Despite a rocky launch in late 2020, Cyberpunk 2077 is a deep game steeped in rich lore and a story covering many different themes and plot threads. Stepping away from the third-person hack-and-slash gameplay of the Witcher series in favor of tight first-person gunplay and rarely leaving gameplay for cutscenes meant that Cyberpunk 2077 came off as a much more personal and in-depth experience. Combined with the constantly evolving relationship between the two leads and the urgency that the story hammered home every time a Relic malfunction occurred, Cyberpunk 2077 tells a uniquely personal and intimate story.
Players take on the character of V in Cyberpunk 2077, a mercenary from one of three varying backgrounds trying to make a name for themselves in the bustling dystopian metropolis of Night City. After carving out a place for themselves in the mercenary scene, V is tapped to steal The Relic, a prototype piece of technology that can supposedly save someone's soul as one would any piece of software. The Relic is currently owned by the Arasaka Corporation, one of the biggest megacorporations in the world. If V can steal the chip and get away, not only would they be rich beyond belief, but they would go down in history as a Night City legend.
During the lead-up to the Cyberpunk 2077's first big heist, V is introduced to a variety of characters. Backing them up is Jackie Wells: A close friend and fellow merc, Dexter DeShawn: A notorious local fixer and legend in his own right, and Evelyn Parker: The mysterious client entangled with Arasaka who wants the chip for reasons unknown. V is introduced to more allies over the course of Cyberpunk 2077, including a sentient vending machine; Goro Takemura, bodyguard to the head of the Arasaka Corporation; Alt Cunningham, an A.I. version of the best netrunner that ever lived; and, of course, the game's mascot, Johnny Silverhand, rocker boy legend and digital ghost.
V And Jackie Are Both Killed At The End Of Cyberpunk 2077's First Act
Even the best-laid plains fall awry, and Cyberpunk 2077's heist of the Relic does so spectacularly. The heist first derails when Saburo Arasaka, the reclusive leader of the Arasaka Corporation, is killed by his son Saburo while V and Jackie look on from hiding. Yorinobu then puts the building on lockdown, telling Takemura (Saburo's bodyguard) that Saburo had been poisoned. Before long V and Jackie are forced to jump from the penthouse window and land somewhere in the building below, severely injuring them both. The landing also damages the Relic's casing, forcing Jackie to slot it into his brain to keep it stable.
After taking one of several paths through Cyberpunk 2077's Konpeki Plaza, he later es it to V shortly before bleeding out in the getaway car. Despite having the Relic and momentarily having evaded Arasaka, Dexter DeShawn decides that it's safer to cut off any loose ends. In the climax to the mission and Act I of the game, Dexter ambushes V and shoots them in the head, killing them. Death is not the end for V, however, as the Relic repairs the damage to his brain and begins to overwrite it to make room for its current occupant, Johnny Silverhand.
Johnny Silverhand Was Killed By Soulkiller, An Advanced A.I. Designed To Copy A Person's Psyche Into Data
Johnny Silverhand's engram, or copy of his psyche, wound up on the Relic after being captured and killed during his attack on Arasaka Tower. 10 years earlier, Arasaka had kidnapped Alt Cunningham - a brilliant netrunner and author of Soulkiller - to gain control of it. Proving why Johnny Silverhand is so compelling in Cyberpunk 2077, he tried and failed to rescue her, only managing to seal her engram in Arasaka's computer system outside of her body. He spent the next 10 years gathering resources for an attack on Arasaka, and in 2023 went back to the tower to free Alt and destroy it.
Johnny succeeded on both fronts, causing more cost in property damage than Cyberpunk 2077 cost to make, but not without being captured by Arasaka. He was then taken to a remote location and interrogated by Arasaka agents before being put through Soulkiller and having his engram stored on the Relic. It would stay there until the events of Cyberpunk 2077 occur and bring Johnny back in V's head.
Cyberpunk 2077 - V Will Die Unless The Relic Is Removed Or Nullified
V spends the majority of Cyberpunk 2077's long story trying to find a way to postpone or cancel their impending death at the hands of the Relic. The chip is designed to take over a non-functional brain and allow the psyche stored inside to assume control over the body. The makers of the Relic never ed for a non-brain-dead host being taken over, and as such V's subconscious is being slowly overwritten by Johnny Silverhand's.
While initially on board with this, Johnny quickly has a change of heart and tries to help V save their life. There are multiple routes V takes to pursue this goal, each dealing with a specific part of the Relic's design or the heist itself. During the course of Cyberpunk 2077 V tracks down the mysterious puppetmasters behind the heist of the Relic, the Relic's chief engineer, and even the heir to the Arasaka Empire in a bid to save their life. V can also take some time to pursue some of the Cyberpunk 2077's extended romances should they need some companionship.
Evelyn Parker Wanted The Relic For The Voodoo Boys In Cyberpunk 2077
Evelyn Parker, the woman who initially contracted the heist of the Relic, was doing so under the orders of the Voodoo Boys, Cyberpunk 2077's gang of netrunners based out of the ruined pleasure town of Pacifica. They are in a perpetual turf war with the rest of Night City, and outsiders are expressly not welcome in their territory. However, V is able to find an in thanks to the local fixer, Mr. Hands.
V finds that the Voodoo Boys knew Silverhand's consciousness was on the Relic and wanted to use it to try and the A.I. version of Alt Cunningham that Johnny had released from Arasaka Tower years prior. V eventually tries to work with Cyberpunk 2077's feared Voodoo Boys gang, believing that they can help remove the Relic without being killed in the process. After a conversation with Alt in the deepest reaches of the Net, V discovers that the Voodoo Boys are unable to help with the chip.
Cyberpunk 2077 Spoilers - The Relic's Chief Engineer Cannot Help V
Midway through Cyberpunk 2077, after a daring kidnapping involving downing a hovercraft and chasing after the survivors of the crash, V is able to sit down and talk with Anders Hellman, the chief engineer for the version of the Relic in their head. After talking with Hellman, it is revealed that not only is it impossible to remove the Relic without killing V, but the process of overwriting V's personality may have already begun and be irreversible. He talks about the process of imprinting an engram (which some see as Cyberpunk 2077 and Black Mirror making the same mistake), and ultimately concludes that V and Silverhand may already be one entity. After retrieving the schematics and project documentation from Hellman, V leaves him with Takemura and goes hunting down another possible lead on keeping themself alive.
Cyberpunk 2077 Spoilers - V Cannot Be Saved, But Johnny Can
After pursuing all leads in Cyberpunk 2077 and choosing from its available endings, it is revealed that no matter the outcome, the damage to V's system was too severe to be healed. Their brain was overwritten by the chip to make it more habitable for Johnny, and as such is now uninhabitable by V. Should V choose to be separated from Johnny in one of the endgame missions, they will only have a handful of weeks left before dying of the brain injuries sustained by the relic. If V decides to let Johnny have their body in one of Cyberpunk 2077's many endings, then Johnny will be able to live but V will be left a ghost on the Net. Though some ending paths hint that there may be more that can be done for V's condition, the implication is that V was doomed the moment that Dex shot them.
