Pacifica (2077)

This article is about the district in Cyberpunk 2077. For other uses, see Pacifica (disambiguation).

Pacifica could've been Night City's money-making vacation resort, but once the investment dried up it became a husk left to rot. Now, instead of tourists, the district is overrun by gangs and violence, with the Voodoo Boys protecting the community forsaken by NCPD.

— Cyberpunk 2077

Pacifica is one of the major districts of Night City, located in the southern portion of the metropolis.

Overview

Pacifica was originally envisioned as Night City's vacation resort for the ultra-wealthy. It was to be true paradise, catering to corporate employees and tourists alike and with Militech security contractors protecting its golden sandy beaches, luxurious hotels, and unmatched entertainment.^[1] By 2077 the district has become a lawless and anarchic Combat Zone.^[2] no longer considered part of Night City's administrative boundaries.^[3]

History

Resort Project (2050s - 2060s)

The slow rebuilding process of Pacifica was accelerated in the late 2050s and early 2060s, when investors, backed up by the Night City Council, tried to expand the region into a booming and wealthy touristic resort.^[4] Among these were Euro Business Machines, Petrochem, and other corporations, but of special note was Militech, who put a major funds into this project.^[5]^[6]

Over the following years, the district became a massive construction project, importing hundreds upon hundreds of laborers (mostly from Haiti) and poured billions of eurodollars into building luxury hotels, casinos, shopping centers, spas and a newer and bolder amusement park, as well as an impressive sports arena.^[4] Militech spearheaded the construction effort, followed by major construction companies like HFS, Zhirafa, Corp-Bud, Aurochs, among others. Coastview and West Wind Estate became the western sub-districts, while the eastern section was to be called Serenisands. Old buildings were dilapidated to give space to modern structures, and a high-speed road network was connected to the rest of the metropolis. This investment was meant to show Night City's economic strength, but short into the project, a large explosion under a construction site put the whole thing on hold.^[5]

An extensive investigation did not provide any answers to the cause of the explosion, resulting in just doubling the local security detail. The truth was that in the 2020s Militech had built an extensive network of laboratories and bunkers hidden beneath Pacifica's infrastructure, only to be abandoned at some point prior to the Fourth Corporate War. Rumors said that the expolsion had been caused after accidentally uncovering part of Cynosure's project. Due to this, the City Council decided to wall-off Serenisands, giving the excuse of a gas leak, and Militech constructed a large wall separating Serenisands from the rest of the city. But this didn't bother investors too much, and construction resumed.^[5]^[7]^[8]

Unfortunately, the dream of the new resort paradise ended in 2069 when the Unification War broke out.^[4]

Unification War & Aftermath (2069 - 2075)

The Unification War halted Pacifica's success in its tracks. Investors began to back out as completing the construction of a luxury resort dropped down the financial priority list. Around 2070, as fears mounted that the New United States would invade Night City from Southern California and Pacifica would become a battlefield, corporations and other investors raced to pull their funding from the ongoing projects. With Night City's economy already on a downturn, the effect on the district was disastrous. Pacifica was left unfinished and lawless. Construction work was put on permanent hold, leaving most buildings unfinished hulks of concrete and steel.^[4]

The techno-mystical group of netrunners known as the Voodoo Boys were part of the Haitian community that had settled in Night City after their country was ravaged by climate disaster. With so many dangers, they took it upon themselves to protect the local community, forsaken and left to fend for themselves by the NCPD.^[1] Soon after they begun to take control the district.^[4]

When war reached Night City, a Militech unit led by Kurt Hansen managed to take hold of parts of Serenisands. In the meantime, the Arasaka Corporation had been asked by Councilman Lucius Rhyne to return to Night City to aid them, and mere days later, a supercarrier was docked at Del Coronado Bay. The NUSA asked for their soldiers to retire, but Hansen decided to ignore the directive and remain in the area. Small fights between Arasaka, Militech and the armies of SoCal and NorCal reached the city, but not long after, the Arvin Accord was signed and the war was ended.^[5]^[4]

With Pacifica abandoned and in ruins, gangs and the homeless moved in. On the western side of the district, the Voodoo Boys led riots against the city officials and corporations that were trying to reclaim Pacifica. On the eastern side, the rogue Colonel Kurt Hansen was disdained at the Arvin Accord, and so he decided to create his own fiefdom. Hansen tasked his unit to take full control of Serenisands, a perfect location surrounded by thick walls, large edifices and hills, and set up a permanent base of operations. Soon after, Kurt and his unit established the BARGHEST militia, growing his forces by recruiting mercenaries and later any willing renegade and gangers. With all this chaos, Pacifica became a sanctuary for refugees, fugitives and criminals.^[5]^[4]

Over the following years, the city shut down all services in Pacifica, but both the Voodoo Boys and the BARGHEST found their ways around the official lack of water, power and CitiNet.^[4] Finally, in 2072 a series of violent protests led by the Voodoo Boys repealed a large NCPD task force. On October 17, the local NCPD Precinct was officially disbanded, resulting in the whole district being recognized as a Combat Zone. The Voodoo Boys emerged as the de facto authority in western Pacifica, while BARGHEST controlled their own area known as Dogtown.^[4]^[9]

2076 - 2077

By 2076, Pacifica was overrun by poverty and criminal activity. Buildings were occupied by the formerly homeless, and tourists — or merely visitors — to Pacifica were few. Scavengers and other criminal gangs plagued the district, leaving many who entered without valuable cybernetic implants or vital organs. The Voodoo Boys and BARGHEST still controlled vast swaths of the district. Other Night City officials still hold hope for Pacifica however, promoting the district to be capable of returning to the original vacation paradise it was on its way to becoming.^[10]

In 2077, Mayor Lucius Rhyne re-designated Pacifica an "independent district" of Night City, dropping it from the administrative boundaries of the city proper.^[3] This was a ploy that allowed Pacifica's crime statistics to be excluded from the city's official numbers. Rhyne and his deputy, Weldon Holt, took full credit for the resulting 3% "drop" in Night City's crime rate as he ran for re-election against challenger Jefferson Peralez.

That same year, Kang Tao began expressing an interest in buying property in Pacifica to build a new server facility. The Night City Council was debating whether or not to offer selling the lot to Kang Tao for a single eurodollar in exchange for a pledge to help quell the district's rampant crime.^[11]

Database Entry

PACIFICA

You could say that Pacifica is almost a microcosm of Night City's history. It started with, "We're building a paradise," and ended with "Dear God, what a nightmare." On paper it was meant to be the classiest and most iconic district catering to corporate employees - Night City's take on Las Vegas in its heyday. Luxury hotels, entertainment halls, sandy beaches... sadly, that Pacifica only existed in the blueprints drawn up by architects for fat-cat investors. Those same investors pulled out every last enny after the Unification War broke out, fearing yet another inter-corporate conflict. Pacifica was abandoned by all but the local Haitian community, led by a gang of netrunners called the Voodoo Boys. The city has repeatedly tried and failed to bring the district back into the fold, but it remains isolated, with its own rules, language, manufactured goods (illegal in Night City) and independent Net. You could say that that Pacifica has blossomed under the Voodoo Boys' leadership, but poison oak would be a more suitable metaphor. To anyone who enters - beware.^[11]

Sub-districts

Coastview
Dogtown, formerly known as Serenisands.
West Wind Estate

Behind the Scenes

Squint, and Pacifica almost looks like the tantalizing vision that gave its initial investors stiffies: hotels with ocean views and private pools, an amusement park to bring in that family vacation eurodollar, a beach complete with a pier, umbrellas and, OK, garbage, but that's the price of being next to Night City. And that prime location is what would make this resort a money-making machine. Those investors didn't stay hard for Pacifica for long, however. Mid-construction, hotter opportunities came along and they pulled out, leaving the half-finished buildings to rot. Gangs moved in and the would-be beachfront paradise became a war zone. The city gave up on fixing or bulldozing it and just walled the whole place off. What was supposed to be every visitor's first stop is now a hostile hellhole you can't enter even if you're crazy enough to want to. As a result, Pacifica serves as 2077's version of a hallowed Cyberpunk tradition: the Combat Zone, a place where bullets can fly without any cops or civilians getting in the way. Making that zone an abandoned resort opened up room for our artists to play with sharp visual contrasts: funhouse signs riddled with bullet holes, luxury pools filled with chemical sludge. In terms of style, here Entropism has engulfed an aborted attempt at Kitsch.^[12]

— The Official Digital Artbook of Cyberpunk 2077

Notes

In 2077, the district security turrets can be seen to be damaged all around the area.
Similarly, while ambient advertisement announcements can be heard, due to neglect these are greatly deteriorated and occasionally skip or barely play.