Night City is filled with thrills, violence, heartache, and total disaster. If chaos could ever be a physical collective, Night City would be its real-world manifestation. Cyberpunk 2077 takes players on a journey behind the optics of V, a mercenary from an assortment of backgrounds chosen by you, the player. Nothing in V's life is easy, especially after meeting the legendary rockstar, Johnny Silverhand.
In true sci-fi fashion, Cyberpunk 2077's narrative is layered with mind-blowing themes regarding a cybernetic future and game-changing plot twists that will leave you gawking at your screen. With the game now much more refined, it's worth any attention you can afford to give it. The plot of this CD Projekt Red creation expertly uses the ol' bait-and-switch storytelling device to maximum effect.
This article contains spoilers for the plot of Cyberpunk 2077.
8 Goro Takemura Allies Himself With V
The faithful and loyal bodyguard of Saburo Arasaka is, indeed, a highly significant variable in this whole affair. After V witnesses the death of Takemura's boss, implants the relic biochip in his own head, and suffers a brutal death at the hands of the gangster Dexter DeShawn, Takemura comes looking for answers.
As V begins to awaken in the landfill DeShawn left him in as the biochip revives his brain functions, he witnesses Takemura ventilate Deshawn's skull before taking V for a harrowing ride evading Arasaka assassins. Takemura, who'd likely be an antagonist given what V had done, allies himself with V to plot justice for his former boss, a man who must have been more to Takemura than simply his superior.
7 Johnny Detonates A Nuclear Bomb At Arasaka Headquarters
Prior to Cyberpunk 2077's release, we all knew of Keanu Reeves' involvement in the game starring as a rockstar by the name of Johnny Silverhand. What we didn't know is that Johnny wasn't just a simple musician with an anti-establishment attitude. He was actually deemed a domestic terrorist.
In fact, his acts of terrorism include detonating a tactical nuke in the heart of the city. He had a bone to pick with Arasaka. They took his lover, Alt Cunningham, the creator of the Soulkiller program, and forced her to be the digital prison's first victim. Johnny sought to free her consciousness and would do whatever it takes to make it happen. Even if the city, and potential innocents, suffered the collateral damage of a devastating bomb.
6 V Seeing Johnny For The First Time
Quickly, we actually learn that Keanu Reeves' Silverhand is actually long dead. His body has been worm food for five decades. After being apprehended by Adam Smasher during one of Johnny's assaults on Arasaka, he was killed by the militant head of Arasaka security and his consciousness was turned into an engram biochip by Soulkiller.
This biochip is the very relic V is tasked with stealing during a heist planned by Dexter DeShawn. Though, V nor you, the player, are privy to what's on that biochip at the time of the heist. After V survives a fatal gunshot wound to the head thanks to the chip, Johnny starts to make appearances in V's head. Mostly, V's relationship with Johnny at the start is antagonistic, and the former rocker goads V. It's a jarring moment to learn that Johnny will be a constant companion with us on this journey.
5 Saburo Arasak's Murder
During the heist, Jackie Welles and V find themselves in a tight spot. They must hide when Saboru Arasaka and his son, Yorinobu, enter the room. The two argue as Sabaoru has learned of Yorinobu's treachery in stealing the Relic from him. Yorinobu then kills his father in a fit of anger.
V and Jackie are the only witnesses to the murder. It's a rather shocking moment considering Saburo's prominence in Night City. He's 158 years old thanks to his cybernetic alterations. That's right, he fought in World War II as a fighter pilot. He'd later come to blows with Johnny Silverhand after the creation of Soulkiller. However, he's eliminated in the prologue of the game — by his son no less.
4 Alt Cunningham Becomes A Powerful AI
Alt Cunningham is the flame inside Johnny Silverhand's rebellious heart. In fact, she's the primary reason that he ever became an activist taking extreme measures against Arasaka, such as detonating a nuclear bomb in the city. Alt was once a prominent netrunner in Night City. She later developed Soulkiller, and was forced into captivity by Arasaka until she recreated it for them.
Then, as a jab at Johnny Silverhand for attempting to free his lover and being a thorn in their side, they used Soulkiller on Alt effectively killing her. Her consciousness became an engram and fled into the net. Over the years, her consciousness lost any semblance of humanity and accepted what it truly is, an AI. Alt Cunningham died, and her consciousness became the basis of a powerful AI in cyberspace.
3 V's Limited Life Expectancy
From the get-go, V is fighting for their life. Following V's revival thanks to the biochip, they learn that Johnny's engram is slowly taking over and nothing will be left of V in a few short weeks. That becomes V's ultimate focus throughout the game: finding a way to separate Johnny from their mind so V can continue to live.
But in the end, we learn that V's outlook isn't great. Even though there are multiple roads to separating Johnny's engram from V's brain, it turns out that the biochip has done plenty of damage. In fact, it has done so much that V has a limited life expectancy heading into the game's finale. That is, of course, if V chooses to live on for what remaining time they have. This leaves the future of a blossoming series a total mystery with many possibilities.
2 Jackie Dies
The prologue to Cyberpunk 2077 is a meaty affair. In fact, it will likely take you a few hours to get through. You'll probably be blinking in disbelief when it ends and the core of the game gets started with the Cyberpunk 2077 title splashed across the screen. That means there's plenty of time to get to know Jackie Welles, even for his short life span in comparison to the overall game.
Jackie Welles is V's friend and confidant. The two ultimately make a living in Night City the best way they know how, engaging in the more unscrupulous activities of the city's seedy underbelly. Through it all, however, they're pals, and they have each other's back. That makes it all the more tragic when Jackie succumbs to a fatal wound when fleeing the scene at Arasaka. V looks into his friend's lifeless eyes just moments after he hands V the relic. It's shocking and tragic.
1 Dexter DeSahwn Shoots And Kills V
This one's probably the most jarring moment in the entire plot. Dexter DeShawn, the gangster V and Jackie plotted the heist of Arasaka's relic with, obviously doesn't like that the whole plan went belly up. Even if the pair retrieved the relic, V is now a loose end when Arasaka's assassins come looking for what's theirs.
DeShawn ensures that V won't talk by putting him down. As the player, it's hard to believe that DeShawn will actually follow through with killing V. In your mind, you likely envision some harrowing moment interrupting DeShawn's execution of V. No dice. DeShawn does, indeed, pull the trigger, and V most certainly dies from a fatal gunshot wound to the head. It's just that no one ever counted on the biochip repairing V's brain functions and reviving him.