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Color Theory 1

Color On The Brain

Introduction

Color theory is a theory by which CD Project Red uses colors to tell a hidden story in Cyberpunk 2077. The theory is based on the idea that the colors used in the game are not just for aesthetic purposes, but are furthermore used to convey a deeper meaning.

The Color Axis

This theory requires a basic understanding of the RGB color wheel. I've included it here for reference.' Looking at the wheel, we can see a pattern in the colors used in-game and symmetrical axis. These color pairs are known as complimentary colors. There are many symbols in the game that point to these axis.

RGB Color Wheel

The axis of initial color sets:

  • 0° + 180°: Red & Cyan
  • 60° + 240°: Blue & Yellow
  • 120° + 300°: Pink & Green

The axis of intermediate color sets:

  • 30° + 210°: Orange & Pale Blue
  • 90° + 270°: Purple & Lime
  • 150° + 330°: Teal & Magenta

Symbols are more resilient than you think

  • Hanako Arasaka

Color Axis In Symbolism The MedTech logo contains the same axis discussd earlier. It connects to form a pie shape. The Trauma Team logo also reflects this axis. It has a slight cutout in the top left inner corner The Petrochem logo on the Mikoshi access point contains the same axis. They combine to form interconnected panels in 3D. The modern Arasaka logo has connected branches and an outer ring. Nodes are connected at the same axis. During "Love Like Fire" - before Johnny crosses over the relic to V - the Arasaka logo is shown with disconnected branches. In "The Heist', V sees Konpeki Plaza's logo. The branches are connected, but the outer shape is more primitive and also matches the axis. The Arasaka logo in Counter-Intel has branches that are all wrapped together via infinity signs. There is no outer ring, but instead the circle is filled in. My rendition of all known axis on the Arasaka logo. This will be explained as you read on.

The UI

The most obvious example of complimentary colors in the game is the interface:

UI Color Sets Red/Cyan: The game interface color at 0° on the color wheel Blue/Yellow: Johnny's interface color at 60° on the color wheel

Mid-Game Title Screen Events

The second most obvious use of the axis is through scene color casting. I want to focus on the main events in the game that occur on either side of the mid-game title screen. These events are V's death and Johnny's awakening.

Johnny's Awakening: Blue/Yellow + Black Johnny's view opens with a rotating room devoid of light. The structures mirror those found in T-Bug's training shard. Through the double doors, we see his iconic blue & yellow. Back stage access is being guarded by Martin Tin - A man wearing cyan & red clothes. The cyan and red stage lights pierce the darkness of the club, provoking Johnny to start playing. He closes with the phrase "Tonight, I'm... I'm here to say goodbye to all of you.". Fittingly, this is the last major time we see Johnny's starved pallet.

V's Death: Pink/Green + White After being showered with bullets, V and Jackie fall into a corridor cast in pink and green. The entirety of the escape focuses on these colors. The casting becomes much more obvious when you see "Code Red" illuminated in pink. When all hope is lost, Delamain arrives in a scene that now includes his own pure white, guarding vulnerable pockets of green and pink. Although greatly softened, we see that it isn't just Konpeki - the whole city is pink and green. Pinks, greens, and now whites decorate the final walk. The final room combines all the colors encountered thus far, with a familiar red and cyan waiting on the other side of your reflection experience.

The game's title logo appears in-between these two events, decorated in cross hatch glitch effects. This signifies both the completion of the color wheel and the beginning of the game.

  • Johnny's color axis is right of center (Blue & Yellow).
  • V's color axis is left of center (Pink & Green).
  • Where the two meet in the interface/game is at 0° (Red & Cyan).

Johnny's axis being a reflection of V's is interesting, both because of the mirror you can break before the transition and because Johnny's scene literally rotates into view. Not to mention that you can see Johnny in the mirror as an easter egg throughout the game.

Feel free to watch the transition for yourself.

The World

Orange & Pale Blue - Corpo Plaza fish. This color set rests exactly between the two previously mentioned color sets

This is where we are introduced to a third common complimentary color set of orange & pale blue. Based on the color wheel, this rests symmetrically between Johnny's blue/yellow and the game's cyan/red at 30°.

It is also noteworthy that the round foundation under the fish cycles through the colors of the color wheel.

The First BD

An echo of the game's story A man dressed in cyan and red has a heist to share, handing a gun to... ...a man dressed in green and pink who doesn't know he's being set up to die. Orange and pale blue illuminate the counter where the clerk fiddles with a rubik's cube.

Saburo's Office

Father's office. A faithful replica of the original in Tokyo. He ordered one in every Arasaka branch on the planet. Every last detail, every item... arranged as if he could navigate it blind.

  • Hanako Arasaka

Saburo's office gives us a chance to test the color axis. Take a look at the two times we visit the office:

Saburo's Office - As Seen In Game The first time we see the elevator room is in "Love Like Fire", before V wakes up. Notice the red-orange plants and pale blue floor tiles. The second time we see the elevator room is in the ending sequence "TotalImmortal". The colors here are shifted from what we would expect for an exact replica. The room now takes on a teal and truer red color cast.

What makes the colors in "TotalImmortal" interesting is that it deviates from the single-color axis shown in many of the previous slides. Instead, this scene appears to be a composite image created from multiple color axes composited together. It is very reminiscent of Johnny and V being inseparable by this point in the game. @todo - show color composition slides

Delamain

@todo list:

  • offspring are fragmented colors of the color wheel
  • discuss how it mirrors protagonist's journey
  • discuss how it mirrors the game's color axis
  • merging required a lot of intelligence - foreshadowing?

Crosswalks

At a certain point, the black background in the crosswalk lights begin shining a random color on game startup.

Crosswalk lights begin shining a random color

The Demiurge Creation

Demiurge Color Creation

If we take the serpent emblem given at the cube cutscene and focus only on the order that the symbols appear (and their location), we can treat the emblem as a color wheel.

Going from 1 to 2 is -75° on the color wheel. Going from 2 to 3 is a hue flip, etc. This paints the story of the world's creation, starting with #FF06B5 and its companion color as the key. We end with the duality of the corpo plaza fish - emblematic of this world.

It's worth noting that this color companionship of magenta and green is within color calibration margins of V, and leads to a palette that much more closely resembles Johnny's. Below, we will attempt such a calibration effort.

Calibrating The Smasher Room

Smasher Room Calibration

The Approach

  • The first thing to notice is that the room is cyan and red. We know how to get to Johnny or V's perspective by shifting hues.
  • If Johnny was indeed cut in two, and work done on dreamscape theory is accurate, then we should expect some symbolism of only seeing one half.
  • All cores are behind a yellow barrier. We will need to probably try mixing this in to get accurate core colors.
  • The cores are behind either red or blue barriers. This may be another place we need to manipulate colors.
  • The cores are all facing different directions, hinted at by the large red digital apparition on one side of each. We may need to rotate the final colors to connect to the middle (symbolic of putting Johnny back together).

Attempts

You may want to open these images in their own tab or download them, as they are quite large. Please note that some labels show "World", but those should really say "interface", based on our findings combined with dreamscape theory.

Attempt 1: WYSIWYG

Smasher Room Calibration Attempt 1

Attempt 1: Recap

We do see the symbolism of only seeing half when we hit our first step. By blending V's red+cyan, we get gray. Same goes for the interface's yellow+blue and Johnny's green+magenta.

This one is interesting. The final result seems to mirror what "Alt" tells us in cyberspace. Without accounting for the body, the only combination that doesn't run into overflow errors is Johnny+Interface without V.

Attempt 2: Calibrating V to #FF06B5

Smasher Room Calibration Attempt 2

Attempt 2: Recap

Calibrating the colors to where V is #FF06B5, an interesting pattern emerges. Because we can know that V's pink is #FF06B5, we can calculate the companion color shade of green. Because we know that, we can apply it to Johnny's barrier colors. This chain of calculation leads to an entirely corrected color palette.

I wonder if this is what "considering the body" or "the human factor" means, and if it is the step that "Alt" was missing. The outcome here paints a very different picture of whats possible, with both V and Johnny remaining compatible at the end.

WIP

This document is unfinished. I will be adding more to it as I can.

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