Where & When Does Cyberpunk Edgerunners Take Place?

Game adaptations were hit and miss recently – Resident Evil’s sour taste still lingers in our mouths. On the other hand, we had animated features like Arcane being exceptionally good, Tekken: Bloodline being decent, and finally, Cyberpunk Edgerunners being the most recent game adaptation that is good. Fans were impressed with its compelling story, characters, and animation – mostly for its true cyberpunk style that immerses us even more in the world of Night City. This article will discuss where and when Cyberpunk Edgerunners take place.

According to the Cyberpunk lore, Edgerunners take place a year before the events of the Cyberpunk 2077 game, specifically in 2076. The show is set in a futuristic place called the Night City, which serves as the main setting for the Cyberpunk 2077 game. There were no outright announcements or statements regarding the exact timeline of the show. Still, fans of the game and viewers connected the dots through the easter eggs present in both Edgerunners and Cyberpunk 2077.

We will discuss more the setting and timeline of the Cyberpunk Edgerunners and characters from both media that are connected in some way. If you are interested, stay with us till the end of the article.

Where does Cyberpunk Edgerunners take place?

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is a recently released Netflix TV show developed by the CD Projekt Red and Studio Trigger. The show closely follows the already established lore of the Cyberpunk franchise and does have some connections to the Cyberpunk 2077 game released in 2020. How? The animation and style of the TV show and game share many similarities, with the colors and overall atmosphere.

The mechanics and storylines are also quite similar since both main protagonists, David and V, are fighting against the megacorps like Arasaka and trying to survive the onslaught of aggressive and oppressive corporations. The main setting of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is the Night City, an autonomous city located on the border between North and South California.

It is considered a modern multicultural metropolis of the 21st century overrun by the already mentioned megacorporations, crime, corruption, and gang violence. Since its foundation in 1994, Night City and its citizens suffered from the beginning – according to Cyberpunk lore, the economy collapsed just before the city’s establishment in 1993.

Arasaka used the economic collapse to profit from smaller companies’ misery and soon became one of the richest megacorps in the New United States. Night City has eight districts, and each has specific standards of living. For example, let’s compare districts relevant to the TV show – David’s home was Santo Domingo, the oldest district in the city and one of the poorest places to live.

The residents needed to scrape something to survive and lived in the industrial megabuildings that were much too crowded. We also have City Center, where David attended the Arasaka Academy before becoming an Edgerunner.

More specifically, the Academy is located in the Corpo Plaza with Arasaka Tower, where David goes to end the Arasaka. This location is the safest in the city, and it is filled with skyscrapers that could touch the sky – they are used for showcasing the influence megacorps have in the Night City.

We have the Watson district filled with nightclubs, skyscrapers, corporate offices, and more, but the economic disaster stopped any honest job in that area. After the economic collapse, the district is known as “a gang district” and one of the worst neighborhoods in the Night City. Arasaka Waterfront and the nightclub Afterlife are located in those districts and present the area that was mostly a tourist before the inevitable fall from grace.

Finally, we have Westbrook district, where rich people live in the Night City. It is the best place to live, and if one has money to spend, they go to the Westbrook district.

These locations all appeared in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. Now that we have gotten this out of the way, we can connect the show’s location to the timeline and see if it correlates with Cyberpunk 2077.

When does Cyberpunk Edgerunners take place?

The timeline of the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners story was a bit more difficult to determine since the CD Projekt studio did not confirm any specific timeline for when the show’s storyline is happening. We only knew the show’s location and little details about Edgerunner’s premise.

However, after the show’s first season was concluded, fans jumped on the Cyberpunk 2077 game and read the notes for 1.6. patch that was released earlier this month. The game devs added secret content in the game regarding the Edgerunners and provided the players with more insight about David and his life.

In the Over the Edge side job from the DLC, you need to approach the Megabuilding H4 in Arroyo, where the green graffiti near the entrance is. Near the entrance, in the trash, you will find a braindance recording called the Braindance Wreath, where you will experience the death of cyberpsycho Lt. Col. James Norris, who died during the events of the Edgerunners. After the end of the sequence, the game will warn your character not to end up like David Martinez.

We won’t spoil the quest anymore, but we will say that you can interact with Falco, who is revealed to be alive during Cyberpunk 2077, and he will help you discover more about David and his story. The award at the quest’s end is also sweet, and if you play the DLC after watching the show, the moment will be really cool.

The side job also ensures that David’s death and the beginning of the V’s story in the Cyberpunk game are not that far off. Another and most obvious hint that the game and show are in the same timeline and only a year apart comes from the character, Adam Smasher. The cyborg hired by Arasaka to kill David, Adam Smasher, is also the antagonist of the Cyberpunk game, where V and his crew, depending on how you choose your path, need to defeat the legendary cyborg.

Now, there are a few other easter eggs, like the David Martinez drink available in the Afterlife club in the game, which indicates David’s legendary status in the Night City. Also, the megacorps Arasaka and Militech, and their still strong influence on the city – your character needs to take down the oppressive corporations in the game.

In the end, the connection between the different media and shared lore can always be poorly executed but Cyberpunk creators and executives showed that both games and TV shows can be interlined with their stories but exclusive in their own thing. We cannot wait for new Cyberpunk adventures in season two of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.