They don't have kitchens or kitchenettes because, if i recall correctly, in-lore most food is pre-packaged and processed and doesn't need to be prepared, so most low end and even mid range apartments don't have kitchens. Usually only the higher end houses and apartments have kitchens to prepare real food. Which is then probably prepared by a professional high class chef. Edit: That's why V only has like a microwave to heat the food up.
Exactly, and once you start travelling outside of NS, you notice more and more living areas WITH kitchens as they do not have built in vending machines. I can almost imagine, inside the city, all of those vending machines are supplied by some kind of underground/floor conveyor system as I haven't seen anyone restocking them (kidding ofc about the lack of little details in game like that)
You are rigjt bro. If you read all the shards and intel like me you can know a very interesting lore. They don't have real food anymore. All Foods by Biotechnica make meat from insects and worms
@@temodeart I thought of this too, but I also think from what I remember Judy's flat is in a rather dated building and I think it'd be reasonable to expect kitchens in older places. like old mantelpieces (or those weird large vents with iron grids) in 19th century houses or tiled stoves in tenement houses
I agree. It's part of what I loved about the Takemura mission series, is him giving his thoughts on the Kabuki district, coming from Japan itself, and just being a generally surly grump about it.
Local Hong Konger here, and I can tell you that I was blown away when I first opened the game. The buildings in Little China feels like they could actually belong in the real world, with the details in the 2-3 story buildings with clothes being dried on the windows and the canopies sticking out looks and feels just authentic, and the ambience of the footpaths at night matches my experiences real life. And the feeling that you’re surrounded by corporate high-rises intertwining and leaving just a little room to breathe is captured just right. Looking outside, seeing buildings covering the horizon, neon lights going as far as your eyes could see lighting up the entire street, I could go on and on about this game. Kudos to the environment artists, the game may be buggy, but the map they built is truly a masterpiece.
Been to HK twice, been to Bangkok, been to Seoul…I can absolutely understand and support you view! It felt like HK in the Blade Runner Universe. Absolutely stunning and deeply immersive! I get the shivers every time I enter Night City!
V's apartment is one of the more 'Luxury" ones in the building, bought with money from gigs V did with jack at the prologue montage scene. (And Jack bough the superbike with his share) You actually got to visit other "standard" versions, in sidequests. And it is much more cramped and uncomforatble.
Night City is mind blowing. I can’t even begin to imagine how someone would go about designing something like this for a video game. There is so much detail and density everywhere.
It could be seen as one of the reasons cyberpunk went so poorly. So much effort went into Night City and it's visuals that the gameplay suffered immensely.
@@KA1N3R As far as I know that may have been the case for the most current build but apparently the initial project was canceled several times so who's to say how much progress was ever made to begin with?
Fellow architect here - great video! I actually like that there's no kitchenette in the megablock apartments - the lack of ability for people to cook their own food shows how food has become commoditized and accessibly mainly through vending machines and street stalls. Cooking, much like anything else, becomes a luxury.
I find it surprising how few people have picked up on the fact that the cyberpunk universe was a vision of the future created by Mike Pondsmith as he saw it in the eighties. Hence, why everything has a sort of Eighties-futurism vibe to it.
of course it's based on that - case in point: the original pen & paper table-top RPG rulebook is part of the bonus-content within the Cyberpunk 2077 directories (STEAM Version) xD
Going off of the anime and some trailers, V's apartment isn't meant for a single person, but likely a family unit. The workshop area might be a repurposed bedroom while the large open area in the center is to lay out extra cots for the kids.
Im an Architectural Student from Germany and since i found ur channel about 2 years ago, i always loved ur videos. Sometimes i find myself just roaming the world of Different games and just looking at things and thinking about how this and that fits into this world(also in Cyberpunk). Your Videos also played a part in my decision to become an Architect and i just want to say that i was basically never good at anything in school and i was always average in everything. But i think i found the right thing for me now, sometimes i spend 12+ hours a day just designing buildings and thinking about Architecture all day. So i wanted to say thx man for the inspiration u give to me :D
I enjoyed what I played but the bugs aren't the real problem with this game: ua-cam.com/video/K7JGQ3sCIl0/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/_CymqHdNYkg/v-deo.html ua-cam.com/video/bexA1Oolp0k/v-deo.html It could've been a masterpiece, instead we got a game that only just borders on being good.
Even without the bugs it's a mess of cut and half baked features and bad choices. Like shoehorning in Keanu Reeves 6 years into development just to have a celebrity. Very disappointing.
15 minutes, actually 10, seems like way too little time to do this city justice. I would gladly watch a series of Architect Reviews on each of the major zones and locations and how even random encounters fit into this world (what the NPCs speak about, the crashed cars you find, the notes) as they add so much to the authenticity of NC. PS. Speaking of authentic worlds outside SC, how about reviewing worlds in RDR2, or Dying Light, or AC series?
What blew me away about the design of NC was how seamless the transition between the different areas was. There wasn't any dividing line where one area transitioned into another beyond the map borders. Traveling inwards from Pacifica was the best example of this for me, there wasn't a moment in the drive that you could definitely state that *this* spot is where Pacifica ended and the next zone began. The architecture and map design blended wonderfully and did an amazing job at presenting itself as all one city instead of separate areas inside one city border.
In the artbook it's said that megabuildings were supposed to be these extra housing projects, supplying everything a person might need within it. However it became more profitable to simply cram and forget people instead. So presumably the apartment size makes sense as a relic of the original vision, as does the relatively good design. To me the story of megabuildings reminds me quite a bit of soviet worker neighbourhoods, many designed with a similar original intention, only to end up forgotten and neglected, slowly reaching ruin.
Cyberpunk 2077 was the only game I've ever player where I actually just walked through the environment to look at architecture. There are so many fascinating places in Night City.
@@Danickas0Haha same here, I spend hours of "playtime" just photographing every inch of the city because there's just so many interesting sights and stunning vistas. It's almost unbelievable. No game-city yet even remotely compares to it... the closest would be the London of "Watch Dogs: Legion" in terms of detail and unique structures, but it's definitely not as impressive.
I think the main design decision that led to much of the "spaghetti" was the idea that the city should have levels, verticality. So many times when walking around the city, if you look up, you see more roads, down, footpaths or forgotten streets.
Totally, the lower levels were the most populated, for the lower class. Then going up meant you have a better lifestyle, where the elite lives on the top with their flying vehicles. Myabe that's why V room is so spacious and on the upper levels, almost there hitting the major leagues but still from the low class.
The metro system and a section of highway was made difficult to access and this part of the game would have been the best way to showcase the verticality of Nigh City.
@@Magmakojote Exactly. And Mercs usually earn quite a bit of money, but burn it in an instant on rent and constant upgrades of their tech and gear for the next, bigger run.
pretty sure that's the case, no idea on the other life path's explanation but in the nomad one you smuggle a live iguana into the city and it's worth a fuck ton which would explain how V gets to lease a nice apartment, also i'm guessing V always needs to do gigs to make ends meet because as soon as they get knocked out of commission after the intro heist for a week or two you get an e-mail saying your rent is past due
I actually find the architecture of Night City breathtaking and exciting. Having so many people and things packed into such a small area makes the place seem genuinely alive and energetic. I lived in Bangkok for a number of years and it's similar to the explosion of building in Bangkok and the huge number of people and things to see and do in each area.
That was a welcome surprise, and a welcome feat of architectural design. You had the same view except from a throne of opulence: it felt like you had achieved *your* dream, not Johnny's, not the antagonist's, and not compromising for others.
Is it possible that, since those apartments are made by corporations, they didn't bother with a kitchen on purpose to force people to buy from the vending machines?
@@Dumb-Comment You also have to remember that nearly all plant and animal life has been wiped out in the Cyberpunk universe. The only food the majority of people can afford are processed foods as it's far too expensive to get stuff fresh from a market. Have you noticed that all the fancy apartments that you visit have kitchens while everything else has vending machines? Only the rich can afford to have their food made from scratch.
The upper management as a whole of CDPR might be fucked up, but the art teams are surely well organized judging by the fact that they managed to put such a gigantic and beautiful city together. Night City will be remembered as a world-building masterpiece in the history of video games.
Night city is just getting started. Don’t start saying what it will be remembered for yet. I think it will be remembered as the best game of all time when they are done. Just you wait
In the end its always the poor artists that got caught up in the mess due to the same ol greedy upper management. As an artist myself, the concept characters, environment or vehicle design took alot of effort to make with each of them spent decades mastering their designing skills. So big props to them
@@MattyP650 yeah sure They already have moved most devs to the Witcher 4. It may not be remembered as a trash game, but it will NEVER be considered the goat.
You know I really agree. I so loved blade runner for the world it's in. I love this game because it makes me feel like I get to explore more of that world. There's something very special about it
Also you know what's insane? I just watched there will be blood for the first time this morning and it's amazing that your profile is Daniel Plainview lol
Its a shame they didn't include a functional public transport system. It would have been fun to just take a ride and watch the view. Instead you either fast travel, or you are riding or driving and not observing.
If you have not, I highly suggest you get some leg updates, and do a bunch of parkour. The city isn't just impressive on a visual level, they actually managed to have relatively few world holes, or places where you can get stuck, for such a large, and expansive world.
@@LucidTurtle You cans find ways around, or over them. Even then, a lot of the world is free from world holes, it's quite impressive. In fact, I've found more world holes in easily accessible areas, than the ones that took a lot of jumping.
@@VideoSage It's possible to parkour your way up from V's apartment up the interior of the megablock and then glitch through a wall and then jump across to the expensive apartment you can see from V's apartment window.
@@LucidTurtle the charged jump can actually get you to more places than double jump (the rare version has more height, while the epic version reaches the same height as double jump but gives you more horizontal maneuverability).
Cyberpunk’s design definitely scratches an itch when comparing to other open world games and even linear games. The attention to detail is beautiful and is seen on a multitude of scales. Phenomenal game
While you pointed out Hongkong and Osaka as inspiration to the architectural design, the Chongqing city in China is actually a more likely sample of the city design. Chongqing is a city build on a group of mountains, where the land is mostly hard rock. Since ancient time there is a multi-level “design language” in the city due the environment, people build tall city walls by the river side and people lived above the city walls. Nowadays Chongqing is the largest city(land mass) in China with a huge population of 30 millions, because of the unique landscape, which has few flat surface and most population are live in the Northen area by the river, during the economic reform of China since 80s, the central government gave Chongqing a different set of development rules for the city, it is the only one city which havs fewer restriction on the height of the building and distance between building (just like what you said about the regulations) Developers flocked to Chongqing to build one highrises after another, next to and on top of each other, and half of them are housing apartments too, not just office building. Due to the hard surface these building are built on, the average height of the building are way higher than other city. In recent years they dumped the cable car system to help people maneuver up and down the hills, they build monorails around the city, just like the one in Cyberpunk 2077, one station of one of the monorail famously go through a housing high rise. There are many more multi-level structure in the city then Honkong where I think city development regulation are more strict, GPS are often rendered useless in certain area, because you really need to go down a 5+ stories stairs , go through a “underground” tunnel, makes 10 turns to get to another area without violate traffic laws crossing the fenced road. You really need to visit the place to experience the bonafide “urban hell” feeling of a real life cyberpunk city design. It truely change your fascination of this aesthetic, for good and for the bad. PS: The apartment space are actually moderately spacious as well, it’s the outside that’s cramped.
I think it's based a lot more on Hong Kong than Chongqing. Why? Because Hong Kong only has 428.64 sq miles of actual land while Chongqing has 2,113.1 sq miles of developed land and the entire municipality is 31,816 sq miles in size so in space alone it's a lot more spread out than Hong Kong. Also, the population density differences are HUGE. Chongqing has a population density of 1,000/sq mi whereas Hong Kong's population density is 17,614.5/sq mi. That's right, Hong Kong has 17.6 times the density of Chongqing. That's why Hong Kong makes Manhattan looks like the suburbs.
The city and environment, and the story seems to be the elements that have been successfully done, and it does attract attention. Great video btw :) happy new year !
I mean the city, the environment and the story is the reason why you buy the game lol. So many people thought this was going to be some futuristic GTA and end up saying it's bad because ' the cop chases aren't good ' when it's one of the least interesting thing to do in this game.. This is an RPG,not a sandbox OW, 99% of the interest of this game is the city and it's atmosphere, the characters, choices, and main / side quests
@@mordor1779 yeah I understood that it would be closer to a GTA based on the marketing campaign. It is sad because this game has very good things to show and tell it seems. :) I saw a lot of reviews and it also seems that the freedom and choices in the story are not as advertised, you can’t become whoever you want it seems. But again, it’s the marketing issue, not the game itself. And again, I did not play so my thoughts are based on the marketing that made me preorder the game, the reviews, the friends that love it, and this very well done video by Morphologis 👍
Flatline in beautiful monitor is what this game has. It so hilariously bad, pretty sure Watch Dogs 1 created more living world and that was 2014 game, which lied too.
One of my favourite moments in the entire game was coming out of the big commercial area in (watson?) and ending up on a back street going down. The buildings were covered with HVAC outlets and there was a single closed booze shop - and with the shape, the light, the sound it reminded me *exactly* of places I've been in real life. It was the most incredible sense of place. I literally just wandered around for 5 minutes just looking at stuff. The funny thing about cp2077 is that so much artistic talent went into it it was inevitable that when it got hammered into shape people would begin to come back and see just how much beautiful stuff is there
5:28 "...the apartments you'd find in Hong Kong, which are pretty tiny, and often only have enough space for a bed and a table." Me, staring at my phone lying on the bed of my Hong Kong apartment: I'm in this photo and I don't like it
Agree man. The game is nice but the environment are too real. The more I play , the more I think why don’t I just experience this over saturated city in reality lol.
The rooftop villa that you can see from V's apartment window is actually suspected to be V's original apartment that was cut from the game. You can reach the building and inside the items are marked as V's items.
@@marty2129 - You are both correct. It is from one of the endings, but it is also cut content, cdpr had said that V could buy multiple apartments - then it turned out that no, you actually cant buy any other apartments. (till the latest patch, over a yr later). Video proof from cdpr itself.. : ua-cam.com/video/6a8f1TbYb2w/v-deo.html
From what Ive read, apparently many of the block-style homes don't usually have kitchens, due to lack of real food and cooking in general. Most of the food has been replaced with 'mock' items that are just similar tastes/consistencies, and a lot of processed foods. Then the rich classes will often find kitchens in their apartments because they have more access to real food. Which is a reason for many restaurants being within just a couple of steps of the lower class. Great video!! Its gonna make my second playthrough more memorable.
The fancy apartment you can see out of V's apartment window is owned by V, after a certain ending... but you can get there through the megablock. Would love to see what you think of it.
@@UnknownUA-camUserProfile No idea why you're asking me, I have no idea, and I'm pretty sure it's not in game music... If you read the vids description though, you'd of seen that it says the music in this vid was provided by EpidemicSound.com.
It's great as a storytelling tool as well, since to V's character it serves as a foreshadowing/aspirational piece to go from some no-name merc into a legend of NIght City.
O was just going to say that! Also if you looked at the blinds youll notice that the part of the wondowt that shows the future vs apartment is cover differently ( letting some light in) for telling you both in a way of what you want to but, and also where you might end up at the end. On an unrelated note. That is what I notice as well on vs old apartment. The central space seems to be wwwaayy too big ( coming from Hong Kong I would know. Our apartment when I was there is about the big area of the apt. And that's it ). I understand that they need to space so v and silver hand can play out the fight. But still it looks super odd to me how the central area directly conflict with what the rest of the apartment building is trying to emulate.
I've just finished the video, and yes, it was amazing. Even tho it's was not a Star Citizen ship it still was futuristic and I think that's what your channel is all about. Amazing review!
I greatly enjoyed this review, it's honestly so mindboggling with the amount of detail the environmental artists were able to express in night cities architecture and thank you for highlighting this!!!
As someone who knows little about achitecture but always appreciates it, I really enjoyed this video. It's nice to learn about the who's, the what's the where's and the why's and as someone who is absolutely in love with Night City, I'm hoping for a follow up. Hint hint. ;)
I'm up to 250 hours in CP2077. I'd say at least 60% of that time has been spent just exploring all the nooks and crannies and I still haven't seen it all.
I’m over 500 hours total and just today I walked through a new space I’d never seen before under a freeway overpass in Heywood and was mind blown at the detail.
i was under the impression that my V was doing relatively well for herself after the introduction montage, getting jobs done, a car and everything. So I thought the apartment's relative spaciousness reflected that aspect of V's life so far.
I think V is one of the people you could consider as the " rare Middle Class " of Night City . Far from living in the luxurious condos of Charter Hill or the villas of North Oak , and not living on the streets or the dingy , cramped low-level apartments either . She/He's closer to the lower-class i think , but the fact that you're a Merc with just enough Rep to catch the eye of Dex and the like means you have a few gigs behind your belt and probably managed to save a fair amount of eddies .
Loved this review and the fact that you did so through the perspective of an architect. As a creator myself, it pains me to see such a work of art being slammed. You can tell a lot of research and passion went into this game, so I appreciated the fact that you reviewed a different angle of the game. Your insight is refreshing and one of the reasons I’ve begun following your channel. Keep it up man!
Thanks for the review. I lived and grow up in Hong Kong, so I see a lot of resemblance in the architectures between Night City and in Hong Kong. Actually I spend my youth in one of the building that you see in the the area of Kubuki and North Side, with 5-6 levels. Really love the buildings and the develop team done a great job in that.
I could watch literally hours of these style reviews. I love them. I'd thought much the same with V's apartment block but never really put how it made me feel into words and your explanation made it all click for me.
When I was doing my sidequest tour at the end of the game, I was taken completely by surprise when I started the zen meditation questline, because I had no idea that park was even there, and I had driven past that area hundreds of times.
I'm still going to shill for an Architect Review's of Prey (2017)'s Talos station. I love the 70's corporate Art Deco and I'd love to see what you think of it.
Wasn't stackable housing one of your main projects? Coming to an age where choosing a place to live gets more relevant, there is something really chilling about it.
@@Morphologis With the increasing power of "too bit to fail" corps (especially their power over goverments), the increase of extremes even in the wealthier countries (be it wealth or viewpoints), the technologies that transforms (and control) our societies(especially the youth) more and more, even our destruction of the world . Cyberpunk, or something quite simiar, might become our possible future
@@Morphologis you should branch out from SC more often. I have no doubt if you did series on popular games, your channel would blow up. You have a lot to offer in your knowledge and presentation skills.
@@Morphologis The world of Cyberpunk 2077 seems WAY more advanced than what Star Citizen has, despite the spaceships and beam weapons. But, please, no one tell Chris, or SC will really take until 2951 to release.
4:42 I like to think the bedroom ,bathroom and kitchen units in these apartments are like modules that can be removed or moved around. Modules that can be rented or leased like furniture, hence the vending machine attachment. May be the other apartments have different sized modules depending on the owners spending capacity.
i just started playing this game a week ago or so and there have been no bugs or crashes so far. they seem to have fixed all that. now it's easy to enjoy the architecture :)
Bugs aside I have really enjoyed cyberpunk I'm already on my second playthrough. I really wish the people signing the checks wouldn't push developers to announce release dates just so they can make a profit asap. I think that would solve most issues we have when games are pushed out before they are genuinely finished.
You know, I noticed some of the things you mentioned, like: - the overlapping buildings - differing architectural "flavors" on different districts - the damn elevator at V's building that looks more like it was a service elevator during construction that just doubled as the final elevator for the completed building lol Anyways, it's really cool to have someone enunciate and explain certain things I myself have observed but cannot expound upon. In short, cool channel :) PS - I also love the game and will be back to possibly add another 110hrs when it's in a more robust state :D
I think the lack of a kitchen is intentional and works with the vending machine idea. The corps think "if we dont put kitchens in the apartments, they'll have to buy our food/from our vending machines"
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I was waiting for this!! Cyberpunk deserves more love from this channel! ❤️
This came by my YT recommendations, glad I clicked on it. I love how Night city is built; I find it fascinating to explore it. This video was quite a nice fresh leaf from all the usual "2077 is a buggy mess" videos and quite interesting. Regarding V`s apartment. I think despite it being a mega-block, there's still a few "luxury" apartments like most apartment buildings IRL that have a few. Because there's a tiny side-quest where you enter a guy's apartment in the same megablock (1 floor lower than V's place) and it's not as spacious as his. Regarding the kitchen aspect, I'd like to think of it as being replaced by the vending machine :-)
I never got any issue with the game even before I upgraded to ps5, so it always surprises me when people call the game bugged or things like that The biggest malfunction I think was when a guy didn't drop the iconic blueprint he was supposed to, and it was I think v1.1
@@gigamaxmusic Yes it is a power issue. Older consoles DO NOT have the hardware to run it properly. Period, plain and simple, end of story, no way around that. XB1 and PS4 are not powerful enough. Say it with me: XB1 and PS4 are not powerful enough.
The reason why V doesn't have a kitchen is that you don't make food at home in night city. I mean they've got ads for "real water" and getting something like a steak is probably impossible for someone of V's economic standing. All you get to eat is corporate produced chemicals. Fits right in with the game!
The designer of the tabletop game and the original universe recently said on Reddit that the highways and infrastructure are designed in a way that it all loops back to downtown, and was designed to disadvantage the poor. Much like the direction US infrastructure is in much of the country.
One thing that really struck me when I entered and explored Night City was how eerily similar it felt to Metro Manila and your observations made it clearer for me. The density, the mish-mash streets, and the chaos in each district. Night City felt like a peek into a future version of Metro Manila.
The city reminds me of two of my favorite movies, Akira and Bladerunner 2049. Really hope they add missing features and fix bugs over the next few years because this game still has the potential to be a masterpiece.
That's because Akira and Bladerunner are in the cyberpunk genre. It's a weird thing to even mention. It'd be like saying "Red Dead Redemption 2 really reminds me of westerns". Like, duh, RDR2 is a western.
@@glowerworm Ok bro. It’s NOT common to get a game with a walkable version of a cyberpunk city. My point was it was interesting seeing a city that previously only existed in 2D movies and anime represented in full 3D.
Like your "roots" analysis parts, but mainly I got the feeling CDPR designers simply were going throough all cyberpunk/dystopian movies/artworks (just as Peter Jackson did for Lord of the Rings). So looking at those megabuildings I see "Peach Trees" from Dredd. For all those predecessor sources your analysis still hits true.
There's that, and there's a lot of references and easter eggs... but they also clearly put a lot of thought into the architecture and feel of the city, and of each individual district.
I forget what area of Night CIty I was in, but I remember stopping dead in my tracks and saying to myself, "I'm totally having a 5th Element moment." The lighting, time of day, foot traffic and architecture was like a scene right out of the movie.
I actually think from a worldbuilding perspective that it's perfect that there is a workspace in V's apartment instead of a kitchen. Much like the freight-like elevator it implies a perspective on the individual and what they should use their time doing or emphasize in their life, which in this case is work. It also speaks to the paradigm of "bringing work home" emphasizing that you are always working whether officially on the clock or not. Having the "kitchen" be a vending machine is really just icing on the cake that solidifies this particular "commodification" of the individual. If you want to take the workspace/kitchen discussion to an extreme it could imply that the world or "powers that be" prioritize you working over personal sustenance or work as personal sustenance.
Fast forward a year and a half later and we now have a more polished game with the 1.6 patch, coupled with the Edgerunners anime and lore. It's a good time to be back in NC!
They were selling the look of the future to a lot of people so it was their responsability, but not to the point of undertaking the multiple choice story. Let's remember that it was supposed to be an RPG. So no, they haven't their priorities right at all.
for the future, you can get rid of things like the mission waypoint, by tracking missions like "psycho killers", or "beat on the Brat". these two missions don't have a localized objective, per se. and if you want to remove the marker for the car... blow it up out of sight. OR get the mod called "Non-Hideable HUD Removal" over on nexusmods. Which lets you get rid of pretty much everything as well.
I absolutely love this world. Sometimes I just walk around for minutes on end just taking everything in. It has got the feeling of you could live here for years and never see it all.
Several years and several hundred hours later, and I still come back to this game on a regular basis. The world is absolutely engrossing, and not only due to the literally awesome architecture, but also the constant, inescapable presence of invasive adverts, the hustle and bustle of so many people going about their business around you, and just the feeling of moving through Night City. I hope CIG can learn from Cyberpunk 2077, and one day achieve the same level of immersive design in Star Citizen, preferably with less bugs...
I feel like im the only one who had almost 0 bugs in my first playtrough when the game came out. Im on my 4th playtrough and i freaking love this game.
@@KanyeKetchup they have! they've updated it a bunch from what i've seen too. besides, if you have a next gen console or play on a good pc, you should be fine lol. there are still a few glitches and bugs but it' DEFINITELY an improvement from when it first came out :)
Wonderful video. Though not an expert, I still enjoy the study and analysis of architecture. To me, one of Cyberpunks greatest strengths is Night City. It *feels* alive, almost to the point it feels like it’s breathing. The thin roads and tight corners demand that you follow its rules, drive at its own speed. The skyscrapers leave you feeling like an ant, despite being cybernetic mercenary. Really hoping you’ll dive deeper into the districts. 👍
I think they wanted to have their cake and eat it too by making V's individual apartment open and someplace players would want to return to, while having the apartment complex itself being dark and oppressive to fit the setting. Also, I think the missing kitchen space actually makes sense in the context of having a vending machine. You're expected to survive purely off of that
This was a beautifully done video! I know that you mentioned here that you were breaking away from your norm by making a video that was not about Star Citizen, however I'm hoping that you'll be open to the idea of creating more for this series that do look at other games. With so many unique design elements in so many different games I feel like a professional architect's opinion and suggestions would be so interesting! I'll admit that one of my first thoughts was how interesting it would be to hear what you thought about the design of BioShock Infinite's cloud city, Columbia. Again, it's just an idea, and I wanted to be sure you knew that there are definitely people who would love to see what you're thoughts are outside the world of Star Citizen. I look forward to watching the rest of this series and seeing what else you add to it in the future.
I’m very happy to see your take on this. I think the design and presentation of the city itself is an achievement that gets overlooked. Unfortunately they put so much effort into the setting that it seems everything else suffered.
@@jeancouscous This is an engineering problem - pre-loading and rendering the environment burned up the available CPU cycles so there wasn't enough left for detailed AI and better physics checks to avoid vehicles flinging through the air. They have to re-balance (if possible) resource use to fix the gameplay issues.
I have roughly 30 hours in the game now and I’ve played a ridiculously small amount of missions just because of how appealing it is to wonder and take everything in. I plan to wait until the game is patched more to play missions, but damn night city is amazing.
@@joaopereira2331 yeah fr, the bugs are normal game bugs now that's in every game instead of my Futa Fem V hanging shlong all the time. Now the only issues I'm seeing is the occasional car floating 2 or 3 inches off the ground.
this video is just perfect, OMG, im no architect, im an engineer, but im sooo into architecture styles and influences in culture, this video is just amazing
I feel like there's been two different versions of the game, and personally haven't had as bad of an experience as a lot of the reviews/articles/etc show. I love this game even with the few bugs it has, and can't wait for it to see the issues ironed out. Although even as much as I love the game even with those rough spots, I don't think I'd have the same opinion if it wasn't for the amazing work the art team did. Hell when it comes to a large open world game, I'm surprised the only issues I've had with the map are ones I've gone out of my way to find. In other open worlds I'd have stumbled upon at least a few holes in the world, yet here I've had to actually go out of my way to go outside the normal bounds of play to find the parts where the map starts to break. And on top of that the details of that entire map is beautiful. Looking past the issues caused by shareholders rushing the release, you can really see how much the team put into this game, and that alone has such a huge impact. They really know that special ingredient to make a Jackie Wells, it's that splash of love.
V's apartment was an upgrade for them from doing the "time passes, do jobs, fuck around" in the intro with Jackie. They make a good chunk of change off the "suitcase" job and V buys a car and gets a nicer space to live, they weren't homeless before, if you play the nomad or streetkid but they had a crummier life style. If you're playing a corpo the new apartment is a downgrade as you get kicked out of your nicer, company owned, digs, having to start over. It is more center floor space compared to other lower class apartments in the city, but I think that's in part to enhance the view, but also allow space for the action of the cutscenes in the apartment to flow. Nicer space but also still kinda alienating and oppressive.
Please check out Elizabeth and Jeff Peralez apartment. It’s a big luxurious apartment, but you have to do a couple of missions for them to see the whole apartment.
Good review of a game city. However, Mega-Block means one thing to me .. Judge Dredd. And the interiors of that block really reminded me of the last movie's setting. (Edit for spelling)
As an architecture student and a gamer, this series means the world to me, and I would love to see you go deeper in depth with some of the individual structures in the game or even to expand it further to even more games that you feel deserve more love due to their attention to detail. Architecture in games is so underappreciated! Thank you for making these videos that really shine a light on the beauty of design in places where people may overlook it. :)
![An Architect Reviews the Apartments of Night City [Cyberpunk 2077]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/QmGxqZ8-2D0/mqdefault.jpg)
![An Architect Reviews the Apartments of Night City [Cyberpunk 2077]](/img/tr.png)
They don't have kitchens or kitchenettes because, if i recall correctly, in-lore most food is pre-packaged and processed and doesn't need to be prepared, so most low end and even mid range apartments don't have kitchens. Usually only the higher end houses and apartments have kitchens to prepare real food. Which is then probably prepared by a professional high class chef. Edit: That's why V only has like a microwave to heat the food up.
Exactly, and once you start travelling outside of NS, you notice more and more living areas WITH kitchens as they do not have built in vending machines. I can almost imagine, inside the city, all of those vending machines are supplied by some kind of underground/floor conveyor system as I haven't seen anyone restocking them (kidding ofc about the lack of little details in game like that)
If I remember correctly, Judy had a kitchen in her apartment.
You are rigjt bro. If you read all the shards and intel like me you can know a very interesting lore. They don't have real food anymore. All Foods by
Biotechnica make meat from insects and worms
@@temodeart I thought of this too, but I also think from what I remember Judy's flat is in a rather dated building and I think it'd be reasonable to expect kitchens in older places. like old mantelpieces (or those weird large vents with iron grids) in 19th century houses or tiled stoves in tenement houses
@@pikaskew I've seen a technician out at at least one of them, but I don't think he was restocking it.
You know what this needs? A series to go deeper into each different district ;)
I agree. It's part of what I loved about the Takemura mission series, is him giving his thoughts on the Kabuki district, coming from Japan itself, and just being a generally surly grump about it.
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@@UnknownUA-camUserProfile And Beyond - Awlee: ua-cam.com/video/ONS2lQjcrt4/v-deo.html
exactly!
YESSS PLEASE. I SOOO LOVE THE ARCHITECTURE OF Cyperpunk 🤩
Local Hong Konger here, and I can tell you that I was blown away when I first opened the game. The buildings in Little China feels like they could actually belong in the real world, with the details in the 2-3 story buildings with clothes being dried on the windows and the canopies sticking out looks and feels just authentic, and the ambience of the footpaths at night matches my experiences real life. And the feeling that you’re surrounded by corporate high-rises intertwining and leaving just a little room to breathe is captured just right. Looking outside, seeing buildings covering the horizon, neon lights going as far as your eyes could see lighting up the entire street, I could go on and on about this game. Kudos to the environment artists, the game may be buggy, but the map they built is truly a masterpiece.
I sympathize HK's economic quandary but I detest HKer's general racism and white worship
Yuuup could almost *smell* those districts.
Been to HK twice, been to Bangkok, been to Seoul…I can absolutely understand and support you view! It felt like HK in the Blade Runner Universe. Absolutely stunning and deeply immersive! I get the shivers every time I enter Night City!
@@Rikard416 what does it have to do with what the op say?????????????
@@Rubia376 he's just virtue signaling how "totally not racist" he is. Ignore him.
V's apartment is one of the more 'Luxury" ones in the building, bought with money from gigs V did with jack at the prologue montage scene. (And Jack bough the superbike with his share) You actually got to visit other "standard" versions, in sidequests. And it is much more cramped and uncomforatble.
Wait yea Barry’s apartment was much worse haha
And no one's gonna put in a kitchenette, it would give the occupant an option besides feeding money into the vending machine.
Yeah, ive realized that the way the megabuildings halls are layed out, most of the apartments wouldnt even have windows.
@@aidantanny7230 Windows are a luxury.
TFW V’s apartment and the “standard” apartments are larger than my apartment
Night City is mind blowing. I can’t even begin to imagine how someone would go about designing something like this for a video game. There is so much detail and density everywhere.
It could be seen as one of the reasons cyberpunk went so poorly.
So much effort went into Night City and it's visuals that the gameplay suffered immensely.
@@nonegone7170 they should’ve went the rockstar route, and literally take 10 years to develop the game
@@gavcom4060 ohoh its funny coz they did..
@@Johnson09641 Not really. Main development was like 3 years, which is very standard for an AAA game
@@KA1N3R As far as I know that may have been the case for the most current build but apparently the initial project was canceled several times so who's to say how much progress was ever made to begin with?
Fellow architect here - great video! I actually like that there's no kitchenette in the megablock apartments - the lack of ability for people to cook their own food shows how food has become commoditized and accessibly mainly through vending machines and street stalls. Cooking, much like anything else, becomes a luxury.
I find it surprising how few people have picked up on the fact that the cyberpunk universe was a vision of the future created by Mike Pondsmith as he saw it in the eighties. Hence, why everything has a sort of Eighties-futurism vibe to it.
of course it's based on that - case in point: the original pen & paper table-top RPG rulebook is part of the bonus-content within the Cyberpunk 2077 directories (STEAM Version) xD
Yeah it gives me back to the future vibes ahaha
who's pond mikesmith?
@@cvspvr is the creator of cyberpunk 2020 (I think).
@@jessicaguarin3897 what's cyberpunk 2020?
Imagine if V had an apartment, like the one in the Fifth Element.
with people trying to rob him all the time dressed as a hallway
He could put Jackie in the refrigerator.
Holy crap, I just only now noticed lol
It was clearly inspired by Korben´s apartment.
More like K's apartament from BR 2049
Going off of the anime and some trailers, V's apartment isn't meant for a single person, but likely a family unit. The workshop area might be a repurposed bedroom while the large open area in the center is to lay out extra cots for the kids.
Definitely the most detailed open world city ever made.
Positively.
Im an Architectural Student from Germany and since i found ur channel about 2 years ago, i always loved ur videos. Sometimes i find myself just roaming the world of Different games and just looking at things and thinking about how this and that fits into this world(also in Cyberpunk). Your Videos also played a part in my decision to become an Architect and i just want to say that i was basically never good at anything in school and i was always average in everything. But i think i found the right thing for me now, sometimes i spend 12+ hours a day just designing buildings and thinking about Architecture all day. So i wanted to say thx man for the inspiration u give to me :D
That's so cool.
I wish he was around 10 years ago. A bit too late for me now as I'm hitting 30 this year. But best of luck to you, Gabe!
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@@TsvetanVR never too late man
@@TsvetanVR 30 is absolutely not too late. Either way, hope you find/found what you need.
I still love the game even with all the bugs.
me too
I enjoyed what I played but the bugs aren't the real problem with this game:
ua-cam.com/video/K7JGQ3sCIl0/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/_CymqHdNYkg/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/bexA1Oolp0k/v-deo.html
It could've been a masterpiece, instead we got a game that only just borders on being good.
Bugs can be fixed, but a bad history nothing can change that, we are lucky that cyberpunk have one of the best history's missions and world
same
Even without the bugs it's a mess of cut and half baked features and bad choices. Like shoehorning in Keanu Reeves 6 years into development just to have a celebrity. Very disappointing.
15 minutes, actually 10, seems like way too little time to do this city justice. I would gladly watch a series of Architect Reviews on each of the major zones and locations and how even random encounters fit into this world (what the NPCs speak about, the crashed cars you find, the notes) as they add so much to the authenticity of NC.
PS. Speaking of authentic worlds outside SC, how about reviewing worlds in RDR2, or Dying Light, or AC series?
Agreed. This is the kind of game I'd love to see him dive into.
What blew me away about the design of NC was how seamless the transition between the different areas was. There wasn't any dividing line where one area transitioned into another beyond the map borders. Traveling inwards from Pacifica was the best example of this for me, there wasn't a moment in the drive that you could definitely state that *this* spot is where Pacifica ended and the next zone began. The architecture and map design blended wonderfully and did an amazing job at presenting itself as all one city instead of separate areas inside one city border.
Yeah this was barely the tip of the iceberg. Didn't get into the night life even, the clubs blew my mind
Agreed.
In the artbook it's said that megabuildings were supposed to be these extra housing projects, supplying everything a person might need within it. However it became more profitable to simply cram and forget people instead. So presumably the apartment size makes sense as a relic of the original vision, as does the relatively good design. To me the story of megabuildings reminds me quite a bit of soviet worker neighbourhoods, many designed with a similar original intention, only to end up forgotten and neglected, slowly reaching ruin.
Cyberpunk 2077 was the only game I've ever player where I actually just walked through the environment to look at architecture. There are so many fascinating places in Night City.
I have folder with over 3000 screenshots from my various playthroughs.
@@Danickas0Haha same here, I spend hours of "playtime" just photographing every inch of the city because there's just so many interesting sights and stunning vistas. It's almost unbelievable. No game-city yet even remotely compares to it... the closest would be the London of "Watch Dogs: Legion" in terms of detail and unique structures, but it's definitely not as impressive.
I think the main design decision that led to much of the "spaghetti" was the idea that the city should have levels, verticality.
So many times when walking around the city, if you look up, you see more roads, down, footpaths or forgotten streets.
Good to see you here, love your vids
exactly, which is why legs mods is immediatelythe best mods to get early in the game
After looking for a certain merchant I actually ended up finding a way up to one of those systems and that definitely was fun!
Totally, the lower levels were the most populated, for the lower class. Then going up meant you have a better lifestyle, where the elite lives on the top with their flying vehicles. Myabe that's why V room is so spacious and on the upper levels, almost there hitting the major leagues but still from the low class.
The metro system and a section of highway was made difficult to access and this part of the game would have been the best way to showcase the verticality of Nigh City.
I was under the impression that the towers have different apartment sizes and V just had a larger almost luxury sized apartment.
Which you can see on a side mission where you go into one of your neighbor's apartments. Guessing Morphologis didn't find that side quest.
V is a mercenary, probably earns more money than the regular citizen, so that would make sense
@@Magmakojote Exactly. And Mercs usually earn quite a bit of money, but burn it in an instant on rent and constant upgrades of their tech and gear for the next, bigger run.
Elle-Iza Logan ya. Really felt that way... /s
pretty sure that's the case, no idea on the other life path's explanation but in the nomad one you smuggle a live iguana into the city and it's worth a fuck ton which would explain how V gets to lease a nice apartment, also i'm guessing V always needs to do gigs to make ends meet because as soon as they get knocked out of commission after the intro heist for a week or two you get an e-mail saying your rent is past due
Kudos to all the designers, musicians and artists in general of this game!
I actually find the architecture of Night City breathtaking and exciting. Having so many people and things packed into such a small area makes the place seem genuinely alive and energetic. I lived in Bangkok for a number of years and it's similar to the explosion of building in Bangkok and the huge number of people and things to see and do in each area.
You're breathtaking!
If you get the "The Sun" ending V actually wakes up in the apartmen you see through the window, where you then depart to the epilogue mission.
That was a welcome surprise, and a welcome feat of architectural design. You had the same view except from a throne of opulence: it felt like you had achieved *your* dream, not Johnny's, not the antagonist's, and not compromising for others.
@@djhakase Or as Jackie would have said: "We finally made it to the major leagues."
Yuup, it's surprising how many people are finding that apartment through glitches and assuming it's cut content.
@@inf3243 hate train gonna hate
Is it possible that, since those apartments are made by corporations, they didn't bother with a kitchen on purpose to force people to buy from the vending machines?
When you absorbed farms and factories, there will be almost no supermarket or wet market, only restaurants or vendors could purchase unprocessed food.
@@Dumb-Comment You also have to remember that nearly all plant and animal life has been wiped out in the Cyberpunk universe. The only food the majority of people can afford are processed foods as it's far too expensive to get stuff fresh from a market. Have you noticed that all the fancy apartments that you visit have kitchens while everything else has vending machines? Only the rich can afford to have their food made from scratch.
Judy's apartment has a kitchen, maybe they are less normal but still in use.
Im fairly certain that what is Armory used to be kitchen, there is a ton of food joints around megabuilding!
In Japan Town you there's a food store. If you interact with the owner V asks if it's real meat he's selling.
The upper management as a whole of CDPR might be fucked up, but the art teams are surely well organized judging by the fact that they managed to put such a gigantic and beautiful city together. Night City will be remembered as a world-building masterpiece in the history of video games.
Night city is just getting started. Don’t start saying what it will be remembered for yet. I think it will be remembered as the best game of all time when they are done. Just you wait
@@MattyP650 Night City is already a masterpiece as it is, I sure hope the game can realize its fullest potential in the future.
In the end its always the poor artists that got caught up in the mess due to the same ol greedy upper management. As an artist myself, the concept characters, environment or vehicle design took alot of effort to make with each of them spent decades mastering their designing skills. So big props to them
meh, division does cities better
@@MattyP650 yeah sure
They already have moved most devs to the Witcher 4. It may not be remembered as a trash game, but it will NEVER be considered the goat.
I would definitely watch a review of each district of the city.
I like the nod to demolition man's "three sea shells" in the bathroom section in v's apartment
I’m so glad Edgerunners made you come back to Cyberpunk. Would love to see more videos about this universe
This was posted over a year ago lol
@@studentoflife9313 he posted a new vid and said it was cause of edgerunners
Much like Blade Runner, the world itself is a character with it's own stories to tell.
You know I really agree. I so loved blade runner for the world it's in. I love this game because it makes me feel like I get to explore more of that world. There's something very special about it
Also you know what's insane? I just watched there will be blood for the first time this morning and it's amazing that your profile is Daniel Plainview lol
Its a shame they didn't include a functional public transport system. It would have been fun to just take a ride and watch the view. Instead you either fast travel, or you are riding or driving and not observing.
@@chrisliddiard725 Just one of the many cut contents.
@@pgetheelderscrollsturkiye68 Very common thing in video game development
If you have not, I highly suggest you get some leg updates, and do a bunch of parkour. The city isn't just impressive on a visual level, they actually managed to have relatively few world holes, or places where you can get stuck, for such a large, and expansive world.
Cyberpunk literally becomes mirrors edge once you toss on the double jump. Its amazing how they put no serious invisible barriers anywhere in the map.
But those damn barbed wire fences
@@LucidTurtle You cans find ways around, or over them.
Even then, a lot of the world is free from world holes, it's quite impressive.
In fact, I've found more world holes in easily accessible areas, than the ones that took a lot of jumping.
@@VideoSage It's possible to parkour your way up from V's apartment up the interior of the megablock and then glitch through a wall and then jump across to the expensive apartment you can see from V's apartment window.
@@LucidTurtle the charged jump can actually get you to more places than double jump (the rare version has more height, while the epic version reaches the same height as double jump but gives you more horizontal maneuverability).
even with all the bugs and ai problems, this is one of the most beautiful games i have ever seen
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Cyberpunk’s design definitely scratches an itch when comparing to other open world games and even linear games. The attention to detail is beautiful and is seen on a multitude of scales. Phenomenal game
While you pointed out Hongkong and Osaka as inspiration to the architectural design, the Chongqing city in China is actually a more likely sample of the city design. Chongqing is a city build on a group of mountains, where the land is mostly hard rock. Since ancient time there is a multi-level “design language” in the city due the environment, people build tall city walls by the river side and people lived above the city walls. Nowadays Chongqing is the largest city(land mass) in China with a huge population of 30 millions, because of the unique landscape, which has few flat surface and most population are live in the Northen area by the river, during the economic reform of China since 80s, the central government gave Chongqing a different set of development rules for the city, it is the only one city which havs fewer restriction on the height of the building and distance between building (just like what you said about the regulations) Developers flocked to Chongqing to build one highrises after another, next to and on top of each other, and half of them are housing apartments too, not just office building. Due to the hard surface these building are built on, the average height of the building are way higher than other city. In recent years they dumped the cable car system to help people maneuver up and down the hills, they build monorails around the city, just like the one in Cyberpunk 2077, one station of one of the monorail famously go through a housing high rise. There are many more multi-level structure in the city then Honkong where I think city development regulation are more strict, GPS are often rendered useless in certain area, because you really need to go down a 5+ stories stairs , go through a “underground” tunnel, makes 10 turns to get to another area without violate traffic laws crossing the fenced road.
You really need to visit the place to experience the bonafide “urban hell” feeling of a real life cyberpunk city design. It truely change your fascination of this aesthetic, for good and for the bad.
PS: The apartment space are actually moderately spacious as well, it’s the outside that’s cramped.
I would love to see a deep dive video / documentary on Chongqing!
Thanks for the background info!! 🙏👍
I think it's based a lot more on Hong Kong than Chongqing. Why? Because Hong Kong only has 428.64 sq miles of actual land while Chongqing has 2,113.1 sq miles of developed land and the entire municipality is 31,816 sq miles in size so in space alone it's a lot more spread out than Hong Kong. Also, the population density differences are HUGE. Chongqing has a population density of 1,000/sq mi whereas Hong Kong's population density is 17,614.5/sq mi. That's right, Hong Kong has 17.6 times the density of Chongqing. That's why Hong Kong makes Manhattan looks like the suburbs.
This was a surprise too be sure, but certainly a welcome one.
lol go home Palpy
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@@UnknownUA-camUserProfile Darude - Sandstorm
@@UnknownUA-camUserProfile never gonna give you up, never gonna say goodbye
The city and environment, and the story seems to be the elements that have been successfully done, and it does attract attention.
Great video btw :) happy new year !
I mean the city, the environment and the story is the reason why you buy the game lol. So many people thought this was going to be some futuristic GTA and end up saying it's bad because ' the cop chases aren't good ' when it's one of the least interesting thing to do in this game.. This is an RPG,not a sandbox OW, 99% of the interest of this game is the city and it's atmosphere, the characters, choices, and main / side quests
Also the music! The music is another amazing thing.
@@therealshadow99 yeah I forgot the music !
@@mordor1779 yeah I understood that it would be closer to a GTA based on the marketing campaign. It is sad because this game has very good things to show and tell it seems. :) I saw a lot of reviews and it also seems that the freedom and choices in the story are not as advertised, you can’t become whoever you want it seems. But again, it’s the marketing issue, not the game itself.
And again, I did not play so my thoughts are based on the marketing that made me preorder the game, the reviews, the friends that love it, and this very well done video by Morphologis 👍
Gameplay variety is good as well as someone who is coming from Deus Ex franchise. Cyberpunk is my personal game of the year : )
Enjoyed this. Despite it's bugs, night city has a pulse in a way that most videogame cities do not.
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Flatline in beautiful monitor is what this game has. It so hilariously bad, pretty sure Watch Dogs 1 created more living world and that was 2014 game, which lied too.
@@mikhaelgribkov4117 you're so mad at cyberpunk 2077.
I'd watch a full series of this. I was also fascinated by some of the locations such as Rancho Coronado and Pacifica.
One of my favourite moments in the entire game was coming out of the big commercial area in (watson?) and ending up on a back street going down. The buildings were covered with HVAC outlets and there was a single closed booze shop - and with the shape, the light, the sound it reminded me *exactly* of places I've been in real life. It was the most incredible sense of place. I literally just wandered around for 5 minutes just looking at stuff. The funny thing about cp2077 is that so much artistic talent went into it it was inevitable that when it got hammered into shape people would begin to come back and see just how much beautiful stuff is there
5:28
"...the apartments you'd find in Hong Kong, which are pretty tiny, and often only have enough space for a bed and a table."
Me, staring at my phone lying on the bed of my Hong Kong apartment: I'm in this photo and I don't like it
Ouch... too close to home I guess.
Stay strong over there. Hopefully you guys won't be in your current position for long!
Agree man. The game is nice but the environment are too real. The more I play , the more I think why don’t I just experience this over saturated city in reality lol.
@@StarboyXL9 The CCP won't go down without a fight ☹️
@@ceb1970 What Tiananmen Square drama are you on about?
The rooftop villa that you can see from V's apartment window is actually suspected to be V's original apartment that was cut from the game. You can reach the building and inside the items are marked as V's items.
actually, it is not cut, it is an apartment from one of the endings ;)
@@marty2129 - You are both correct. It is from one of the endings, but it is also cut content, cdpr had said that V could buy multiple apartments - then it turned out that no, you actually cant buy any other apartments. (till the latest patch, over a yr later).
Video proof from cdpr itself.. : ua-cam.com/video/6a8f1TbYb2w/v-deo.html
I want more of your coverage if areas in Night City. This is a gem mine in terms of "An Architect Reviews" Content
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From what Ive read, apparently many of the block-style homes don't usually have kitchens, due to lack of real food and cooking in general. Most of the food has been replaced with 'mock' items that are just similar tastes/consistencies, and a lot of processed foods. Then the rich classes will often find kitchens in their apartments because they have more access to real food. Which is a reason for many restaurants being within just a couple of steps of the lower class. Great video!! Its gonna make my second playthrough more memorable.
The game is more stable now and trust me, you can really see the effort they've put in the game by now
The fancy apartment you can see out of V's apartment window is owned by V, after a certain ending... but you can get there through the megablock. Would love to see what you think of it.
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@@UnknownUA-camUserProfile No idea why you're asking me, I have no idea, and I'm pretty sure it's not in game music...
If you read the vids description though, you'd of seen that it says the music in this vid was provided by EpidemicSound.com.
It's great as a storytelling tool as well, since to V's character it serves as a foreshadowing/aspirational piece to go from some no-name merc into a legend of NIght City.
O was just going to say that! Also if you looked at the blinds youll notice that the part of the wondowt that shows the future vs apartment is cover differently ( letting some light in) for telling you both in a way of what you want to but, and also where you might end up at the end.
On an unrelated note. That is what I notice as well on vs old apartment. The central space seems to be wwwaayy too big ( coming from Hong Kong I would know. Our apartment when I was there is about the big area of the apt. And that's it ). I understand that they need to space so v and silver hand can play out the fight. But still it looks super odd to me how the central area directly conflict with what the rest of the apartment building is trying to emulate.
I've just finished the video, and yes, it was amazing. Even tho it's was not a Star Citizen ship it still was futuristic and I think that's what your channel is all about. Amazing review!
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'intrusion of commercialism into personal space', well said Morph.
Late stage capitalism in other words
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@@Shinod it looks beautiful at least
I greatly enjoyed this review, it's honestly so mindboggling with the amount of detail the environmental artists were able to express in night cities architecture and thank you for highlighting this!!!
Every since bloodborne I've loved the idea of vertically built cities - something extremely magical about it
As someone who knows little about achitecture but always appreciates it, I really enjoyed this video. It's nice to learn about the who's, the what's the where's and the why's and as someone who is absolutely in love with Night City, I'm hoping for a follow up. Hint hint. ;)
Nightcity is gorgeous. I have 70 hours in the game and still finding little details and references. Do more of these.
I'm up to 250 hours in CP2077. I'd say at least 60% of that time has been spent just exploring all the nooks and crannies and I still haven't seen it all.
believe us if you're curious you'll easily get up to 150 hours
I'm at 360 houre of game play of night city! I explored probley around 80 percent of the city so far!
I’m over 500 hours total and just today I walked through a new space I’d never seen before under a freeway overpass in Heywood and was mind blown at the detail.
i was under the impression that my V was doing relatively well for herself after the introduction montage, getting jobs done, a car and everything. So I thought the apartment's relative spaciousness reflected that aspect of V's life so far.
Maybe they had modding in mind, that big ope space in the apartment really stands out to be filled in some how
I think V is one of the people you could consider as the " rare Middle Class " of Night City .
Far from living in the luxurious condos of Charter Hill or the villas of North Oak , and not living on the streets or the dingy , cramped low-level apartments either .
She/He's closer to the lower-class i think , but the fact that you're a Merc with just enough Rep to catch the eye of Dex and the like means you have a few gigs behind your belt and probably managed to save a fair amount of eddies .
V's apartment has no kitchen, as everone is eating out - like in ancient Rome
The apartment did have a vending machine as well. Why make your meal when automation does it for you.
There was a small space near the computer that had a stove/microwave
Wait, people didn't cook in ancient Rome? There's no way that can be it
@@DieNibelungenliad They did but it was usually outside
Loved this review and the fact that you did so through the perspective of an architect. As a creator myself, it pains me to see such a work of art being slammed. You can tell a lot of research and passion went into this game, so I appreciated the fact that you reviewed a different angle of the game. Your insight is refreshing and one of the reasons I’ve begun following your channel. Keep it up man!
I'd love to see more Cyberpunk content.
Thanks for the review. I lived and grow up in Hong Kong, so I see a lot of resemblance in the architectures between Night City and in Hong Kong. Actually I spend my youth in one of the building that you see in the the area of Kubuki and North Side, with 5-6 levels. Really love the buildings and the develop team done a great job in that.
4:57 "He doesn't know how to use the three seashells"
they were so black I didn't even notice them in the game. but they were noticable in Deus Ex HR and the joke only needs to be done once.
I hadn't noticed them in my own play time, but I saw them here, and lost my shit.
What movie is this reference to again? It's one I need to watch still.
@@Archangel125 Demolition Man
hahhaahhaha, he dont know xD
I could watch literally hours of these style reviews. I love them. I'd thought much the same with V's apartment block but never really put how it made me feel into words and your explanation made it all click for me.
When I was doing my sidequest tour at the end of the game, I was taken completely by surprise when I started the zen meditation questline, because I had no idea that park was even there, and I had driven past that area hundreds of times.
I love that area
I would love a series on this where each episode you talk about each burrow in the city.
Great video by the way!
+
WHATS THE NAME OF THE SONG AT 9:23 ??????????????
I'm still going to shill for an Architect Review's of Prey (2017)'s Talos station. I love the 70's corporate Art Deco and I'd love to see what you think of it.
Wasn't stackable housing one of your main projects? Coming to an age where choosing a place to live gets more relevant, there is something really chilling about it.
Yes it was, you’ve been around for a while clearly! I agree with your assessment too, it seems we’re closer to the world of CP than most may think.
@@Morphologis We are indeed a lot closer in many ways, that is one of the charms and also frightening chills about cyberpunk.
@@Morphologis With the increasing power of "too bit to fail" corps (especially their power over goverments), the increase of extremes even in the wealthier countries (be it wealth or viewpoints), the technologies that transforms (and control) our societies(especially the youth) more and more, even our destruction of the world . Cyberpunk, or something quite simiar, might become our possible future
@@Morphologis you should branch out from SC more often. I have no doubt if you did series on popular games, your channel would blow up. You have a lot to offer in your knowledge and presentation skills.
@@Morphologis The world of Cyberpunk 2077 seems WAY more advanced than what Star Citizen has, despite the spaceships and beam weapons. But, please, no one tell Chris, or SC will really take until 2951 to release.
4:42 I like to think the bedroom ,bathroom and kitchen units in these apartments are like modules that can be removed or moved around. Modules that can be rented or leased like furniture, hence the vending machine attachment. May be the other apartments have different sized modules depending on the owners spending capacity.
i just started playing this game a week ago or so and there have been no bugs or crashes so far. they seem to have fixed all that. now it's easy to enjoy the architecture :)
Yeah, this is gonna be the one that makes your channel explode. Here before 1mil!
Bugs aside I have really enjoyed cyberpunk I'm already on my second playthrough. I really wish the people signing the checks wouldn't push developers to announce release dates just so they can make a profit asap. I think that would solve most issues we have when games are pushed out before they are genuinely finished.
You know, I noticed some of the things you mentioned, like:
- the overlapping buildings
- differing architectural "flavors" on different districts
- the damn elevator at V's building that looks more like it was a service elevator during construction that just doubled as the final elevator for the completed building lol
Anyways, it's really cool to have someone enunciate and explain certain things I myself have observed but cannot expound upon.
In short, cool channel :)
PS - I also love the game and will be back to possibly add another 110hrs when it's in a more robust state :D
I think the lack of a kitchen is intentional and works with the vending machine idea. The corps think "if we dont put kitchens in the apartments, they'll have to buy our food/from our vending machines"
I was waiting for this!! Cyberpunk deserves more love from this channel! ❤️
This came by my YT recommendations, glad I clicked on it. I love how Night city is built; I find it fascinating to explore it. This video was quite a nice fresh leaf from all the usual "2077 is a buggy mess" videos and quite interesting. Regarding V`s apartment. I think despite it being a mega-block, there's still a few "luxury" apartments like most apartment buildings IRL that have a few. Because there's a tiny side-quest where you enter a guy's apartment in the same megablock (1 floor lower than V's place) and it's not as spacious as his. Regarding the kitchen aspect, I'd like to think of it as being replaced by the vending machine :-)
This game is a pure masterpiece on PC. It's a shame it didn't live up to the hype at all on consoles
It runs great on Series X. you are thinking of the last gen consoles. I play it at 60fps on series x.
I never got any issue with the game even before I upgraded to ps5, so it always surprises me when people call the game bugged or things like that
The biggest malfunction I think was when a guy didn't drop the iconic blueprint he was supposed to, and it was I think v1.1
Consoles hardware just isn't powerful enough. That's an honest fact. Even the Series X is only equivalent to a 2070Super and 3700X.
It's never been a power issue it's an AI and bug problem. The game is still not working. Big shame they couldn't delay a year.
@@gigamaxmusic Yes it is a power issue. Older consoles DO NOT have the hardware to run it properly. Period, plain and simple, end of story, no way around that. XB1 and PS4 are not powerful enough. Say it with me: XB1 and PS4 are not powerful enough.
The reason why V doesn't have a kitchen is that you don't make food at home in night city. I mean they've got ads for "real water" and getting something like a steak is probably impossible for someone of V's economic standing. All you get to eat is corporate produced chemicals. Fits right in with the game!
The designer of the tabletop game and the original universe recently said on Reddit that the highways and infrastructure are designed in a way that it all loops back to downtown, and was designed to disadvantage the poor.
Much like the direction US infrastructure is in much of the country.
One thing that really struck me when I entered and explored Night City was how eerily similar it felt to Metro Manila and your observations made it clearer for me. The density, the mish-mash streets, and the chaos in each district. Night City felt like a peek into a future version of Metro Manila.
The city reminds me of two of my favorite movies, Akira and Bladerunner 2049.
Really hope they add missing features and fix bugs over the next few years because this game still has the potential to be a masterpiece.
That's because Akira and Bladerunner are in the cyberpunk genre. It's a weird thing to even mention. It'd be like saying "Red Dead Redemption 2 really reminds me of westerns". Like, duh, RDR2 is a western.
@@glowerworm Ok bro. It’s NOT common to get a game with a walkable version of a cyberpunk city. My point was it was interesting seeing a city that previously only existed in 2D movies and anime represented in full 3D.
@@IAmNumber4000 you should consider checking out the shadowrun games, they’re a mix of cyberpunk sci-fi and fantasy
Like your "roots" analysis parts, but mainly I got the feeling CDPR designers simply were going throough all cyberpunk/dystopian movies/artworks (just as Peter Jackson did for Lord of the Rings). So looking at those megabuildings I see "Peach Trees" from Dredd. For all those predecessor sources your analysis still hits true.
There's that, and there's a lot of references and easter eggs... but they also clearly put a lot of thought into the architecture and feel of the city, and of each individual district.
I forget what area of Night CIty I was in, but I remember stopping dead in my tracks and saying to myself, "I'm totally having a 5th Element moment." The lighting, time of day, foot traffic and architecture was like a scene right out of the movie.
I'd love a year long deep dive on Night City, just saying.
I actually think from a worldbuilding perspective that it's perfect that there is a workspace in V's apartment instead of a kitchen. Much like the freight-like elevator it implies a perspective on the individual and what they should use their time doing or emphasize in their life, which in this case is work. It also speaks to the paradigm of "bringing work home" emphasizing that you are always working whether officially on the clock or not. Having the "kitchen" be a vending machine is really just icing on the cake that solidifies this particular "commodification" of the individual. If you want to take the workspace/kitchen discussion to an extreme it could imply that the world or "powers that be" prioritize you working over personal sustenance or work as personal sustenance.
Fast forward a year and a half later and we now have a more polished game with the 1.6 patch, coupled with the Edgerunners anime and lore. It's a good time to be back in NC!
it's my second time watching this video a year later, enjoyed it just as much as the first time.
Bugs can be fixed, world design can’t. CDPR had their priorities right
Well, the devs had their priorities right. Upper management definitely didn't
@@narrowstone5363 does upper management ever have their priorities right?
They were selling the look of the future to a lot of people so it was their responsability, but not to the point of undertaking the multiple choice story. Let's remember that it was supposed to be an RPG. So no, they haven't their priorities right at all.
@@davidrojas4687 And i can gladly say that it is an rpg, you wanna know why i know that? Cause i played the damn thing
@@davidrojas4687 It definitly is an RPG. Stop relaying that nonsense from clueless people of CP not being an RPG.
for the future, you can get rid of things like the mission waypoint, by tracking missions like "psycho killers", or "beat on the Brat". these two missions don't have a localized objective, per se.
and if you want to remove the marker for the car... blow it up out of sight.
OR get the mod called "Non-Hideable HUD Removal" over on nexusmods. Which lets you get rid of pretty much everything as well.
WHATS THE NAME OF THE SONG AT 9:23 ??????????????
I absolutely love this world. Sometimes I just walk around for minutes on end just taking everything in. It has got the feeling of you could live here for years and never see it all.
Several years and several hundred hours later, and I still come back to this game on a regular basis. The world is absolutely engrossing, and not only due to the literally awesome architecture, but also the constant, inescapable presence of invasive adverts, the hustle and bustle of so many people going about their business around you, and just the feeling of moving through Night City. I hope CIG can learn from Cyberpunk 2077, and one day achieve the same level of immersive design in Star Citizen, preferably with less bugs...
I feel like im the only one who had almost 0 bugs in my first playtrough when the game came out.
Im on my 4th playtrough and i freaking love this game.
Dude have they fixed the bugs ?
I'm keen to buy it
@@KanyeKetchup they have! they've updated it a bunch from what i've seen too. besides, if you have a next gen console or play on a good pc, you should be fine lol. there are still a few glitches and bugs but it' DEFINITELY an improvement from when it first came out :)
@@isabelaragon6499 tanking you Isabel I'm buying it soon on next gen Xbox 😁😁peace
@@KanyeKetchup no problem! hope you enjoy it and have a mostly bug/glitch free experience haha
@@isabelaragon6499 you on ! thanks heaps
7:07 In world of cyberpunk most people eat syntetic food so they don't have kichens
Wonderful video. Though not an expert, I still enjoy the study and analysis of architecture.
To me, one of Cyberpunks greatest strengths is Night City. It *feels* alive, almost to the point it feels like it’s breathing. The thin roads and tight corners demand that you follow its rules, drive at its own speed. The skyscrapers leave you feeling like an ant, despite being cybernetic mercenary.
Really hoping you’ll dive deeper into the districts. 👍
I think they wanted to have their cake and eat it too by making V's individual apartment open and someplace players would want to return to, while having the apartment complex itself being dark and oppressive to fit the setting.
Also, I think the missing kitchen space actually makes sense in the context of having a vending machine. You're expected to survive purely off of that
Bed, vending machine and bathroom in his room is suppose to look like one of those prefab units installed.
This was a beautifully done video! I know that you mentioned here that you were breaking away from your norm by making a video that was not about Star Citizen, however I'm hoping that you'll be open to the idea of creating more for this series that do look at other games. With so many unique design elements in so many different games I feel like a professional architect's opinion and suggestions would be so interesting! I'll admit that one of my first thoughts was how interesting it would be to hear what you thought about the design of BioShock Infinite's cloud city, Columbia. Again, it's just an idea, and I wanted to be sure you knew that there are definitely people who would love to see what you're thoughts are outside the world of Star Citizen. I look forward to watching the rest of this series and seeing what else you add to it in the future.
I’m very happy to see your take on this. I think the design and presentation of the city itself is an achievement that gets overlooked. Unfortunately they put so much effort into the setting that it seems everything else suffered.
WHATS THE NAME OF THE SONG AT 9:23 ??????????????
It is just different teams my man. Environment team has done their best, some others not so much.
@@jeancouscous This is an engineering problem - pre-loading and rendering the environment burned up the available CPU cycles so there wasn't enough left for detailed AI and better physics checks to avoid vehicles flinging through the air. They have to re-balance (if possible) resource use to fix the gameplay issues.
I have roughly 30 hours in the game now and I’ve played a ridiculously small amount of missions just because of how appealing it is to wonder and take everything in. I plan to wait until the game is patched more to play missions, but damn night city is amazing.
The time has come
@@joaopereira2331 yeah fr, the bugs are normal game bugs now that's in every game instead of my Futa Fem V hanging shlong all the time.
Now the only issues I'm seeing is the occasional car floating 2 or 3 inches off the ground.
"Shoving a vending machine in your personal space" Giving my computer a side-eye...
this video is just perfect, OMG, im no architect, im an engineer, but im sooo into architecture styles and influences in culture, this video is just amazing
Umm Morphologis I think you forgot to mention the inspiration from the DREDD movies for the megablock city buildings!
i want to say that V's apartment is so large because of the cinematic drama that happens there and the actors need space to emote
WHATS THE NAME OF THE SONG AT 9:23 ??????????????
Correct ! Game and cinematic purpose
It's also because V makes tons of money as a merc, which is why V and Jackie are part of the major heist.
I feel like there's been two different versions of the game, and personally haven't had as bad of an experience as a lot of the reviews/articles/etc show. I love this game even with the few bugs it has, and can't wait for it to see the issues ironed out. Although even as much as I love the game even with those rough spots, I don't think I'd have the same opinion if it wasn't for the amazing work the art team did. Hell when it comes to a large open world game, I'm surprised the only issues I've had with the map are ones I've gone out of my way to find. In other open worlds I'd have stumbled upon at least a few holes in the world, yet here I've had to actually go out of my way to go outside the normal bounds of play to find the parts where the map starts to break. And on top of that the details of that entire map is beautiful.
Looking past the issues caused by shareholders rushing the release, you can really see how much the team put into this game, and that alone has such a huge impact. They really know that special ingredient to make a Jackie Wells, it's that splash of love.
I just kinda figured the lack of a kitchen was to encourage the occupant to use the vending machine.
V's apartment was an upgrade for them from doing the "time passes, do jobs, fuck around" in the intro with Jackie. They make a good chunk of change off the "suitcase" job and V buys a car and gets a nicer space to live, they weren't homeless before, if you play the nomad or streetkid but they had a crummier life style. If you're playing a corpo the new apartment is a downgrade as you get kicked out of your nicer, company owned, digs, having to start over. It is more center floor space compared to other lower class apartments in the city, but I think that's in part to enhance the view, but also allow space for the action of the cutscenes in the apartment to flow.
Nicer space but also still kinda alienating and oppressive.
Please check out Elizabeth and Jeff Peralez apartment.
It’s a big luxurious apartment, but you have to do a couple of missions for them to see the whole apartment.
Art-Deqo Bladerunner-Esque
This is so great. I really want to see more of it.
Good review of a game city. However, Mega-Block means one thing to me .. Judge Dredd.
And the interiors of that block really reminded me of the last movie's setting. (Edit for spelling)
Or The Fifth Element.
Its Demolition Man if you look closely there is reference to it.
Incendiary
As an architecture student and a gamer, this series means the world to me, and I would love to see you go deeper in depth with some of the individual structures in the game or even to expand it further to even more games that you feel deserve more love due to their attention to detail. Architecture in games is so underappreciated! Thank you for making these videos that really shine a light on the beauty of design in places where people may overlook it. :)
Thank you for making this video. I totally agree with you, and yes the city architecture what make me keep coming back playing.