Arasaka Towers

The Arasaka Towers was a massive skyscraper complex located in the Corporate Plaza of Night City. It stood as the North American branch headquarters for the Arasaka Corporation until its destruction during the AHQ Disaster of 2023. Approximately fifty years later, a new Arasaka Tower was built on the same site as the former office complex.
==History==
===Early history - 2013===
Despite having multiple regional offices across North America, Arasaka made a huge investment in Night City during its building stages. As such, Night City became the location of the headquarters for Arasaka's North American branch. The original Arasaka Tower complex was 22 stories tall and located in Central Night City's Corporate Plaza. Toshiro Harada, whose office was located in the tower, was the NA branch director.
In 2013, Johnny Silverhand instigated a riot in front of the tower from the nearby industrial park in order to infiltrate the offices and rescue Alt Cunningham. During the event, many Arasaka employees were killed, including Toshiro.Never Fade Away (adventure) Much of the building was heavily damaged and was consequently soon replaced by a new office complex.
===2013 - 2023===
Situated on the same site as the previous office, the newly built Arasaka Towers became the tallest building in Night City and were clearly visible from most areas in clear weather. Similar to other Arasaka corporate offices across the world, the complex featured two towers connected by bridges and a shared lobby, as well as two additional smaller office towers located in front of the main ones. All access points were tightly controlled. Armed security troops patrolled the roofs, grounds, parking areas, and building interiors 24/7. No unauthorized vehicles were permitted on either rooftops nor in any subterranean areas, and authorization was to be given only to persons with appointments or who either appeared on traffic/commercial manifests/schedules or were cleared by a company employee. Similar conditions applied to those who wished to proceed beyond the reception area. The Arasaka Plaza, a small park surrounding the building, was open to the public, but corporate security patrolled it daily.
Prior to 2020, Yoru Tomobiki became the director of Arasaka North America and had his office in this building. During the Fourth Corporate War, CEO Kei Arasaka used the Arasaka Towers as the company's main operations center in the war effort against Militech. However, after losing support from both the European branch and Arasaka assets from Japan, the megacorporation took the losing side.
===The Fall of the Towers (2023)===
On August 20 2023, a Militech incursion team led by Morgan Blackhand and Johnny Silverhand attempted an infiltration into the Arasaka TowersThe Fall of the Towers in order to copy or destroy the Reliquary Database Project and erase the Soulkiller program from their network. The idea was to render the database project unusable for the rival corp by using a tactical nuclear device with the planned area, a heavily shielded complex, to absorb the impact of the blast and prevent massive destruction. Johnny's team dropped out of an AV on the top floor of the Towers, with the mission of infiltrating the laboratories ten levels down into the building to retrieve Alt Cunningham, who was trapped within the Arasaka network, and destroy Soulkiller. After reaching their destination, netrunner Spider Murphy accessed the computers in order to rescue Alt and uploaded a virus to destroy any information regarding Soulkiller. In their escape from the building, they lost most of their team, including Johnny Silverhand, against Adam Smasher and a large number of Arasaka troopers. Once on the top of the building, the survivors managed to get into the rescue AV, and while lifting off, they saw Morgan Blackhand fighting against Adam Smasher on top of the Arasaka Towers. A few minutes later, once the AV was quite far away from the building, a nuke went off.
It's unknown how, but somehow the nuclear device that had been provided to Morgan's team prematurely detonated on the 120th floor of the eastern tower,Mike Pondsmith on Reddit 4 - "It was, to be accurate, an airdrop. Sort of. 1200 feet up in the Southern Tower." inside Kei's apartment bunker where the Soulkiller laboratory was located. The explosion instantly obliterated the Arasaka Towers, splitting them in half and causing both structures to collapse outward. Many buildings such as the Rainbow Nights Dance Club or the Militech Offices were destroyed by the collapsing towers, which obliterated everything on their paths and whose debris heavily damaged nearby edifices. The smaller towers in the front also fell down, vastly damaging the Microtech Center and WNS Offices. The blast instantly incinerated over 12,000 people in the vicinity of the towers, and fatally injured upwards of half a million more. Another quarter million died in the resulting aftermath over weeks and months.
===Aftermath (2023 - 2045)===
Then-US President Elizabeth Kress blamed the Night City attack on the Arasaka Corporation. However, she was soon able to determine that the actual weapon used had been supplied by a Militech strike team. The Big Lie pushed forward by Militech and the US was that Arasaka themselves had blown up the Corporate Center of Night City in an area denial attack to stop Militech from seizing control of the Arasaka Towers during the war. The truth is it was never formally decided who had triggered the explosion. In the public's eyes, the reasoning for the nuclear detonation was never uncovered. Some believed it was Militech's overzealous desire to crush Arasaka, while others believed it was an area denial weapon set off to protect the Arasaka Towers.
Within hours of the disaster, President Kress nationalized Militech, and placed it thoroughly under the control of the still sizable United States military, while banishing all Arasaka forces from the continental USA under the threat of a retaliatory strike on Arasaka's Tokyo headquarters.
Not long after the incident, the remains of the old Arasaka HQ were visited by Samantha Stevens, who accessed the wrecked bunker below the ruins. While exploring the area, Samantha found the body of Silverhand and an unexploded Arasaka nuclear device. After finishing her business there, she left the ruins.Black Dog (story)
What once was the bustling business center of Night City, it had become a radioactive ruin that would be known as the Hot Zone for many years to come. During the rebuilding of Night City, much of the radioactive rubble was tossed into Del Coronado Bay. By 2045, much of the radiation had subsided, but it was still present to some level.
===Rebuilding (2070s)===
After the Unification War ended in 2070, Arasaka was welcomed back to North America and gained the permission to build a new office center. The Japanese corporation chose the site of their former complex in Night City. Once they had cleaned up the remaining ruins, they built a new Arasaka Tower. As a tribute to the 2023 incident, a portion of the original building was left and repurposed into a memorial.
==Layout==
The Arasaka Towers of Night City were a set of four gigantic office towers divided into two buildings. The main building was reminiscent of other Arasaka offices elsewhere, such as the corporate headquarters in Tokyo, featuring two towers connected via bridges and a sharing a lobby. At 130 stories, it was the tallest building in Night City.
The towers had a featureless surface in black opaque glass and steel, with the Arasaka logo and name on a black marble plaque that stood by the walkway to the main entrance, as well as an electric-white neon sign on the building's upper section. There were heliports and AV-4 pads on both tower roofs, and a restricted subterranean parking and loading area. Much of the towers were made up of mirrored offices, with the first half dedicated to administration and the other half dedicated to upper management, conference rooms, subsidiary and guest offices, and luxury executive areas. Both towers also included labs, executive suites and penthouses, and apartments for employees. Each structure had their own staircases and elevators. The only section open to the public was the sizable lobby in the ground floor, and no public facilities were found elswhere in the complex. On the other hand, private companies had an arrange of facilities — including cafeterias, medical centers, stores, recreational spaces, and sleeping quarters. From the 20th floor upwards, the main building was separated into two towers, with every 15th floor having an enclosed bridge connecting both structures. From the 90th floor downwards, these bridges also had windows and exposed walkways on their top; while above the 90th floor, they no longer had windows nor exposed walkways.
The area surrounding the Towers was known as the Arasaka Plaza or Grounds. It included the entrances to the complex and the underground parking. The two smaller towers in front of the main complex were just for offices.
The main building, the two bigger towers, included everything listed below.
===Floor -14: Arasaka Bunker/Command Center===
Located far below the underground parking of the Arasaka Towers, this bunker was a command center for Arasaka that was pressed into service during the Fourth Corporate War. This location was used to coordinate the corps forces all over North America. It included the living quarters for over 100 personnel as well as a variety of service rooms such as a mess hall, a library, lockers, storage, a firing range, a gym, and a dojo. Power to the facility was generated by a nuclear reactor (similar to those found in Arasaka submarines) and a turbine. Air and water circulation systems were provided by a machinery room.
Labs and offices occupied much of the bunker, with the centerpiece of the main room being a massive holotank that showed a real-time update of Earth and its close orbit. Most importantly, this bunker was where the Arasaka Database and the Soulkiller Storage Core were located. This area also had what looked like some sort of cloning facility, and enough data storage for at least ten Soulkiller victims.
The complex had multiple escape tunnels that led to different areas of the surface local area, and it included a tunnel with a small submarine that led to the ocean.
===Unknown Floor to -01: Basement/Parking Lot===
The first three basement floors were very similar and included the underground parking, loading docks and warehouse spaces. It was accessed by a guarded checkpoint entrance on the backside of the main building, as well as elevators and staircases that reached the lobby. Additionally, there was a small underground mall only for employees with shops of various Arasaka subsidiaries, and another section of the basement had apartments for Arasaka technical personnel that chose to live in the building.
The rest of floors had more warehouse and parking space, troop barracks, server rooms and more.
===Floor 01: Lobby===
The lobby of the main building was around five stories tall (15m) and was a single large open space. The whole area was landscaped as an indoor park, which included two large arboretums filled with small trees and rare, expensive species of flower and plants, as well as a goldfish pond with a waterfall and a small island. The area was illuminated by daylight that reached the lobby via optical pumps from the roofs. During the night, pinpoint lamps in the ceiling provided the equivalent to a bright starry night sky, included with constellations.
The main entrance to the building was at the south, with the emergency doors located in the north. Both had standard checkpoints. Two reception lounges and one security desk were located in front of the main entrance, with the staircases to the sublevels found behind the lounges. The two elevators and staircases for both towers were located in the northern section of the lobby, behind the security desk. The lobby was secured by cameras, turrets and guards.
===Floor 19===
From this floor downwards, the building had landscaped terraces filled with greenery that were used as recreational spaces for employees.
===Floor 20===
From this floor upwards, the building was separated into two towers by a 20m gap that was occasionally connected by enclosed bridges.
===Floor 90===
From this floor upwards, the bridges connecting both towers no longer had windows nor walkways on their top.
===Floor 100: Offices===
This section had office space. Of note, floor 100 was where the staircases and elevators that went to the rooftops bottomed out. This floor had no bridge connecting both structures.
===Floor 119: Personal Guard Quarters===
This floor was used as living quarters by the personal guards and servants of the Arasaka Family.
===Floor 120: Kei's Apartment===
Located on the 120th floor, this area of the building was shared between the two towers and was connected by two bridges. The elevators opened into a large foyer monitored by a security team and turrets, and it included the bridges and a small rock garden. A secured double door gave access to the apartment. The residence was reserved to Kei Arasaka (CEO), and occasionally to Hanako on the rare occasions she visited Night City. The decor was a pleasant mix of traditional Japanese and modern styles. Saburo's apartment on the floor above was very similar.
The luxurious residence included everything to comfortably live here. The western tower had two spacious suites with bedrooms, studies and restrooms; an impressive living and dining room; a fully equipped kitchen; a private conference room; living quarters for a chef and two bodyguards; and a room for holding tea ceremonies. The eastern tower was divided into two sections. The northern one included a dojo, a gym, a swimming pool and whirlpool, a sauna, and showers.
The Soulkiller research laboratory occupied the southern section of the eastern tower, with its storage database found in the basement of the building. The lab was found behind another security door, and was watched over by turrets 24/7. This area also had cubicles for the netrunners; an office for the project's leader; a conference room; and a lounge with a fridge, stove and three bunks; as well a restroom with showers for the netrunners to use. This was the floor where the nuclear device went off.
===Floor 121: Saburo's Apartment===
This area was very similar to the residence floor below, and was solely used by Saburo Arasaka.
===Floor 126===
This floor was mostly made up of fuel tanks, exhaust vents, fire suppression and other support systems. The space around the elevator cores included locker rooms and showers for the hangar technicians and pilots of the upper floors.
===Floor 127 to 130: Hangars===
Below both rooftops were the hangars, heavily reinforced areas made to withstand the weight of heavy machinery. These floors were mostly identical and were taller than other areas of the building with a ceiling clearance of 6m. Both towers were connected to the rooftops by staircases and elevators, as well as the hydraulic lift pads for the aircrafts. The eastern tower had space for aerodynes and light helicopters, while the western tower could accommodate a single osprey, jet or heavy helicopters. Each floor had a small arsenal for storing ammunition, workshops for repairs, and small offices with restrooms.
===Rooftops===
The western rooftop had a landing pad for large aircrafts, while the eastern tower had a couple of landing pads for smaller vehicles. The pads were mounted on hydraulic lifts that went down to the hangars. Both rooftops were heavily protected by an array of ADA guns and missile launchers located at each corner, and had staircase and elevator entrances to the floors below. The facilities here included a tower for aircraft flight control, a security station, and a lounge for the pilots.
==Notes==
*In , the building seen in the 2013/23 flashbacks is the same as the one in 2077, and as such, all those locations are found gameplay-wise within the 2077 tower, including two Saburo offices. Due to being reused for the flashbacks, the building in the game doesn't resemble its 2023 iteration.
==Gallery==
===Old Tower===
Industrial Park Map 2013WTNC.png|In 
Arasaka Tower Layout 2013WTNC.png
Arasaka Tower Layout 01 CP2020.png|In 
Arasaka Tower Layout 02 CP2020.png
===New Towers===
Arasaka Towers 02 2020NC.jpg|In 
Arasaka Towers 03 2020NC.jpg
Arasaka Towers Typical Layout 2020NC.jpg|Typical layout
Arasaka Towers 01 2020FS2.jpg|In 
Arasaka Memorial Ruins 02 CP2077.png|The preserved ruins in 
==References==
Category:Cyberpunk 2013 Locations
Category:Cyberpunk 2020 Locations
Category:Cyberpunk RED Locations
Category:Cyberpunk 2077 Locations