Abstract

Cyberpunk 2077 (2020), a role-playing game – captured a near-futurist world rooted in surveillance, late-stage capitalism, and body augmentation is the subject of this mutant case study. Central to this game was Night City, which has several main districts, and many more areas that are inhabited and made ‘home’ by the multiple communities of the city. Night City has become so popular, there are even fan curated apps (NightCityMap, Ver 2.12, 2024) to help guide players throughout this often-dangerous space.
This paper will examine the specific mutant-cyborg cultures that occupy Night City as people routinely transform (or make mutant) their bodies through technological implants, becoming akin to cyborg figures. From the maelstrom gangs which force implants upon people, skavs who trade in body parts, to the Valentinos who prize gold implants as a sign of luxury against the backdrop of Night City’s poverty; this paper will break down how the communities of this city – in a multitude of different ways – organise and share culture through their relations to the body.
The monster is an icon of literary discussion, cemented by Cohen’s ‘monster theory’ (1996), with his conceptualisations vital for “understanding [the] cultural creation of monsters” (Gloyn, 2020), re-engaged with by Švelch who examined monsters in video games. Gothic scholar Halberstam argued that “...the emergence of the monster within Gothic fiction marks a peculiarly modern emphasis upon the horror of particular kinds of bodies” (1995, p.3). It is the posthuman monster mutant, rooted in biotechnology, that is the subject of this paper.
This paper will argue for the acknowledgement of how the entrenchment of biotechnology influences the perceptions of the monster, as Brodwin asserts that the uncertainties emerging