Cyberpunk 2077 Will Let You Explore The Badlands Beyond Night City

According to lead quest designer Pawel Sasko, Cyberpunk 2077 has more to offer than the endless, urban sprawl of Night City. 

"The Badlands are the surrounding district around the Night City," Sasko told VG24/7. "Players can leave Night City and just explore that area—an area that is mostly sort of destroyed basically after all the droughts and everything that happened in the 50 years from 2020 to '77. And you can explore that, there are specific quests prepared for that, also open world content, so that's definitely covered. It's not only the city that you're visiting."

Players looking for more of an off-road experience can explore the Badlands by motorcycle, car, or even on-foot. This area poses its own dangers, including the Nomads, a gang that roams the wastes in their vehicles. If you're into that Mad Max lifestyle, you can even start out as a Nomad at character creation.

"You can be one of the nomads as a player and you can start there, being part of a family of the Nomads," Sasko revealed. "You could call them a tribe that is living in cars and they're just driving over Badlands. They're doing various jobs for fixers, and for people in the city, and doing various deals—I don't want to disclose too much because not to spoil the story."

The Badlands are not the only route out of Night City. Players can venture into the virtual realm known as cyberspace, though you'll need help from several Netrunners to get there. Much like the ruins and decay surrounding Night City, cyberspace is not a friendly locale. "Basically the cyberspace in our game is this extremely dark, grim place from the past," Sasko told PC Gamer. "The network is not for normal people, and all Netrunners can access it and only the best ones can go deep into cyberspace."

Cyberpunk 2077 releases on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on April 16, 2020.