What Night City 2045 Actually Is
Night City 2045 is a 312-page Cyberpunk RED sourcebook that serves as an official Cyberpunk 2077 prequel, set roughly three decades before players meet V on the streets of Night City. Developed by R. Talsorian Games in collaboration with CD Projekt Red, it is billed as “the definitive guide to Night City in the time of the red.” Positioned squarely in the aftermath of the Fourth Corporate War, it shows the city clawing its way back from a nuclear blast and the blood-red skies that define this era. Rather than just adding flavor text, Night City 2045 is designed as a full structural simulation of the metropolis: a gazetteer that explains how Night City functions day-to-day, who pulls the strings, and how ordinary edgerunners navigate the ruins and opportunities left behind by retreating megacorps.
Hidden History, Themes, and Story Hooks
Night City 2045 promises to “pull back the curtain” on the hidden history of Cyberpunk 2077’s signature setting by charting the city’s complete evolution up to its 2045 status quo. The book digs into the Time of the Red, when radioactive fallout and infamous “blood rains” form a constant backdrop to rebuilding efforts. Thematically, this is a city in limbo: the big corporations have retreated to lick their wounds, leaving gangs, fixers, and desperate citizens to fight over what’s left. Story hooks naturally emerge from this chaos—territorial wars between Night City’s 44 gangs, power plays involving six criminal organisations and 23 security providers, and the fragile infrastructure keeping 24 districts barely functional. For game masters, it’s effectively a campaign generator, with current events, headlines, and local conflicts in every district ready to be spun into heists, investigations, or street-level survival stories.
Release Timeline, PDF Access, and Preorder Perks
Night City 2045’s full physical launch is locked for June, with R. Talsorian planning to debut hardcopies at Origins Game Fair before wider shipping later in the month. Crucially, the digital PDF is already available, letting groups dive into the setting well ahead of the hardcover landing on tables. Pricing sits at USD 60 (approx. RM280) for the physical book and USD 30 (approx. RM140) for the PDF, with a notable perk: preordering the physical edition grants a 50% discount on the digital version. Buyers who pick up the PDF through Demiplane also receive free access to Roll20’s Map Pin feature, making it easier to manage the book’s 600-plus locations in online campaigns. For Cyberpunk RED groups, that early digital access means they can start plotting campaigns, dropping in locations, and wiring in factions now, then upgrade to the physical tome once it ships.
What’s Inside This ‘Monster’ Cyberpunk RED Sourcebook
The sheer density of Night City 2045 is what makes it a true “monster sourcebook.” It maps all 24 districts of the tabletop RPG Night City, giving each its own character, power brokers, and ongoing news. Over 600 specific locations are detailed, from corner stores and ripperdoc clinics to gang strongholds, megabuildings, and corporate fortresses, all supported by new maps meant to make the city feel navigable at the table. The book also functions as a faction encyclopedia: 44 gangs, six criminal organisations, and 23 private security providers are catalogued, emphasizing how blurred the line is between corporate muscle and organized crime. On the mechanical side, 99 stat blocks give game masters instant NPCs, from low-level punks to hardened enforcers and civilians. Combined, these tools turn Night City into a plug-and-play sandbox, ready for one-shots or sprawling long-term campaigns.
Who Night City 2045 Is For—and Why It Matters
Night City 2045 is aimed squarely at three overlapping audiences. Cyberpunk 2077 players hungry for deeper Cyberpunk 2077 lore finally get an official bridge between the original tabletop era and CD Projekt Red’s game, showing how a nuked, gang-riddled city slowly becomes the neon sprawl they explored as V. Existing Cyberpunk RED groups gain an incredibly detailed campaign hub, replacing ad-hoc city notes with a fully realized atlas of the Time of the Red. Newcomers can use it as a starting point, building their first campaigns around ready-made districts, factions, and story seeds. More broadly, the book underscores how the Cyberpunk universe keeps expanding beyond a single video game, alongside projects like the animated Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and a card game. It positions Night City itself—not just its protagonists—as the franchise’s enduring main character.
