After more than 500 hours spread over 6 years, many multi-month breaks and 7+ characters I finally managed to finish the base story of Cyberpunk 2077. I went through 3 endings The Path of Least Resistance, The Sun and The Devil - even at the very end things would not go perfectly.
The intro section before the choice and The Path of Least Resistance ended up with my V spouting random lines every 30 seconds during the normal dialogue due to one of the mods I used (dependency for others).
The Sun crashed during its epilogue. Also, Rogue and her gun disappeared during the boss fight (not in the intended way).
My ability to scan bugged out during The Devil. I couldn’t finish the final part and had to watch it instead.
Despite these issues all of the endings were pretty engaging though I can’t say they hit as strong as they could under better circumstances. Between multiple partial playthroughs, already finishing the game through Phantom Liberty and being spoiled on the main points of all of the finales, there was just too much going against having a full experience.
As for The Star, I’m leaving it specifically for my next playthrough as my canon ending for the game. Before that happens however I intend to spend A LOT more time in Night City. As mentioned last week, I’m planning to start from scratch just to enjoy myself as a random NPC living their life whenever I feel like it. It might take a few months or a few years, the important thing is that I already beat the game so the pressure to progress is no longer there.
I’m doing a proper setup this time too - mod manager, serious testing and no mod list changes after I start. It should help with instability and other issues I had to deal with this time.
Anyway, that’s that. Not as emotional as I’d like but the feeling of closure is just as important. It’s certainly better than disappointment. Now to sort through all of my pictures in search for something worth keeping…
Personally I really enjoyed the secret ending path into Temperance. But I really like Johnny, and the relationship with V, I suppose. I kind of hate the Sun ending, it feels antithetical to Vs emotional journey and while it is fitting for the genre and setting it feels like a devolution of V and just in general succumbing to Night City.
Oh, right! I did both The Sun and Temperance actually, I forgot they represented separate epilogues and just wrote based on the final gameplay section.
I agree about The Sun. though I suppose it depends on how you played the character. If someone didn’t engage with all the elements about finding a purpose outside of “being a legend” and instead stuck to anger and the need to lash out at “the bad guy” (Arasaka) then I can see it fitting quite well.
I wouldn’t want it as a proper ending for my V but being an NC legend never really interested me so losing that goal and switching gears towards something more personal was pretty easy.
As for Temperance… I like Johnny (by the end of the story) and I like that going this way gives him an opportunity to try again as a better person. I still prefer my V to have an option to make the best of their limited time while surrounded by their new family but I appreciate it as an option nonetheless. It definitely felt the most bittersweet and (positively) emotional out of all of these to me. It would probably be my choice if not for the “bail out with your bros” option.
I like the bittersweet nature of Temperance. Especially as chosen after the secret ending path, that way nobody else gets hurt, too. There is something poetic and beautiful to me of V and Johnny storming Arasaka Tower as a solitary duo, with Johnny cheering on, as contrasted to the very first scene he appears in in the opening. And I don’t know, V learns to stop fighting and accept mortality, Johnny gets a second chance… I just like it.
I get the appeal of the Star ending. I do. Especially if you romance Judy (Judy romance plus Sun ending is extra miserable, though). But I guess Star is a little too close to “happily ever after” for my preference in this setting. It’s a nice riding into the sunset, leaving Night City literally and metaphorically for V and the player, but such a happy ending (especially with the throwing the player a bone bit about a potential cure with some technomancer) feels oddly almost inappropriately happy for the setting. Actually I think in some ways the Devil ending might be the most appropriate, especially for some Vs. I mean I hate it and it’s terrible, but it’s also awesome and so, so cyberpunk. And it hits some nice notes with the themes, the misery, the desperation for life, the true nature of SoulKiller, destroying the Johnny engram only to become an engram yourself, the corps always win…
After more than 500 hours spread over 6 years, many multi-month breaks and 7+ characters I finally managed to finish the base story of Cyberpunk 2077. I went through 3 endings The Path of Least Resistance, The Sun and The Devil - even at the very end things would not go perfectly.
Despite these issues all of the endings were pretty engaging though I can’t say they hit as strong as they could under better circumstances. Between multiple partial playthroughs, already finishing the game through Phantom Liberty and being spoiled on the main points of all of the finales, there was just too much going against having a full experience.
As for The Star, I’m leaving it specifically for my next playthrough as my canon ending for the game. Before that happens however I intend to spend A LOT more time in Night City. As mentioned last week, I’m planning to start from scratch just to enjoy myself as a random NPC living their life whenever I feel like it. It might take a few months or a few years, the important thing is that I already beat the game so the pressure to progress is no longer there.
I’m doing a proper setup this time too - mod manager, serious testing and no mod list changes after I start. It should help with instability and other issues I had to deal with this time.
Anyway, that’s that. Not as emotional as I’d like but the feeling of closure is just as important. It’s certainly better than disappointment. Now to sort through all of my pictures in search for something worth keeping…
Personally I really enjoyed the secret ending path into Temperance. But I really like Johnny, and the relationship with V, I suppose. I kind of hate the Sun ending, it feels antithetical to Vs emotional journey and while it is fitting for the genre and setting it feels like a devolution of V and just in general succumbing to Night City.
Oh, right! I did both The Sun and Temperance actually, I forgot they represented separate epilogues and just wrote based on the final gameplay section.
I agree about The Sun. though I suppose it depends on how you played the character. If someone didn’t engage with all the elements about finding a purpose outside of “being a legend” and instead stuck to anger and the need to lash out at “the bad guy” (Arasaka) then I can see it fitting quite well.
I wouldn’t want it as a proper ending for my V but being an NC legend never really interested me so losing that goal and switching gears towards something more personal was pretty easy.
As for Temperance… I like Johnny (by the end of the story) and I like that going this way gives him an opportunity to try again as a better person. I still prefer my V to have an option to make the best of their limited time while surrounded by their new family but I appreciate it as an option nonetheless. It definitely felt the most bittersweet and (positively) emotional out of all of these to me. It would probably be my choice if not for the “bail out with your bros” option.
Cyberpunk ending spoilers
I like the bittersweet nature of Temperance. Especially as chosen after the secret ending path, that way nobody else gets hurt, too. There is something poetic and beautiful to me of V and Johnny storming Arasaka Tower as a solitary duo, with Johnny cheering on, as contrasted to the very first scene he appears in in the opening. And I don’t know, V learns to stop fighting and accept mortality, Johnny gets a second chance… I just like it.
I get the appeal of the Star ending. I do. Especially if you romance Judy (Judy romance plus Sun ending is extra miserable, though). But I guess Star is a little too close to “happily ever after” for my preference in this setting. It’s a nice riding into the sunset, leaving Night City literally and metaphorically for V and the player, but such a happy ending (especially with the throwing the player a bone bit about a potential cure with some technomancer) feels oddly almost inappropriately happy for the setting. Actually I think in some ways the Devil ending might be the most appropriate, especially for some Vs. I mean I hate it and it’s terrible, but it’s also awesome and so, so cyberpunk. And it hits some nice notes with the themes, the misery, the desperation for life, the true nature of SoulKiller, destroying the Johnny engram only to become an engram yourself, the corps always win…
But maybe I’m just a sucker for depression.