2:41 - "r e l - Night City"
2:42-11:06 - "Bells of Laguna Bend"
11:07-15:33 - "The Streets Are Long-Ass"
15:34-18:26 - "Tower Lockdown"
18:27-20:48 - "Bells of Laguna Bend"
20:49-21:07 - "Atlantis"
21:08-32:34 - "Scavenger Hunt"
32:35-52:33 - "The Streets Are Long-Ass"
52:34-1:10:18 - "Friday Night Firefight"
1:10:19-1:21:46 - "Extraction Action"
1:21:47-1:29:49 - "Hanako & Yorinobu"
1:29:50-1:43:30 - "Atlantis"
1:43:31-1:52:02 - "Outsider No More"
1:52:03-1:55:05 -- "Selva Pulsátil"
1:55:06-2:02:03 - "Night City Aliens"
2:02:04-2:05:31 - "Bells of Laguna Bend"
2:05:32-2:09:51 - "Atlantis"
2:09:53-2:11:44 - "BM"
2:11:45-2:14:16 - "V"
2:14:17-2:18:56 - "There's Gonna Be A Parade!"
2:18:57-2:20:59 - "Urban Downunder"
2:21:00-2:33:50 - "Modern Anthill"
2:33:51-2:35:14 - "On My Way to Hell"
2:35:15-2:36:37 - "Wushu Dolls"
2:36:38-2:38:19 - "When It's War"
2:38:20-2:39:57 - "Night City Aliens"
2:39:58-2:41:33 - "Dinero (feat. Cerbeus)"
2:41:34-2:43:26 - "No Save Point"
2:43:27-2:45:19 - "Hole in the Sun (feat. COS & Conway)"
2:45:20-2:47:30 - "To Hell and Back"
2:47:37-2:49:22 - "I Really Want to Stay at Your House"

Intro: (0:00)
One Man’s Dream...: (1:16)
Coronado City (1994-1998): (6:26)
Mob Rule (1998-2011): (11:33)
Corporate Takeover (2012-2020): (17:37)
2020: The Cyberpunk Golden Age: (20:48)
The Fourth Corporate War (2021-2023): (1:10:40)
Survival & Recovery (2023-2045): (1:21:48)
2045: In the Time of the Red: (1:29:49)
Reborn & Rebuilt (2046-2069): (2:02:03)
The Unification War (2069-2070): (2:05:32)
Independence (2070-2077): (2:09:51)
2077: A New Corporate Era: (2:11:44)
Outro: (2:47:46)

[chesterstevens]

It's wild to think that all these stories we hear about now, like Bartmoss nuking the old net and Morgan Blackhand declaring war on Arasaka, are all the result of Mike Pondsmith and his friends playing a tabletop game almost half a century ago.

[HeyHeyForMe]

It is truly staggering how so much lore has been produced for Cyberpunk, it's a rich world... You did a fantastic job putting this together.

[digitalgurlfrend]

I don’t think y’all understand how bad I want more from cyberpunk like they put so much detail into and it’s like we’ve only tapped into 5% when it comes to gameplay and anime/shows. Like I really want this to become a big and expanded thing

[CaidicusProductions]

This came up automatically, while I was sleeping in front of my TV. I'm a light sleeper, and generally, whatever I'm listening to gets incorporated into my dreams.

Needless to say, I had some pretty awesome dreams while listening to the entirety of your presentation. I really appreciate the work you put into this presentation, it was fantastic.

[whowhatwhydoyouknow]

I love pondsmiths cyberpunk. It’s so extremely interesting. I found it at a time where I was really low and I connected with the empty cynical cyberpunk world which was also so alive and vibrant and aesthetically beautiful. The fiction we saw as kids just doesn’t feel relatable or interesting anymore, It feels childish. Cyberpunk is one of the mediums that feels real like it could be the future for our children or maybe even late in our lives. It reminds us of the high stakes environment we faced in medieval and prehistoric times which we are so attracted to including in apocalypse shows and such. And cyberpunk doesn’t mincemeat the gruesome details In how society works. So it feels relatable. Edge runners was so good and ever since the game came out I already knew the world had huge potential for a show. I really hope there’s another cyberpunk show with new characters. I’ll admit though I can only think about cyberpunk for so long until it gets to dark. But it’s one of the only few fictional universes I’m actually interested in.

[DDMN]

I am a brand new player in CP2077. Just started today. Played for 5-6 hrs. Now listening through this video at my work. Its playing such a critical role to immerse me into the game. Thanks so much

[BasedAtreides]

My big brother always had the cyberpunk table top books lying around I would used to flick through them as kid. The cyberpunk night city universe is so well built. It becoming a video game was inevitable. Loved the video 💚

[ravendelacour]

Well done. As an old school Cyberpunk TTRPG player, I appreciate the level of detail you presented here. Made me nostalgic for some of my first tabletop game sessions.

[wormspeaker]

This video points out one of the truths about 90s RPG source books. They were the life blood of RPG publisher profits. They needed to be pumped out as quickly as possible. So you end up with a lot of half-baked or even goofy lore. Basically throwing everything at the wall to see what will stick. The more you needed to expand a particular topic the more likely you were to get just dumb stuff like 90% of the gangs in the 2020 Night City source book. CDPR did a good job of picking out the stuff with the most meat on the bone and extrapolating it to make a cohesive whole which never strays too far into the silly except as an occasional treat.

[HCG]

I have insomnia and this video has helped me fall asleep countless times. Your voice is quite relaxing and the fact that you don’t use loud music or sound effects is appreciated. Looking forward to more hopefully

[javierburgos]

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I don't know how much time you saved me. This helped me fill in the gaps in my main hook for the Cyberpunk Red campaign I'm preping. Thank you

[HCG]

Not sure if you’re still interested in doing more Cyberpunk content, but I just thought of a video idea—a compilation of stories/lore of the more fleshed out and detailed side stories that you learn about through side missions and/or shards. I don’t have any examples of specific shards or good side missions to use, but I always liked learning about background lore and stories in games with lots of side narratives. Hope that made sense

[cybercruzysz]

This was an excellent history!! Many thanks. I would love for you to do more long form lore on main NPCs such as Silverhand, Blackhand, Rogue. Also, love a similar treatment covering Europe, Asia, Africa and space

[starpaladinnelaj]

Incredible video dude! This is my favorite Cyberpunk lore channel! I'd love to see you cover the Sourcebooks that discuss the lore of Asia, Europe, etc. I can't get enough of this universe and your narration of it

[BrandonJXN]

Thank God for wireless earbuds. I'm cleaning up my apartment and this video is essential listening. I absolutely love the lore of Cyberpunk 2077. Thank you for this incredible video.

[fidanza]

For someone who's fallen in love with this game, this was fascinatingly entertaining to watch! felt like I was really watching an actual documentary of a made up/fictional city and it's history! I can only imagine the level of work and dedication this must have taken!

[TheCorybonuaf]

I have to admit, I’ve watched a lot of different “deep dives “into cyberpunk. This has to be by far the best one I have seen and it has set the bar for all other videos I will watch of this type of Contant. Good job.

[skipj]

Wow, it’s scary how accurate this could be in real life. In many developing countries crime is as plentiful as described in this game. In California the homelessness has become just as crazy.

I hope policy makers can use night cities stories to avoid this possible future. If not, I guess a career as a bounty hunter might be doable.

[IIARROWS]

Thank you for your work, coming from 2020 a long time ago, waiting for 3 years for playing 2077 videogame (for various reasons, from not being interested in a videogame having experience with the original and discovering how good it was setting wise, to waiting for bugfixes, then the expansion).

Really appreciated, you deserve more public.

[TimoCruz]

this is probably the best piece of lore I've ever found about cyberpunk. I would gladly watch another hour of this with no problem.

PS: very mean of you to end the video with "I really want to stay at your house" I haven't fully recovered from Edgerunners yet despite having watched that show on release