Cyberpunk 2077

This is a /v/ related article, which we tolerate because it's relevant and/or popular on /tg/... or we just can't be bothered to delete it.

A computer game based on the PnP RPG, entitled Cyberpunk 2077, has been under development since late 2012 and is tentatively scheduled for release somewhere between 2018 and the end of god damn linear time at this point finally here. Set 57 years into the future (to make the futuristic visuals and tech more in line with current future predictions, without discarding what came before it). Here's the trailer, and the original gameplay demo.

Unfortunately, the game that was released in 2020 was...politely put, a mess. The vanilla version was rife with bugs and glitches to such a degree that it'd make a Bethesda game blush and develop inferiority complexes - characters would t-pose, objects would deform/float up/vanish and quests would become impossible to finish, and all of this would be a regular occurence. The PC version was the least bad of the bunch while the PS and XBOX versions got so bad that CDPR started offering refunds for the buyers on that platform. You can view many of the glitches here.

The reason why this had happened was multifold - As expected and fittingly ironic given the Cyberpunk setting, it was found that the management pushed the development of the game at least a year ahead of what it should have been and also crunched the dev team hard. Then a whistleblower revealed how the Q&A and playtesting was done by a scummy and exploitative Romanian firm called Quantic Lab that had the testers prioritize minor bugs for the sake of numbers instead of major ones that lead to the game's broken state. Lastly, the game was arguably a partial victim of the truly massive hype that was generated beforehand with people expecting a borderline life-changing experience instead of an (at most & best) a very well made genre contribution similar to Deus Ex.

However, after the disastrous launch, CDPR pulled up it's sleeves, recharged the elbow-grease tanks and set to work on fixing the game and polishing it up to what it should have been at the start. As of the time of this writing (29.09.2022.) the game has been patched up and fixed to the point that it's nearing what we saw in 2018. In addition to the "engoodening" similar to No Man's Sky semi fixed up the game, and added some features, which is nowhere near No Man Sky's redemption arc, nor the games original promises and previews. The game still runs quite poorly on last gen consoles (where it was originally set to release on), and the one and only expansion for the game wont even be released for last gen platforms.

The game also got a significant shot in the arm player-wise due to the surprisingly good Anime tie-in called Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (that will make you weep a lot of manly tears) which saw a slew of players get into the game or give it another shot just as it was getting good. Lastly, the game also received mod support and toolkits meaning that the doors have now been open to some enterprising and passionate fans to get shit done and add their contribution to the mix.

Story

Plot-wise, the game leads on from Firestorm: the Fourth Corporate War happened, destroying Arasaka Tower with a mini-nuke, but Cyberpunk v3's events never came to fruition (and thank fuck for that). Soon after this, the legendary Netrunner Rache Bartmoss (one of several God-tier NPCs from the original CP2020) released DataKrash onto the Net as an effort to break the corporate stranglehold on it, royally fucking up the internet and screwing Corpo and Cyberpunk alike over - with the Net now a jumbled hellscape of rogue AIs, Black ICE programs, and sanity-sandblasting corrupted code, every gang, corporation, and government promptly begins establishing their own mini-internets where they can rule without any oversight (the exact opposite of what Bartmoss wanted.)

Fast forward past Cyberpunk RED to 2077. Arasaka has developed a biochip known as the Relic, which can effectively 'back up' a person's mind as pure data. V, the player character, and their fellow mercenary/cyberpunk Jackie get contracted by the Fixer Dexter DeShawn to steal it on behalf of contractor Evelyn Parker. Unsurprisingly, shit goes south in short order: it's in a prestigious hotel penthouse and three major NPCs from the original game are involved. The first two are Yorinobu Arasaka, oldest son of Saburo Arasaka (Bill Gates + Japan's Emperor in all but blood, i.e.: the really big cheese). The second is Saburo himself, paying Yorinobu a surprise house visit because Yorinobu stole the Relic from him. The third is Arasaka's best hitman, Adam Smasher (a psychotic 8ft cyborg equivalent of the Tarrasque and here Yorinobu's bodyguard).

While Jackie and V hide, Saburo gets murdered by Yorinobu in front of them. Arasaka's forces discover them fleeing the scene afterward and attack, with cameras showing V's and Jackie's faces all over the news. Their Netrunner gets her brain fried by Arasaka security, Jackie is badly wounded, and the case containing and maintaining the biochip is badly damaged as the two of them sneak/fight their way out of the hotel against Adam Smasher and Arasaka guards. Jackie dies from blood loss as the two of them escape via an AI-controlled car, forcing V to implant the biochip into themself to prevent it degrading into uselessness.

In a twist no-one could've seen coming (considering the fucking trailers spoiled it), Dexter promptly betrays V to save his own hide from Arasaka's manhunt for Saburo's killers, shooting them in the head and dumping their body in a landfill. Unfortunately for him, the Relic manages to resurrect V despite what would otherwise be fatal brain damage, and an Arasaka bodyguard who didn't buy Yorinobu's bullshit picks V up (While he initially intends to turn them in to Arasaka, the guy changes his tune pretty quickly when Yorinobu has cyborg assassins try to kill him too).

After V's Ripperdoc friend patches them up, he has bad news for V. Turns out the Relic had already been used to back up someone else's consciousness and V's brain is now being steadily overwritten with this engram, essentially dooming them to the complete death of their personality within a few months. V wakes up in their apartment to find they now have a rather pissed off Relic-dweller in their head - Johnny Silverhand (another of the major NPCs from the CP2020 game, here played by Keanu Reeves aka John Wick aka Neo aka Ted "Theodore" Logan).

From there, the main plot shifts from making a name for yourself on the streets of Night City to V's desperate search for a way to stop their personality being overwritten by that of Silverhand, with various side quests allowing you to expand upon V's relations with Johnny (slowly changing him from 'pissed at being dead and stuck in your gradually-degrading brain' to 'Vitriolic, sarcastic, but somewhat friendly voice in your head'), work with the second-biggest Nomad clan, attempt to find a treatment for Cyberpsychosis beyond 'Shoot them until they stop moving', take jobs from Night City's collection of Fixers to make a name for yourself, catch up with several surviving members of Cyberpunk 2020's old guard of top-tier NPCs and romance a few from the aforementioned groups.

By reliving Silverhand's memories and completing multiple real-world runs, V gradually puzzles together how Johnny got into his current state: way back in 2023, Alt Cunningham (Johnny's girlfriend) had created a program known as Soulkiller, which could essentially convert your entire personality to data at the cost of frying your brain. Arasaka promptly kidnapped her and forced her into creating a modded version of it, which they intended to sell to the super-wealthy as a means of attaining immortality by A.I conversion (Alt herself became their first test subject). Around the same time, the Fourth Corporate War kicked off and Johnny participated in the raid on Arasaka HQ, ending in him being crippled by Adam Smasher and hit with Soulkiller on Saburo's orders.

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**SPOILERS**

Gradually, though, the grim truth comes to light: V is completely fucked. There's no way to prevent V's death by neural decay or total loss of control to Silverhand, and it's going to happen soon. After a meeting with Hanako Arasaka where she offers her help in removing Silverhand from the relic in exchange for V taking down Yorinobu, Johnny and V are left alone on a rooftop to contemplate what they're going do to:

• The Reaper: Become an hero. You die, Johnny dies, Arasaka gets away scot-free, and all your friends are either pissed, sad, or regretful about your choice. Don't pick this one, it means you miss out on the last mission, the epilogue, and the ending achievements. Plus the VMs from all your pissed, sad, and regretful friends (and possible lovers) can be fucking brutal.
• The Devil: Side with Hanako Arasaka. You work with her faction of Arasaka to hit Yorinobu with Soulkiller so that Saburo can hijack his body; Johnny is excised from your biochip, but the brain damage remains and is still going to kill you. V is then offered a choice: let Arasaka hit them with Soulkiller and store their personality on the vague promise of resurrection or return to Night City and live out your remaining six or so months of life in freedom.
• The Sun: Take the path of glory. You convince Rogue to work with you by wrapping up the unfinished business between her and Johnny, then hit Arasaka Tower head on, tearing through their mooks and battling Adam Smasher to the death (with Rogue dying to weaken Smasher ahead of your battle). Eventually you reach Mikoshi, Arasaka's central engram storage. Alt's AI-self shows up and offers to take you or Johnny into cyberspace beyond the Blackwall, letting whoever remains keep the body. Johnny goes with her, and you take over the Afterlife, planning to pull off one last job before you die that'll carve your name into Night City history with a fucking broadsword (even more than killing Adam Smasher did).
• The Star: The Sun, except the Aldecaldo Nomads back you up because you helped them out and are now considered one of them. Similar to Rogue in The Sun, Aldecaldo leader Saul dies helping you against Smasher before you make it through to Mikoshi. After the raid you choose to leave Night City with the Aldecaldo Nomads (now led by Panam following Saul's death), in the vague hope of finding a cure or at least living your last days in comfort with your friends - and your lover, if you romanced Panam or Judy - in whatever time you have left.
• Temperance: The Sun or The Star, except you let Johnny keep your body. Johnny decides to unfuck his life now that he's been given a second chance; after performing a few acts of kindness and saying a final few words to his friends, he leaves Night City forever. V's friends are left in the dark as to what truly happened, aside from Rogue (if she survived) and Panam; with both misinterpreting V's sacrifice as Johnny stealing V's body, Panam swears vengeance on him while Rogue threatens to kill him if he ever returns.
• (Don't Fear) The Reaper: The Secret ending. Basically a harder (and better) version of The Sun and its branches; you only get one go, so dying means it's over and you get a reskinned Reaper end (friends pissed/sad at you for throwing away your life on a suicide run). On the bright side, this means your friends all survive and you get to storm fucking Arasaka HQ then turn Adam Smasher to scrap completely single-handed. If you survive you get the Sun ending, but since Rogue is alive she meets you in the Afterlife where she officially passes the ownership of the place to you and gives last-minute advice.

Links

• Official website