A former Bethesda artist calls Night City a set beside GTA

Nate Purkeypile, a former lead artist at Bethesda, told Esports Insider why Night City looks striking to him but not like a place people live in. In his view Rockstar's GTA cities feel real, while the CD Projekt Red city feels more like a set.

He does not blame a lack of beauty. A living city, he said, needs far more testing and attention to small details. Games such as GTA or Fallout: New Vegas, in his opinion, balance map size and density more convincingly.

Purkeypile also said he likes Cyberpunk 2077 and enjoyed playing it. What does not land for him is the sense of a functioning city, not the story or the image.

It is the view of someone who built Bethesda worlds, not a verdict on the game. For many players Night City lives through light, radio, and vertical routes, even if daily bustle is staged differently than in Los Santos.