Virtual Tourism in Night City is an exploration within the video game Cyberpunk 2077 by CD Projekt. Part of the Virtual Tourism Project, a series of photos and videos dedicated to the work of game designers, developers, and a way to keep memory of our virtual excursions in the metaverse. “The Soulignac Brothers“ is a creative collective exploring new territories in cyberspace.
A broken simulation
Exploring Night City was both fascinating and disappointing. The offering from the talented Polish studio CD Projekt had enormous potential for immersion, thanks in particular to its artistic direction. Unfortunately, when it was hastily launched in 2020, the software did not yet have the level of interactive design necessary to make us believe in this illusion of life. This feeling of organic emptiness was mainly due to flaws in the design (or lack of finishing touches) of the simulation itself: a lack of decorative interactions, random events and credible reactions from non-player characters (NPCs). The game lacks autonomous procedural mechanisms and convincing artificial intelligence to structure this simulated world, enabling the game to react coherently with the player.
Unresponsive city life
The street gangs of Night City pay very little attention to your activities and movements. This lack of reaction is surprising in a dystopian world where poverty and urban violence seem to be rampant. Even more surprising is that the police and judicial system in Night City do not seem particularly concerned about your actions. With the law, force, and new technologies of the future as tools for regulating violence, whether predictive, preventive, or repressive in nature, it is inconceivable that futuristic police and judicial authorities could be so invisible and powerless. In this regard, GTA 3, released more than twenty years ago, offered a far more realistic and convincing urban simulation.
Absence of media
Civil society in Night City also shows no reaction. The media are omnipresent, but serve only as advertising channels, never reporting on events taking place in the simulated world. To fuel the narrative, the media should either reflect a democratic model, promoting transparency, or an authoritarian model, resorting to distortion and propaganda, or even invent something that lies between these two models. In a simulation as tech-oriented as Night City, it is unthinkable not to imagine the media as a central narrative tool. In a context of technological collapse, when low tech becomes the norm again, the role of the media would probably become secondary, as is very well portrayed in the coherent and organic universe developed by Ukrainian studio A4Games Metro Exodus.
Resigned citizens
The civilians encountered in the simulated streets of Night City seem unable to adapt to this ultra-violent and hyper-connected world. They appear lethargic, even absent. In the real world, specialists might describe this as resilience or resignation. In truth, such a lack of reaction is both humanly and sociologically implausible; it is simply an oversight by the simulation’s creators. From this perspective, in a very different style, the universe imagined by French studio Quantic Dream in Detroit: Become Human is much more convincing.
Bringing life to virtual worlds
Recreating a credible life in a digital simulation is obviously a highly complex exercise, a contemporary creative practice undergoing technical and theoretical development. Not to mention the increasing demands of players in a mature market that already offers a wide range of open-world video games. The public ‘loved to hate’ this game because its promise was immense and exciting. That is why the flaws in Cyberpunk 2077 should be put into perspective, and in no way detract from the ambitions and immense talent of the artists at the European studio CD Projekt. The creation of open-world games with immersive pretensions should be seen as part of the naturalist artistic movement as a whole.
Digital naturalism, a new practice
The requirements for the success of such creative projects are difficult to imagine from the outside. Bringing together talents with such varied profiles and getting them to cooperate on a single project, with dual artistic and industrial ambitions, is probably one of the major creative challenges of our time. Gamers, video game critics and virtual tourists like The Soulignac Brothers, must be humble and recognise that ambitious video game creators are also explorers: they innovate by constantly pushing the boundaries, at the risk of making mistakes or getting lost. The best example of success in the field of digital naturalism is still, to this day, the incredible universe developed by American studio Rockstar Games : Read Dead Redemption 2.
© 2020 The Soulignac Brothers | Virtual Tourism in Night City – Cyberpunk 2077 (version 1.04 for PS4 Pro). Creative walks and videography in video games. Game designer: © CD Projekt. Music: TELO$ by Asap Rocky & Boys Noize. In-game videographer : François Soulignac. Technique: LED television screen and PlayStation 4 Pro captured on mobile phone, in December 2020. Virtual Tourism Project is a series of photos and videos dedicated to the work of game designers, developers, and a way to keep memory of our virtual excursions in the metaverse. “The Soulignac Brothers“ is a creative collective exploring new territories in cyberspace.