(Note: This series is a photo-based travelogue set in Night City, the fictional metropolis of the game Cyberpunk 2077. It assumes an in-universe voice as I play through the game’s story, coinciding with the release of the new Phantom Liberty expansion for the game.)

Night City’s named after a man, not a time, but you can’t deny the city really comes alive after the sun goes down. Corpo-rats fresh off the grind shuffle in throngs to restaurants, bars and clubs to drink their stress away or to sneakily poison rivals. Meanwhile, gangoons accost unlucky and unaccompanied gonks stupid enough to roam the streets alone at night.

Night City’s clubs are imported from another planet. As strobe lights pound colors you didn’t even know existed directly into your optics and the music thrums along like restless San Andreas, you can’t help but feel escaped from urban hell – though what one escapes to is up in the smoggy, smokey air. There are a million such clubs in NC, and the amount of mudslinging between them would make Arasaka and Militech blush. It’s not uncommon to hire a merc to do a little sabotage in a rival club during business hours – though, depending on who you contract out, you might find your operative of choice passed out on a barstool or in a private booth with a joy-toy.

Night City’s neon does a great job of illuminating the shadows. Sometimes, though, you’d rather not see what goes on in the dark. The city won’t let you close your eyes to it – it burns its way into the senses and lingers, itches.

Good night, Night City.

Thumbnail by Conner Dejecacion, Design by CD Projekt Red