Cyberpunk 2077 Gangs Of Night City The Board Game Review

Some people think that the Corps run Night City, and fewer still believe that the NC Council has a say. The truth is that the gangs run NC, through their holds over the different sectors, and don't think for a moment that any of them are sitting still, they all want a bigger piece of the pie. This is where you come in. In Cyberpunk 2077 Gangs Of Night City The Board Game, you pick your gang, and go to war with the others on the streets of Night City, and who knows, you may even meet some NC Legends straight out of Cyberpunk 2077.

How Do You Play Cyberpunk 2077 Gangs of Night City The Board Game?

The aim in Gangs of Night City is to gain street cred through actions, with 25 being the total to aim for. But things in Cyberpunk are never that easy, and there are 6 (including the solo mode) story cards that change things up along the way. The story card brings in new rules, and these can change and develop by adding new story cards when certain conditions are met, like a player getting to a set street cred level.

Each turn players can complete 2 actions, and these are marked on their gang board when completed. Those actions can't be used again until a player takes the reclaim action instead of taking their normal turn. The actions players can complete are:

• Activate solos - Your solos can move and engage other gang members in a single sector where you have solos
• Activate techies - Your techies and drones can move, and if you control the right areas, you can gain opportunity cards, or hire famous characters from Cyberpunk 2077 as edgerunners to boost your gang
• Activate netrunners - This lets you move along the netrun track for higher and higher rewards as you enter different tiers, but increasing consequences of being caught by Netwatch
• Build a hideout - Players can build up to three hideouts in different areas of NC. This allows you to recruit into that area and also helps towards gaining rewards in that area when you reclaim
• Upgrade a combat card - All players start with the same hand of 4 combat cards. If they choose this action, they draw 2 from the combat deck, choose 1, and return the other to the bottom of the deck. The card they chose then replaces one in their hand, which is removed from the game
• Wild Action - This action can be used as any of the other 5 actions, letting you do one action twice before having to reclaim.

When you decide to reclaim, you move all your action counters on your gang board back to available, gain resources in districts in which you have units, and recruit new units into areas that have hideouts. You don't get to take any actions that turn.

During combat in the activate solos action, the winner is worked out by who has the most firepower in that area. The solo miniatures themselves don't add anything to firepower unless a card or ability says so, they are just there to indicate which areas you can fight in. Firepower is usually gained from abilities, the combat cards you play, like the Crusher starting card that adds 3 firepower, and edgerunners that you hire.

Can You Netrun In Cyberpunk 2077 Gangs of Night City The Board Game

As mentioned above, in Cyberpunk 2077 Gangs off Night City the Board Game you can netrun, but it's simply a matter of choosing the netrun action, moving spaces along the track determined by the number of netrunners you have. Each point on the track has an action, which can be to gain street cred or eliminate an opposing unit. Then finally, you roll against the netwatch total, which increases in difficulty as you progress and suffer the consequences listed if you fail the roll. 

Every time you netrun, you also gain corporate secret tokens if you have control of a data fortress on the board. Corporate secrets are a valuable resource and can be spent on opportunity cards that can come up during the game. There's a nice link between the solos controlling areas on the board, and the netrunners, but it doesn't make the netrunning feel particularly thematic beyond the skin over the mechanics.

To those brand new to the Cyberpunk setting, and even those coming from the Cyberpunk 2077 video game, it probably won't matter too much, but those who've got a history with the Cyberpunk RPG (either Cyberpunk 2020 or the new Cyberpunk Red), and especially those blessed to have been able to play the card game Netrunner, it doesn't really feel like there's a whole lot of depth to it.

Even combat has cards that you can play to interact differently, here you simply move along a track and try to roll over an increasing number. The mechanics just fall a bit flat. It would have been easy to include another card deck for netrunning, and maybe a random netwatch events deck to go alongside it. Netrunning is a huge part of Cyberpunk, and this element of Cyberpunk 277 Gangs of Night City the Board Game just doesn't represent it adequately.

Do You Play V In Cyberpunk 2077 Gangs of Night City The Board Game

In Gangs of Night City, you are in charge of the whole gang. You don't play a specific character as such, but famous Cyberpunk 2077 characters will appear as edgerunners you can hire. In the solo mode, you actually play against Johhny Silverhand (also an edgerunner you can hire, but removed from the deck during solo play), and during the Kickstarter that funded the game, a Kickstarter exclusive V was also available as your opponent for Solo games (not available in the retail version we're reviewing here).

Each gang has its own feel. The Voodoo Boys are great at netrunning and can reroll the dice if they fail the netwatch check, whereas the Tyger Claws dish out revenge tokens when their units are taken out, and gain extra street cred when they eliminate units in firefights where revenge tokens are collected.

Cyberpunk 2077 Gangs of Night Cight the Board Game Familes and Outcasts Expansion

The Families ad Outcasts expansion adds several new elements to Cyberpunk 2077 Gangs of Night City the Board Game. The first is 2 new gangs, the Wraiths, who gain rewards from raiding and denying opponents district rewards, and the Aldecaldos, who recruit eliminated enemy units and gain rewards based on how many units they have in play.

Both gangs can be used in normal games of Gangs of Night City, adding some variety to repeat plays. It also adds the ability to include a 5th player, with the extra combat cards and an expansion to the Night City map game board. It also includes a new story, Land Grab, and some extra cards for when playing single-player with or against the 2 new gangs.

It's a very good expansion overall. The 2 new gangs are fun and play differently from the original 4 gangs, extra stories are always welcome and the 5th player makes games a lot more chaotic and challenging.

What Are Our Final Thoughts On Cyberpunk 2077 Gangs of Night City The Board Game?

Cyberpunk 2077 Gangs of Night City the Board Game is a decent board game, there's a lot of tactical elements and the stories and opportunities keep it interesting in repeat plays.

The miniatures are solid and the inclusion of famous faces from the Cyberpunk 2077 video game is fun, but the lack of interaction in the netrunning highlights the skin over the mechanics too harshly.

Each gang does have a unique feel that matches the lore, and you will find yourself playing in that style as it's easier to gain street cred that way, but with the amount of Cyberpunk detail and previous games out there, the setting should be more imbued with the mechanics.

Should I Buy Cyberpunk 2077 Gangs of Night City The Board Game?

If you want a great board game that works well with 1 to 4 players, with different ways to win and some elements that mix it up on repeat plays, then Cyberpunk 2077 Gangs of Night City the Board Game is solid. If however, you're looking for something dark and gritty, with deep netrunning elements, then Gangs of Night City isn't it, and you should check out Cyberpunk Red or the freely available version of Netrunner online.

The copy of Cyberpunk 2077 Gangs of Night City The Board Game used to produce this review was provided by Asmodee UK.