HomeFeatures
Cyberpunk 2077’s new ending is its most heartbreaking, and worth returning forCareful what you wish for
Careful what you wish for
Image credit:RPS/CD Projekt Red
Image credit:RPS/CD Projekt Red
I already had my canonical ending to V’s story back in 2020, found among the six or so different endingsCyberpunk 2077had at launch. Phantom Liberty’s story takes place before that ending happens, and nothing about your spy adventure with Idris Elba prevents you from later pursuing those original endings.
On the rare occasion that I replay a game, that’s normally exactly what I’d do. I might watch the alternate endings for a game on YouTube, to see what else I could have won, but if I’m in control myself I can’t help but repeat all the same choices. Anything else creates a gnawing sense that something is terribly wrong about reality, and I’m forced to reload a save to correct it.
Final warning: spoilers for Cyberpunk 2077’s many endings begin now.
Image credit:RPS/CD Projekt Red
You can assault Arasaka tower with Johnny alone, you can bring one of a selection of friends along to help depending on which missions you pursued earlier in the game, or you can end the entire thing then and there on that rooftop. Whatever you choose, the consequences are well-handled: from final phone calls to loved ones to explain your decision, to the sentimental chat with Johnny, to the cascade of consequences that can follow.
As choices go, this is lawful evil at best. Songbird is dying, too, and is desperate to escape the New United States government which wields her as a weapon. Handing her over is to doom her to a life of exploitation and to eventual death.
For that reason, it’s not the choice I made initially. I shot Idris Elba in the head and placed Songbird on a rocket to the moon, where people wait who can maybe cure her. I did this despite knowing that Songbird had lied when she initially suggested this cure was a two-person deal that could save me, too. As noted, I like stupid courage. Rescuing Songbird and killing Reed closed off one route towards V’s salvation, but I don’t think V would sacrifice someone in a similar position to herself, to save herself. I think she’d keep fighting.
First, it kills Johnny Silverhand.
How could you do that to the kid from Parenthood? |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/CD Projekt Red
If you’ve only played a little of Cyberpunk 2077 - or even if you’ve played a lot, frankly - this might not sound like a bad deal.
He’s not necessarily someone you feel a lot of sympathy for, then. I’d argue that one of Cyberpunk 2077’s real strengths however is that it’s one of the few games with characters who have real arcs. The trick, I think, is to ignore Johnny’s advice for much of the game and instead approach Night City’s denizens with trust and kindness. Do this and Johnny will mock you, at first, but eventually he comes to respect your principles, and then to reflect on his own life. This culminates in a series of missions in which you help Johnny give closure to some of his old friends, and maybe make amends.
Depending on your relationship with Johnny, it might not feel great to him either. You’ll have a final conversation on the airship on the way to the hospital, with Johnny either giving his blessing if he likes you, or chewing you out but ultimately forgiving you.
Image credit:RPS/CD Projekt Red
To prove it, you call your old friends. Some are happy to hear you’re alive, but they didn’t put their lives on hold in case you miraculously returned from wherever you disappeared to for two years. Judy has left Night City, for example, and is now happily married in Pittsburgh.
I returned to Night City to see if Viktor could fix me, a trip that begins with a long drive in the back of a Delamain cab. You can look out the window at the changed city streets and listen to radio reports about which faction is up and which is down. It all amplifies the feeling of alienation from the city you once called home.
At this point, this ending feels like It’s A Wonderful Life’s second act only it’s not a dream, or Shawshank Redemption’s double-secret original ending where Andy dies in a pipe full of shit. I really wished Johnny Silverhand would appear and insult me.
Misty is leaving Night City and has a cool new haircut. |Image credit:RPS/CD Projekt Red
As one of Cyberpunk 2077’s few characters without mods, Misty is uniquely placed to understand V’s new life. She gives V a talk about what it means to be one of the regular people; not a legend of theAfterlife, but a face in the crowd - and the potential that comes from that anonymity. The final shot of the game is V blending into that crowd, walking down the street of Night City until lost among all the other pedestrians.
I’ve thought about this ending a lot since I played it three weeks ago, trying to decide whether I find it hopeful. V’s old life is gone, but that final conversation makes clear that there is plenty of potential in the life that lies ahead. If what you wanted was for V to give up her life of crime, this might feel like a victory.
To me, the costs are far too high. My headcanon V ending remains that of my first playthrough, in which I saved Johnny, in a sense, and left myself with still only six months to live, but fought on. There were other personal costs to those decisions, but I prefer to imagine V acting humanely towards others and stubbornly fighting to survive, than sacrificing others to save herself.
But I don’t regret making different decisions so I could experience Cyberpunk 2077’s new ending for myself. It solidified all the thoughts I already had: that Cyberpunk 2077 isn’t much interested with what it means to be human after you’ve got robot arms, but that it is deeply concerned with what it means to be a good person in a corrupt world - and that it normally offers answers with which William Goldman would improve.
