‘Cyberpunk 2077’ release date: These are the four eras influencing the structural style of Night City

CD Projekt Red has been releasing details about “Cyberpunk 2077” ranging from its immersive gameplay to the decisions that led to the artistic design of the game’s setting. Players will be exploring the violent streets and alleys of Night City, a place influenced by several factors including the rise and fall of its economy through the years.

The team really wanted the world of “Cyberpunk 2077” to stand out, so they’ve developed it with four different styles in mind. This style, as mentioned earlier, is a reflection of what the economy went through and the evolution that the city is currently experiencing.

The first phase in “Cyberpunk 2077” is called Entropism, a period where the citizens have been decimated by poverty and is a time of great hardships. This, in turn, produced practical buildings and vehicles, typically taking a more subdued color, Gameindustry.biz reported.

Cyberpunk 2077 will be set on a Neokitsch setting

The next phase is called Kitsch, an era where the economy of Night City recovered from poverty. “Cyberpunk 2077” reflects this by providing the structures with a variety of hues, a sign that people has come to some wealth.

The third one is Neomilitarism where megacorporations rose in power. During this time, the gap in wealth between the rich and the middle-class grew in size, with the poor being left to fend for themselves. “Cyberpunk 2077” mirrors this by having various structures take on a deeper shade of black, with most seeing plain, smooth surfaces often coming in the form of metal.

And lastly, we have Neokitsch. The gap in wealth became much larger and the rich flaunts their money by wearing materials that aren’t easily found anymore. That means animal fur, wood, marble, and more. This is where the story of “Cyberpunk 2077” is set. When asked why they’ve placed so much work on details that can easily be overlooked, concept art coordinator Marthe Jonkers said it was due to their deeply-seated obsession of telling stories.

Cyberpunk 2077’s setting is a reflection of the developers’ commitment

“There are layers to the design of Night City and all its inhabitants, so when you drive around and you see a building that's sort of pink with these soft edges, and the windows are sort of soft shaped, you know that this is kitsch style, and you know that was built in that period of time where people had more money back then. It's telling you a story about the background of the city, and gives an extra layer of believability,” Jonkers said. While some may disregard this as mundane, this actually highlights the “Cyberpunk 2077” team’s commitment to the game, going on all-out even in the smallest of detail.

The decision is also likely due to the fact that the game has been built in the first-person view. CD Projekt Red explained that they want to immerse the player into the world as much as possible and felt that the first-person view is the best way to achieve such immersion. Indeed, the cut-scenes were even built-in first-person and have been meshed with real-time gameplay. Of course, some have been irked about this decision and time will only tell if this will negatively affect “Cyberpunk 2077” once reviews start coming in. The game is slated for release on April 16, 2020, and it's available for $59.99.