If you venture outside the booming metropolis of Night City in Cyberpunk 2077, you’ll find yourself in the Badlands.

The Badlands are the remnants of the past, buildings buried in the arid dirt. It’s what keeps the Californian Night City boxed in, and you’ll be able to explore it on-foot, by car, and by motorcycle. Expect a more off-road experience here than in the rest of Night City.

“The Badlands are the surrounding district around the Night City,” lead quest designer Pawel Sasko explained during our E3 chat. “Players can leave Night City and just explore that area – an area that is mostly sort of destroyed basically after all the droughts and everything that happened in the 50 years from 2020 to ‘77. And you can explore that, there are specific quests prepared for that, also open world content, so that’s definitely covered. It’s not only the city that you’re visiting.”

As well as supporting a range of quests and exploration opportunities, the Badlands are also the home of the Nomads, a roving gang that lives out of their vehicles and roams the wastes. It’s Mad Max with arm blades.

“You can be one of the nomads as a player and you can start there, being part of a family of the Nomads,” Sasko explained. “You could call them a tribe that is living in cars and they’re just driving over Badlands. They’re doing various jobs for fixers, and for people in the city, and doing various deals – I don’t want to disclose too much because not to spoil the story.”

Cyberpunk 2077 releases April 16, 2020. Cyberpunk 2077 will feature multiple endings, and you’ll be able to see the full extended E3 demo at PAX West. The entire game can be finished without killing anyone.