Cyberpunk 2077 is arguably one of the most anticipated games of the entire decade. In fact, that anticipation has lasted for almost the whole decade, as multiple delays mean that the first teaser trailer was released over 7 years ago.

Cyberpunk 2077 will be set in the vibrant and violent metropolis of Night City, in the Free State of Northern California. The rest of the Cyberpunk world, however, is also very different from the real. Here are a few key places in the world of Cyberpunk that, though players wont be visiting them in game, are sure to have an influence on Night City and its inhabitants.

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The timeline of Cyberpunk and its affects on the world has undergone some different iterations, but in general fans can expect Cyberpunk 2077 to expand upon the timeline and political landscape established in Cyberpunk 2013 and 2020.

For a start, Cyberpunk 2077's Night City used to be Coronado City, California, and isrenamed in 1998 to Night City to honor its founder, Richard Night, after he was mysteriously killed. That same year, the landscape of Californiais changed by a huge earthquake registered at 10.5 on the Richter scale, killing 65000 people in Los Angeles and putting 35% of the city underwater.

New York is also heavily damaged back in 1993 when a small nuclear bomb is detonated by Colombian Drug-lords, killing 15,000 people. In 1998, a drought ravages the Midwest, and over the course of the coming century, chaos in America causes the Unification War which is triggered bythe establishment of Texas and Alaska as free states due to their huge oil reserves and ends in every other state fighting for independence for similar economic reasons.

In Central and South America, over one million contract workers are abandoned in 2010 at the end of the Second Central AmericanConflict War (2003-2010) becoming Nomads and triggering an event called The Long Walk as they tried to return home.

In Europe, the Soviet Union still collapses, but instead becomesthe Union of Sovereign Soviet Republics, keeping its Communist character but giving each state greater independence in a similar way to the USA's new divisions. The United Kingdom falls into political turmoil as the British Monarchy and a new faction called the Martial Law Authority battle for power of the nation.

In Germany, Hamburg is bought by the Euro Business Machines corporation and is peacefully declared an independent nation in 2005. Many other European countries are thrown into chaos over the course of the 21st century. Greeces government is ousted by a military coup in 2007, for example, and becomes an increasingly aggressive force in the region, causing relationships with Turkey to deteriorate further.

In 2013, Portugal sells itself to avoid bankruptcy, while the next year Vatican III is established with the neo-Catholic reformation, abolishing celibacy and allowing female priests. As a result, new conservative sects spring up worldwide. However, the Eurodollar, also called "eddies", becomes the main currency in both Europe and across the world in everywhere outside of the Soviet Sovereign Republics. This is the currency used in Night City.Under this economic union, thenon-Soviet European nations form the European Community.

Japan is one of the biggest military and economic powers in both Asia and the world of Cyberpunk at large. The mega-corporation Arasaka is established in Tokyo and dominates much of the new third world, which now includes America. In 2020, Arasaka began developing its own private army, and during the following Fourth Corporate War, the Japanese government nationalized the corporations' assets within its control to facein the international community, but was unable to reign in the company abroad.

China regains Hong Kong from Britain in 1997 but subsequently loses it to a biological weapons attack. By 2045, Hong Kong is enclosed within a 100-foot wall in order to stop the disease caused by the attack from spreading. It becomes a central base for Alt Cunningham, once girlfriend of Keanu Reeves character Johnny Silverhand, who by then has become a powerful AI. The Second Corporate War takes place between 2008 and 2010 in the South China sea, which destroys millions of lives in the region and causes a huge refugee crisis.

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In 1997, an event called The Meltdown takes place in Libya, which is covered by a radioactive cloud that also affectsAlgeria and Tunisia, temporarily halting the Islamic Movements. Risk tourism becomes a fad among Europes rich, though they avoid Algeria, dubbed the most dangerous country in the region. By 2019, an Islamic fundamentalist movement reemerges in Algeria after the country suffers considerably as a satellite state of the European Community.

New Zealand becomes host to the Papua New Guinea government in exile when Indonesia invades the country, renaming it East Irian Jaya. In 2010, experimental nano-tech designed to help clean up radioactive waste in Southern Australia gets out of control, taking over huge parts of the desert.

Australia's failure to recognize Aboriginal land causes both protests in the country and boycott from abroad, including New Zealand. Drought hits Adelaide,Australia in 2016, exacerbated by the pollution in the remaining water supply. Arasaka funds a desalination plant so that the Australians can make sea water potable, but in accepting their offer the Australians increase the corporation's influence over their nation.

Cyberpunk 2077 may be set in Night City, but there's no doubt the wider world will have a huge impact on what players can expect from the metropolis. Fans of Cyberpunk will know that nations themselves are increasingly less relevant than mega-corporations, making the far-reaching influence of companies like Arasaka felt all over the world. As a result, the world of Cyberpunk is very multicultural, with a particularly strong Japanese influence.

Furthermore, players can expect to see characters from all over the world who have set up new lives in Night City. With constant refugee crises as disasters and droughts devastate regions annually, Night City is sure to be as diverse as it is divided. For fans of Cyberpunk who want to find out more about the world and timeline of Cyberpunk at large, they can turn to the sourcebooks released for the table top games to which CD Projekt Red's upcoming title is a sequel. It remains to be seen how closely the studio sticks to all the details, but fans can be confident that the world of Cyberpunk will likely feel at once freshand strangely familiar.

Cyberpunk 2077launches November 19 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One, with PS5, Stadia, and Xbox Series X versions also in development.

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