In Cyberpunk 2077, the narrative sees V getting backed more and more into a corner. They’re dying, Keanu Reeves is inside their head, and the more they fight it, the fewer options they find to survive. In the end, they might not. But knowing what’s coming might help you make the best choice for your V.
There are four solid endings to the game, plus a fifth that gets added if you own the Phantom Liberty expansion. Be warned, none of them are unambiguously happy. Each requires V to make a major compromise, so buckle up.
Vanilla endings
The Sun: To access The Sun ending, you need to have a great relationship with Johnny to the point where you’re able to complete the “Blistering Love” sidequest involving Rogue. If you’ve done this, you’ll be able to ask Rogue for help, and she’ll join you on the last mission. This also involves V relinquishing their body to Keanu Reeves, who takes the wheel in trying to reach Mikoshi. Once you reach Mikoshi, you’re presented with a decision. V can give up their body permanently to Keanu Reeves (less exciting than it sounds) or live on as themselves for a few months.
The Star: The Star requires you to get friendly with Panam and the Aldecados, completing the “Queen of the Highway” side task. If you do, the option to ask Panam for help becomes available, and the Aldecados will help you reach Mikoshi. Once again, you can either choose to live as V for a few final months or just hand their body over to Mr. Reeves.
The Devil: The last ending is always an option. If you choose to ask Hanako Arasaka to help. The goal here is to get revenge on Yorinobu for killing Saburo. Afterward, you’ll still jack into Mikoshi, but you’ll get an earful from Keanu Reeves, who will leave with Alt. However, when you wake up, you’ll be in space; Arasaka’s space station. Unfortunately, you’re still stuck with a raw choice. You can save V’s “soul” by having it uploaded and stored in Mikoshi. Otherwise, you can refuse and go back to Earth to die. Happy times.
The easy way out: All of these endings aren’t great for V, but there is another way. You can just give up and end it all by pumping some brass into your skull. I suppose I get why you’d choose this ending, but if you really wanted to end Cyberpunk 2077 early, you could have just closed and uninstalled rather than choosing this ghastly method.
Phantom Liberty ending
Live forever?: Did you expect a happier ending just because you shelled out for the expansion? Completing Phantom Liberty will give you the option of getting the Relic Removed by NUSA. Sounds great, right?
Well, when you wake up after surgery, there are a few caveats. First, the surgery has left you unable to handle most cybernetic implants. Bummer. The second is that you’ve been out for two years. Welcome to Cyberpunk 2079. You’ll return to Night City, but all your friends have departed, aside from Viktor Vektor. Worse yet, while you were sleeping, Arasaka left Night City, and Militech swooped in and took control. That may sound like changing out one evil for another, but Militech is a bit more, uh, militarized.
So, that’s it. V goes on to live out their life as a normal mortal, which I guess is fine. But things don’t seem to go well for those who can’t adapt to Cyberpunk’s future.
One more thing
There’s one last ending that you can choose. When you’re deciding on who to call (or if shooting yourself is a better option), if you hesitate for long enough (about 3 minutes), Johnny will offer to just storm Arasaka again in a suicide run. Choosing this will have you kicking down the door to Arasaka Tower and blasting your way to Mikoshi. If you die at any point during this reckless pursuit, the credits will roll. If you manage to succeed, you’ll once again jack into Mikoshi and will choose to live on in V’s dying body or hand it over to Keanu Reeves.
But perhaps more importantly, Cyberpunk 2077 doesn’t actually have a timer on V’s life. You can choose to just not take on the last mission and live on forever. You’ll eventually run out of things to do and can either start a new game or just uninstall and move on. A bit of an anti-climax, but it’s probably better than aerating your skull.
