After a successful Kickstarter campaign last year, pulling in 1.2 million dollars and reaching its funding goal in just 19 minutes, Night Crew Games’ upcoming Cyberpunk Legends: Into the Night cooperative card game is getting closer and closer every day to those outstretched, expectant hands of its backers.
As a fan of other similar story-heavy deckbuilders, when the team reached out to see if I would be interested in checking out the game, I threw on my neon shades, grabbed all the eddies I could scrounge up, and headed to Night City. Little did I know then that I was about to try what would turn into one of my most anticipated tabletop games of 2026.
Cyberpunk Legends pits you and a team of up to three others into the streets of Night City in the far-off year of 2012, which, at least in the lore of Cyberpunk, is a pretty big and important time, where your team will be working together to complete different missions and jobs in an expanding and evolving scenario. Built from an especially ordered scenario deck of cards, as a team, you will need to sneak your way past security cameras, deal with pesky patrolling guards, use clues to find where to go next, and even fight your way past giant robots. And that was all just in the first scenario!
It’s also worth clearing up any confusion here, Cyberpunk Legends isn’t the same thing as WeirdCo’s also Kickstarter-backed Cyberpunk TCG. That’s a competitive, collectible-focused card game, while Legends is much closer to a co-op, narrative-heavy tabletop experience.
The core of Legends’ gameplay is based around playing poker hands as a team, fulfilling the specific suit or run criteria of the scenario card, and then dealing enough “damage” to complete the event. Each player takes turns playing a card from their character’s special deck down into the “run,” taking up one slot of a typical poker hand of five cards, with each card featuring a value, a suit, and potentially an added ability such as dealing damage or allowing the group to play an additional card to the field. The fact that poker is such a common game, that many people understand the idea of “two of a kind” or “straights,” does a great job of reducing the barrier of entry to get into Cyberpunk Legends, letting the players focus more on telling the story together than on how to play.
With the rules behind me, I grabbed my deck—opting for the more support-focused Netrunner class—and joined my crew, and off we went to tackle the first scenario of the campaign that will be included in the retail release. After a classic TTRPG start (you can never go wrong with starting things off with a bar fight), our jobs took us from seedy back alleys to scouring through the warehouse district, with a couple of close calls, but in the end, we managed to pull it off. As someone who loves the Arkham Horror LCG from Fantasy Flight Games, frequently taking it to my local brewery to enjoy some Cthulhu shenanigans with a couple of friends over our favorite craft brew, this introduction to Cyberpunk Legends scratched much of those same itches that have caused Arkham to sink its tendrils into me all these years.
The DNA of the tabletop RPG experience that Legends is based around can be felt all over the place, beyond just the shared terminology. As I played with the other folks at the table, including Irene Malatesta (Legends’ Art & Marketing Director), Cal Wendlandt (one of the game’s testers), and Emanuelle Viruet, a backer and community member, a natural sort of exposition evolved as we played, letting us make our own little shared canon of the events that were transpiring. The fact that Legends’ rules instruct you not to directly state the contents of your hands or the cards you can play to help in the run inspired us at the table to take on a sort of persona for our characters and roleplay a bit. This eventually would lead to me playing my Netrunner (someone heavy on the tech-suited cards in my deck but scarce in the more charisma-based ones) as a persona who is really bad at picking up social cues and conveys emotions through emojis, or how Irene, our charismatic rocker chick, would call in her best friend Drill Girl to help us out, who we would all befriend by the end of our adventure (thanks to Drill Girl being a card in our decks).
Now, I’ve played my fair share of deckbuilders over the years and the occasional hand of poker; having the two come together in this package works surprisingly well, but it also took me a bit by surprise. Sort of like a peanut butter and pickle sandwich—both proven rockstar sandwich toppings, but put together raises some eyebrows. Speaking with Legends’ designer, James Portnow, I wanted to find out how this poker-themed approach came to be. “There was a design goal and thematic goal behind this,” James began. “On the design side, I wanted to make sure that in multiplayer games there was a strong social element, so making a cooperative poker hand, where you can only place one card and have rules around how you can communicate to make sure everyone understands what you’re going for, created an environment where everyone was talking, often even roleplaying, while still keeping it from being one of those games where someone just takes over and tells everyone what to do.”
James continues, “I also had a design goal of making turns snappy. We’ve all had moments in games where we could go get lunch while a buddy is taking their turn, and I wanted to make sure that wasn’t the case here. By laying down a single card at a time and having a focus on communication, everyone gets to participate basically all the time. Then on the thematic side, it was just a question of what Night City felt like. I started out with a pretty MtG, math-heavy system, but it didn’t feel right. After all, what’s Night City about? It’s about gambling with the one chip you have; it’s about laying it all down and betting your life on becoming a legend. Poker really helped embody that.”
As much fun as I had landing impressive straights and full houses with my crew, there is one moment in particular where Legends really elevated itself and blew me away. As a brief setup—depending on choices you make during the scenario, you may wind up with these special “clue” cards, which give you some information that you can use to help solve things later. Earlier on in the mission, these clues pointed us toward a contact we were meant to meet with, using the text on the associated cards. Now we get to the moment where my neural implants really sizzled.
The crew and I found ourselves at a crossroads where we had to find an object we were looking for, and we had cleverly deduced that it was in one of three possible warehouses. Having already met and dealt with some guard presence in the area, there was a good chance that picking wrong would prove… detrimental… to our livelihoods. Being the new blood in the game (the others having run folks through the scenario numerous times already), I got to pick where we would go. Fast-forward a bit, and finding ourselves riddled with a few more bullets than we had 30 minutes prior, I had picked wrong. While I would pick correctly on the second try, Irene afterward let me in on a subtle detail that could be found on those clues we had collected—clues that I had assumed had already given up their secrets because we had read the text and deduced our contact. The artwork itself also held clues that, when viewed alongside the others, would have led me to the right decision. I can’t wait to see what other subtle clues and hints will be in the final release, but even just this quick taste left quite the impression.
Keeping on the topic of the artwork, for folks who are coming to Legends with only Cyberpunk 2077 under their belts, the designs and direction may give you a bit of whiplash. Along with taking place earlier in the timeline, as I mentioned earlier, Night Crew Games used Mike Pondsmith’s original Cyberpunk TTRPG as reference. In fact, it was Pondsmith himself who suggested the product James was making should be a Cyberpunk release during a game night they were having. That’s why Johnny Silverhand looks more like a blonde Ziggy Stardust than Keanu Reeves. It all is still quintessential cyberpunk goodness, and for fans of the RPG books, you are bound to find some pretty neat references and callbacks that will spark your implants.
Once a scenario is complete, players can spend eddies (the in-universe currency) to purchase new cards to strengthen and further tailor their decks to their liking. The default decks, roughly a third of each deck’s contents being unique, give a good sense of the playstyle each of the classes is best at, but still feel open enough that you won’t have to spend a ton of work and resources to rejigger them into playing how you want. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to dive into the deck-building aspect during my demo, but from what James explained to me, at the end of the scenario you will open a “booster pack” that will contain cards you can use to upgrade the decks—an interesting prospect that I’m eager to check out!
Despite only a small glance, the bit I have gotten to try has left me chomping at the bit to jump back into the shoes of my socially awkward Netrunner and see the mission my crew and I started through to its conclusion. I haven’t even gotten to check out the replayable “Build Your Own Adventure” roguelike mode that is included yet either, which James is still keeping the big details about close to the chest. With its clever implementation of poker-style hand building, beautiful and mechanically intriguing use of art, and classes that feel distinct from one another, if the story the team at Night Crew Games is weaving lands (which currently I have little worry that it won’t), Cyberpunk Legends may give the Arkham Horror LCG a run for its eddies as my go-to brewery game with the guys. This deckhead is ready to get back in the fight.
We Spoke With Night Crew Games on Cyberpunk Legends
1) Tell me how Cyberpunk Legends evolved from concept into what it became in the end? What was the design journey like for it?
Ha! Fantastic question! During the pandemic I was actually looking for a co-op campaign adventure card game to play with my friends when we all were able to hang out again…but you know, life’s busy and not everyone in my group has the time (or the patience) for games that take a half hour to setup and an hour or more to learn the rules. I looked and looked for something that fit the bill and couldn’t really find anything, so, in my hubris as a long time game designer, I figured I’d just build it.
2) How much input and in what ways did Mike Pondsmith contribute to the game’s development or design?
Funny you ask that. This wasn’t actually ever intended to be a commercial product, but shortly after the pandemic ended, I was playing with Mike and he goes “We should do this with Cyberpunk!” Twist my arm right? I’ve always loved Cyberpunk and the R. Tal crew, so I started putting a group together to take this from my prototype to something shelf ready.
Along the way Mike has playtested a bunch and given feedback. His whole team has been awesome with all our lore questions and helping us fill out what the very early years of the Cyberpunk timeline would look like.
3) Explain the decision to go with Poker hands for the main game system? What about it made it the best choice for the game?
There was a design goal and thematic goal behind this.
On the design side I wanted to make sure that in multiplayer games there was a strong social element, so making a cooperative poker hand, where you can only place one card and have rules around how you can communicate to make sure everyone understands what you’re going for created an environment where everyone was talking, often even roleplaying, while still keeping it from being one of those games where someone just takes over and tells everyone what to do.
I also had a design goal of making turns snappy. We’ve all had moments in games where we could go get lunch while a buddy is taking their turn and I wanted to make sure that wasn’t the case here. By laying down a single card at a time and having a focus on communication, everyone gets to participate basically all the time.
Then on the thematic side it was just a question of what Night City felt like. I started out with a pretty MtG, math heavy system, but it didn’t feel right. After all, what’s Night City about? It’s about gambling with the one chip you have, it’s about laying it all down and betting your life against becoming a legend. Poker really helped embody that.
4) When in the lore of Cyberpunk does this take place?
The first campaign for Cyberpunk Legends is set waaaay back in the far future of…2012. Which may seem like an odd choice, but if you’re familiar with the Cyberpunk timeline you might recognize that date as when a lot of the things that echo down the time occur.
In Legends you’re going to be forging your own path, you’re not going to be playing Johnny Silverhand or the like…but those of you who have played 2077 or are fans of Red are going to encounter things in Cyberpunk Legends and go “Oh! Oh no…I know where this ends up.” As you tangentially cross paths with some of the most consequential events in Night City history.
5) Can you go a bit more into detail into the “Build your adventure” mode that will be included in the release version along with any other modes of play that will be included.
Oh, man it makes me so happy you asked about that, but we’re actually just shipping the beta version of that as a kickstarter exclusive. The real version will probably hit retail six-eight months after launch.
That said, since you’ve given me the opening…
- There is a mode that’s going to ship with the core box. It’s a little bit of a spoiler but when you finish the scenarios you’re going to open an upgrade pack…with a set of rules in it that teach you how to convert the game to roguelike deckbuilder.
- The Build Your Own Adventure mode is sort of my baby, so I’m going to talk about it a wee bit. Feel free to use this bit as you will!
Cyberpunk Legends is played against a central “Scenario Deck” that serves very much like an old D&D module. It’s the run you’re doing, the adventure you’re going on. I’d like to enable anyone to create those.
Build Your Own Adventure mode serves as design legos for anyone who wants to create their own runs or modify what we’ve put out there. If we do it right it’ll allow you to build whatever you dream of. Of course that’s a daunting design task…maybe an impossible one. So we’re running the first iteration of this by the community to help playtest and give us feedback before we release (many of us come from the videogame world, so this is a beta in the truest sense).
But if we can pull it off, it’ll be something I’ll be incredibly proud of because the hardest part of GMing is always looking at a blank slate, and this gives you some scaffolding to start from. I’m hoping this helps more people to tell their own stories in this world.
6) Playing with 4 players last night was a lot of fun, but I’m curious how the game changes or balances itself with lower player counts and the smaller selection of cards in which the team can pull from to complete scenarios (20 possible cards with 4 players, but in a two player game you’d only have 10).
Glorious! You’ve already hit the crux of it!
So, in Cyberpunk Legends players go around clockwise, each putting one card into The Plan (the poker hand used to overcome obstacles) until you hit the plan limit (usually 5 cards). Less players means less options to choose from, but each individual player will have more control over the plan. With 4 players only the leader gets to put 2 cards into the plan. With three players 2 people do. This additional control is powerful in a world where every choice can mean the difference between the Plan coming together and the Plan falling apart.
This means the game autobalances. You don’t need to learn any new rules or adjust the game in any way to play with less players. It automatically does it by itself…
Unless, of course, you’re playing single player. In which case, it’s all the same except you’re going to play two decks, one of which is a ‘merc’ and, not being in total control of the merc, every time you go to make a plan they’re going Leeroy in, you’re going to flip the top card of their deck and that’s immediately going to be put into the Plan. Now you have to build around whatever they decide to do!
(This makes single player a bit more of a strategic puzzles since the social elements are removed.)
7) Can you go into detail about the art design process for the game? The artists you worked with for the project, what did you feel was important to focus on, the aesthetic and feel you were aiming for.
I love the art in a lot of modern card games, but sometimes I fan out a set and I have a hard time really picking out individual pieces because they’ve got such strong art direction. They have so many rules around how the art is done that everything gets a little bit homogenized. Now don’t get me wrong, this is incredible, but Cyberpunk is a little bit of a wilder world. We wanted to let the artists really lean into their own styles, so, while there’s a cohesive aesthetic, it reminds me of earlier Magic sets where you might see everything from psychedelia to art nouveau.
Now all of these have their places (for example everything that happens in Cyberspace is a bit more abstract), but this approach allowed for a lot of expression, which I love.
Also, Cyberpunk is, of course, a sexy world. You want to avoid it being leering, but there should be a lot of abs, muscles, and smolder in the characters. So we tried to be true to that without creating things that you’d be embarrassed to slam down onto the table at your local game store.
Finally, Cyberpunk isn’t all darkness. I feel like a lot of products miss this, but the world of Cyberpunk is so full of life, full of people living to the fullest. They may be dead the next day, but in this moment they’re really, truly alive. It’s also a world of hope. In the midst of all these Corps and conspiracies, amidst all the things that seem so far out of the ordinary person’s control, there’s hope. There’s the rockerboys and edgerunners and everyone who might, someday, cause the system to come tumbling down. We really tried to deliver on that in the art, because it’s such a key piece to Cyberpunk.
8) Have you guys worked with or are there any involvements with CD PROJEKT RED on this game?
Really we’ve worked much closer with R. Tal. CDPR has been kind enough to help promote the project a bit, but Mike’s really our go-to guy on the game side.
9) Post Kickstarter delivery, what is the sort of release cadence you are hoping to have with this game system in the future?
We’re hoping to get a scenario out a quarter, a full new campaign out each year, and other smaller releases peppered throughout there. And of course Build Your Own Adventure releases…once it’s really ready.
Scott White is a freelance contributor to IGN, assisting with tabletop games and guide coverage. Follow him on X/Twitter or Bluesky.
