District feature: Watson

[Vattier]

Welcome to Watson!

Watson used to have it all. Nightclubs, skyscrapers, corporate offices, a top-end medcenter — even the biggest black market in Night City. Japanese corporations competing with Arasaka invested billions of eurodollars in the district, intending to make it self-sufficient and prosperous.

Everything changed when Arasaka returned to the city after the Unification War. It bled other corporations dry and changed Watson forever. Without a stable financial sector, Watson's glory days ended: the Northside Industrial District, once a cutting edge technology park, could no longer provide jobs, leaving people out on the street. This economic vacuum allowed Arasaka to take over and make Watson its own. In the end, Arasaka got what it wanted — port-access in the Waterfront.

Today, Watson is a sad and desperate place. It's one of Night City's poorest districts and it's a battleground between Maelstrom and Tyger Claws.

Maelstrom settled in the Northside Industrial District (also known as the NID). It's filled with factories (most of them abandoned) and working-class apartment blocks. You can also find the well-known Totentanz bar here.

Tyger Claws operate from Little China and Kabuki. Little China used to be an extension of Downtown; it's a high density urban region with skyscrapers, overpopulated with Asian immigrants during the late 2040s. You can find the old Med Center here. It used to be the best place in Night City to legally spend some money on your body, but now it’s overrun by the Kabuki Market.

Kabuki is a maze of narrow alleyways located right next to Little China. At night, they turn into a bazaar for implants, organs, steroids, and much more. Legend is that you can find anything you’re looking for in Kabuki Market. This makes Watson a prime target for Scavs, a ruthless group of people who harvest peoples’ organs and implants for resale on the balck market.

The rest of Watson is the Arasaka Waterfront. An area off limits for non-employees.


NORTHSIDE INDUSTRIAL DISTRICT


LITTLE CHINA


KABUKI


ARASAKA WATERFRONT

 

[Kazuliski]

Interesting updates! Thanks!

 

[CyberLettuce]

Exciting! Love it.

 

[xxTotexx]

Oh wow! Can we please see Jackie's apartment next?

 

[craylest]

Concept arts look amazing !!

 

[AshenBeans]

This is the type of content that i like

 

[DataEntity.390]

Kabuki is a maze of narrow alleyways located right next to Little China. At night, they turn into a bazaar for implants, organs, steroids, and much more. Legend is that you can find anything you’re looking for in Kabuki Market.

But can you find, you know;

Kabuki theatre in Night City Kabukicho?

 

[satyrsangre]

cultural demographics of night city the sociologist in me in nerding tf out rn

 

[Matchst1ckk]

Arasaka Waterfront is employee only? Why do I get the feeling we'll be going in anyway...

 

[Suhiira]

Arasaka Waterfront is employee only? Why do I get the feeling we'll be going in anyway...

Post, or late game I'm going in!

 

[Rawls]

Curious minds want to know. Is the area to the left (across the canal from V's apartment) Kubaki or Westbrook/Japantown?

 

[Syware]

I'm kinda disappointed with the Arasaka Waterfront I thought it was going to be luxurious colorful place but it looks like an industrious place with a lot of greys. The name definitely doesn't fit. Should've been "Arasaka Waterfort". lol Anyways, that doesn't matter much.

Since there is a place called Little China, I think it would've been a cool idea to add a Chinese gang in the game. It seems like a missed opportunity. Then, you can have Chinese and Japanese gang rivalry going on. I don't know if the second part is cool idea tho. I got the inspiration from cyberpunk 2077 concept art where it showed two asian gangs facing off each other. So, in my mind I immediately thought of a chinese and japanese gang fighting against one another.

So, it seems there going to be three gangs in Watson area. Actually, the Scavs aren't really a gang. It reminds me of bandits in video games.

 

[satyrsangre]

I'm kinda disappointed with the Arasaka Waterfront I thought it was going to be luxurious colorful place but it looks like an industrious place with a lot of greys.

the luxury of Arasaka is in the City Center and the suburbs of North Oaks, that area. the waterfront is just their shipping outfit.

as for a Chinese gang, the Chinese community went through a lot since the 80s in the world of Cyberpunk across Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and the Pacific US. and they went through that time with less corporate backing than the Japanese booster gangs the Tyger Claws and later the Steel Dragons and the mafia, Yakuza (not the same things). the only Chinese corp we know of in CP2077 is Kang Tao, which is technically Taiwanese, and they're young, without the prestige and resources that Arasaka has built up. plus, there's been plenty of friction between the internal Arasaka factions, their commensurate gangs, and the Yakuza. plenty of conflict in Japantown and Little China.

 

[CyberBrett]

Home sweet home

 

[Nunnek25]

Maelstrom ,Tyger Claws and Scavs ? What about Mox ? In trailer they have this nightclub. Is that area not in Watson ?

 

[LordSerion]

OK, gotta ask: what's with the NCPD booth on the Little China pic on the right?

 

[Rawls]

Is that area not in Watson ?

Most of the previews indicated the prologue was mostly in Watson. The the best guess is that yes they're in Watson. However, it could be somewhere else, or they could just be a less powerful group than the Tyger Claws and Maelstrom, and so not mentioned in that particular blurb.

 

[Nunnek25]

Most of the previews indicated the prologue was mostly in Watson. The the best guess is that yes they're in Watson. However, it could be somewhere else, or they could just be a less powerful group than the Tyger Claws and Maelstrom, and so not mentioned in that particular blurb.

Weird bec Maelstrom looks like your tutorial lvl enemy gang. You can go and kill them all off in their base at lvl 2. lol

 

[Rawls]

You can go and kill them all off in their base at lvl 2. lol

Powerful as in they have more control over the streets in this area. Watson is pretty clearly the prologue area, so I would guess most enemies are less challenging there at the start.

 

[DataEntity.390]

In trailer they have this nightclub. Is that area not in Watson ?

Lizzies Bar is in Little China, which is in Watson.