Cyberpunk 2077: Night City Gangs Board Game Review

Cyberpunk 2077 has already reached the end of its journey, but this does not mean that you will not be able to get into this universe again. There is a board game Cyberpunk 2077: Gangs of Night City, in which hostile gangs await you. The following lines will tell you how the set is played.

• Number of players: 1–4 (with extension 1–5)
• Play time: 120 minutes
• Price: 2669 CZK (Alsa)
• Age: 14+

Cyberpunk 2077: Gangs Night City Lets You Fight on the Streets

Night City is a brutal city full of people struggling to survive. The Cyberpunk 2077: Gangs of Night City board game will give you the opportunity to fight with one of the gangs that compete with each other for dominance over individual parts of the metropolis. While in other board strategies you will not find very creatively designed factions, in this case you will get your hands on uniquely designed gangs, specific in terms of visual design and a couple of abilities with which they go into battle. The positions from which the games begin are also unique, as they all have some history with this world.

The basic idea of ​​the gameplay is that you try to gain the upper hand in the given districts, because only in this way can you fully exploit their potential. When you completely control a place, all the profits flow to you and also nothing prevents you from taking important positions from which your special forces are located. More precisely, you organize raids with soloists, tough guys who do not mind spilling blood. But there are technicians from whom you buy opportunity cards that can bring you victory points and much more.

Technicians also act as recruiters for Edgers, who are mercenaries representing the three main professions and sometimes one that falls outside the normal rules. In addition to Technicians, there are also Network Operations Specialists, who, for example in the Voodoo Boys faction, can reinforce their friends in the same area as them during a firefight. They then actively gnaw through networks with cubes and more than once manage to obtain various powerful benefits along the way and even kill people equipped with implants (whoever).

At least you’ll be killing people from a distance. The blood will flow primarily on the streets where skirmishes occur, which players may or may not participate in. But who wouldn’t want to control the street that brings in the money, eh? When it comes to combat, the main combat cards are played, from which you choose one and then look at the score. You don’t refill your deck during the game, you discard old ones as they improve, creating a new limited set for the battle, and that’s the cool thing about that part. The winner of the fight gets the location, and those with lower values ​​are “out of luck”.

So it is possible that you will lose units during combat. Luckily for you, units will constantly spawn in areas where you have cover. The game itself ends when you manage to get 25 reputation points in Cyberpunk 2077: Gangs Night City or start the epilogue of this story. The range of storylines is varied, and what’s worse, their progression may not always be the same as it develops as the game progresses. I really like the fact that there is no solo option.

Cyberpunk 2077: Night City Gangs – Families and Outlaws Brings the Wasteland and Room for Another Gangster

Along with the spectacular strategy Cyberpunk 2077: Gangs of Night City, the Family and Outlaws expansion also hit the market, which couldn’t be ignored, so I took a closer look at it too. The main novelty that this expansion brings is the Wasteland. Thanks to this, the city is replenished with a new part that you can enter and, most importantly, place a couple of recently added game factions on it.

Yes, you read that right. The game world of Cyberpunk 2077: Gangs of Night City has been expanded with two factions that are firmly tied to the desert. On one side are the Shadows, and on the other, the Aldecald family has been added. Both factions have mechanics tied to their homeland. Moreover, they are in no way built on pure expansion into the metropolis, so you will encounter them, but in a different way than those that represent the “original” inhabitants of the city.

Given the way the newly added factions are structured, I would say that the expansion it includes is definitely worth checking out. It also increases the number of playable spots, so you can invite another potential opponent into the game if you want.

The clash of powerful organizations is worth it in Cyberpunk 2077: Gangs of Night City

Board games based on video games are not always what you want. However, in the case of Cyberpunk 2077: Gangs Night City, I would say that the creators of this title have done a great job, for which they deserve a round of applause. Thanks to their efforts, we have a very successful strategy game in Night City, in which gangs of different orientations fight. Compared to other competing projects, it is surprisingly accessible.

Thanks to the aforementioned accessibility, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Cyberpunk 2077: Gangs of Night City even to non-gamers who enjoy strategy games, as it will give them the opportunity to travel to Night City and fully experience what it’s like when gangs clash. And while you’re at it, immediately download the Family and Outlaws expansion, which adds new factions and a place for another player.

We would like to thank Czech distributor Blackfire for providing us with copies of Cyberpunk 2077: Gangs of Night City and Cyberpunk 2077: Gangs of Night City – Families and Outlaws.