The CANON ending in Cyberpunk 2077 //
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- With more news about upcoming additions to the Cyberpunk universe and a possible sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 it's obvious CDPR will have to choose one canon ending for the game. I did my best to voice my opinion on what ending will become canonized and why is it better for canon than any other one.
As always, thanks to these creators for their material I used in the video, it saved me dozens of hours of playing through stuff myself:
Ernest Gamingway
D Blackhand
AcBaLkX
Amados King
Point Zero
Netflix Anime
rxcinesss
Fury
#cyberpunk2077 #phantomliberty #cyberpunk #edgerunners #gaming #videoessay #cyberpunk2077ending #cyberpunkorion #cdprojektred
The secret ending makes the most sense. Considering the only way to get it is to have a narritivley fulfilling arch with johnny and its pretty open ended
This ending is fun and badass and all, but it doesn't make sense in terms of power levels. One can buy that V is one of the best mercs in the world, but to just walk into Arasaka HQ and start blasting is a bit of a stretch.
@@chadwicktenderstem2646 Do you think Adam Smasher can just walk into Arasaka HQ and start blasting? And let's say he made preparation so that Arasaka would not have control over his cyberware.
@@chadwicktenderstem2646 to be fair he had the help of Alt and that's a really big power up, in terms of making it more "realistic" we can say that he had a stealth build and he managed to sneak in and let Alt handle the rest.
I like the idea that he went in solo personally though I hope they keep an air of mystery about it all.
nah
as mike pondsmith once said. the maincharacter is night city. so an ending with V dead and a complete new main character is not unlikely.
Yet the next game supposedly takes place in Texas, or so I've heard
I agree with this as well.
Even if the canon ending has v survive I’m sure we’re not gonna play as him again
@@Smuggers.where did you hear that from?
I think 3 of the 4 endings are fairly hopeful about V's ending, its only really the devil thats not. Its very likely he can cure himself in the star and sun too, but i dont think he'll be the new main character regardless. there'll probably be a few vague mentions to them and what may or may not have happened to them, but thats it. That way they can respect player choice while also not really having to deal with a canon ending.
Hopefully it’s the Don’t Fear The Reaper ending.
V does the impossible but they can’t be saved, then they disappear as a legend of Night City.
In the next projects V is somewhat of a urban legend that some people idolize and other don’t even believe existed.
Let's not forget that literally nobody except for some braindead punks, old retards and street trash remembers the very one sorry ass of a loser terrorist, who shined much more brightly than our main character/ Why do you think that V won't be forgotten through the time, same as that very peculiar degenerate?
It's the least interesting and poorly written out of all of them. Plus 80% of players don't even know that ending.
@@Tonius126 i think its the most interesting. it started out as V and johnny, it should end as v and johnny.
@@GamfluentIn the dlc phantom liberty, you can get the cure (and it works) by betraying So Mi. You learn later that it was Mr. Blue eyes behind it all. And he is the one whi can save (but does he?) So Mi, who has been beyond the great wall. Blue eyes is an AI from beyond the blackwall.
So, that being said, I like to think that V didnt beteay So Mi, saved her, sacrificing his chance to get a cure...but has a chance to get it with the special ending, going on the moon to get it...
@@Tonius126 Pretty sure it's 80% of players who know the ending
I think Fear the Reaper + Sending So Mi to the moon will be the canon ending. It allows pretty much the entire supporting cast to potentially return for the sequel (since none of them have to die during the Arasaka assault), and V is still V, and working to find a cure, while also still being rooted in Night City. So it's the least disruptive to the overall cast of character/story structure, of all the endings.
Panam and judy wont return because they've both left night city. It gives an unfair advantage to those who chose to romance Kerry or River, so i doubt they'll go down that route. I reckon either a whole new character or a whole new city entirely. We've already explored night city, it doesnt make sense for them to give us the same map.
Whats with people picking the happier ending in a genre like Cyberpunk? DLC ending have a good track record in the medium by a long shot.
@@Tonius126 because the majority of people don't want a depressing ending to a 20-30 hour story, where everything and everyone ends up dead or depressed, or whatever. and when you make EVERY ending a shit/depressing ending, yeah it makes it kind of annoying for people who would like for at least SOME positive outcome.
But that has nothing to do with why I said I think Fear the Reaper and SoMi on the Moon is likely the canon ending. I explained it pretty well, but apparently you still didn't get it.
The thing about the mr. blue eyes seems like something will happen with rogue ai's and him in the sequel. Maybe the game will start about rogue AI outbreak on the station. Only one way to find out. The thing is he happens to be in 2 endings : Somi when going to the moon, and V becoming afterlife legend
@@happyninja42 No positive outcomes in Cyberpunk, it's a Pyrrhic victory or defeat.
But even that said, I don't view "The Sun" ending as positive. It's made very clear that the mission to The Crystal Palace has nothing to do with curing V. Even the messages between V and Mr. Blueeyes mention nothing of a cure. On the way to the heist V comments that he took this job because he's basically already dead to which Mr. Blueeyes responds with "Well that's pretty grim". To me the most positive ending is leaving with The Nomads. V still has only six months to live but get's to spend them with the people who love them.
Ending with Panam had the most emotion to it and felt like narratively the best way to end V’s story as he leaves night city with panam as opposed to when he entered it with Jackie, but Don’t Fear The Reaper was so badass😭
Don’t Fear The Reaper ending is canon. 100%.
Edgerunners cemented the main theme that CDPR was toying with on the vanilla CP2077.
It's all about leaving a legacy, about taking down the corporations, about the friends who help you along the way, the connections you make, and the people who will remember you when you're long gone.
Meh, DLC ending has a good track record of being the canon ending for an upcoming sequel.
@@Tonius126dlc can end 2 ways though, then same arguments apply to player choice and all that. I personally feel they added the cure ending because of how many people want V to live.
@@ronancain4640I am leaning more towards yours I figured v will take a fixer role
@@Tonius126nah man, the ending makes V a normal dude, no cyberware. it's great that he lives and can maybe become a fixer but he'll never be able to be a player character again without walking back the consequences of getting his life
@@TarsilyWasTaken I think they mean that people kept asking for an ending where V lives and they got it in the most Cyberpunk way possible. "V lives but now he has no life".
Be careful what you wish for y'all, you just might get it. It kind of reminds me of something Cassidy say's to you during the "Gun Music" side biz. "You never know when your bad luck sparred you from worse luck"
I think no matter what I'm a huge believer in sending Songbird to the moon and the sun ending. Both V and Song are two sides of the same coin two people who get screwed over and are now dying for it. Both of them are doing what they can to survive, and I think V would be empathetic enough to look through the lying of Song and send her to the moon. Also the moon and sun are a way to represent two sides of the same coin as well. Also Mr. Blue Eyes is in both endings and I feel like he might be a way for CDPR to point "hey this is canon." Because of how elusive he is.
Yeah, Mr Blue Eyes is practically Cyberpunk's version of the G-Man so his appearance is no coincidence
If something would be canon then it would be most likely So Mi moon and V Sun ending. But people need to relax a bit with the whole Mr. Blue Eyes straight out villain theory. Even if his associated with Night Corp they are the corporation that is lore wise known as the ones that protect NC and want companies like Arasaka and Militech out. So the power can return to its citizens. That alone would be enough for somebody like Mr. Blue Eyes to want Songbird on his site so he can screw up Myers once and for all. And for whoever has read “No coincidence” SPOILER……….Militech is way closer to their own Soulkiller then we actually know. So whatever Night Corp is working on might just be the response to Arasaka and Militech if they decide to escalate things again with another corpo war.
Well, the game is out for 3 years, people climb their ceilings trying to figure out what is coming up next, me included lmao
Especially after he appears in So Mi's quest.
Currently working on a big video trying to put all Mr Blue Eyes conspiracies together and I genuinely get occasional headaches from all the stuff that can be associated with him, so it's really an interesting topic to research, but important to keep your distance and not become another Gary the Prophet in the process.
I think the villain arc has a lot to do with the "Dream On" side job with the weird surveillance of the Peralez couple. However i get major G-Man vibes from Mr. Blue Eyes and do not think he may be ultimately the bad guy aswell.
@@whitemanex The main thing that sticks out to me about Mr Blue Eyes is that has an organized plan, and within his dialog doesn't give off the hint of villainous intentions... in fact to me it feels quite the opposite. [He cures So Mi, if we take that route and is offering something similar to V. if we help him strike at Araska.]
@@HansWurst-gm2rxThing with the Peralez couple is that they were both two underprivileged kids that worked the way up and actually wanna do good to the city. Maybe even too good. They don’t accept corporate help, wanna support the citizens, even tax more so they can solve out homelessness. So even if an AI controls them on the side whatever we see as an outcome if Jefferson becomes Mayor doesn’t defer much from his actual intentions or personality. It’s also interesting that if Night Corp has already the ability to control people to that extent why they wouldn’t just go and brainwash the ex mayor or Holt instead but would choose someone as the Peralez couple. There are different types or Rogue AIs and not all of them are like the ones we see in that cynosure bunker. The ones that originate from the blackwall and the ones like Alt who are a hybrid between human and AI. The difference tho is that Alt was already an engram whilst the Peralazes or Songbird are still humans. Everything is all so very interesting regardless and I’m curious to see were this will go.
But why would they then proceed and kidnap Gary the Prophet who was constantly speaking the truth through his Alpha Centaury theories, and how "they" (Rogue Ai) will overtake the citizens? Mr Blue Eyes clearly seems like being taken over bei Rogue Ai. Yes he might take care of NC, but not in a way you as a citizen would benefit or enjoy it. He and Night Corp are onto something - NC is fucked up, the whole Cyberpunk lore is filled with fucked uo individuals doing some crazy shit (like Bartmoss, just to name one) and while Mr Blue Eyes might think what he is doing is 'good' it doesn't mean that you will benefit from it. Alot of crazy guys and terrorists used to have the same mindset, before doing unspeakable, disgusting things to mankind.
I kinda wish we got to do the Crystal Palace heist mission where while possible to stealth it you could also go guns a blazing.
That said V’s Crystal Palace heist would make a great starting mission for Orion, or at the very least a mention that somebody got onboard and pulled data.
One last note/idea. In three of the endings V’s consciousness is made into an engram. What if THAT engram is featured in Orion?
Imagine if Orion had V has the protagonist as 2077 had Johnny as V's protagonist.
After discovering Neuromancer and the strong influences it has on the Cyberpunk genre, I would consider the Phantom Liberty ending to be a good candidate for a canon ending. Neuromancer has a character who can no longer netrun because his nervous system is completely screwed. Similar to V no longer being able to have cyberware. And yet he manages to find a way to continue netrunning and interacts with super AI. V could also find another way and it doesn't have to be the end.
I would also prefer if the next Cyberpunk game took place in 2020. Or the 4th Corporate War.
Sort of agree with you there. And if like a huge if, if they are going to use V as the main character again. It would be a great way to explain starting off at square one with absolutely nothing and no skill.
My guess?
The new ending where V winds up with 0 Chrome and Militech wnds up turning Night City into a Dredd-esque militarized fortress would be canon. V was told they could become anything else such as a Fixer, there's history of folks with very little cyberware becoming legends, and the Militech takeover ahead of both the 5th Corporate War + AI Invasion is fertile ground for a new title.
Just set it 5-10 years after 2077, build out all the unused areas (there's basically the base game+Dogtown's worh of areas that were ultiamtely unused) and expand NIghty City outward. They already said a lot changed in 2 years during V's coma. Imagine 10.
I think the Official artwork that CDPR posted has "Cyberpunk 2077 Orion" on it so I think it takes place in 2077. And the Dark Blue tint of the Cyberpunk logo makes me think we will be dealing with the fallout of all the beneath the surface stuff we've seen Nightcorp get up to.
I'll probably be the only one here, but I love the devil ending. I mean, of course it won't be considered the canon one (even if it's the only one always achievable), but I love how sad and oppressing it feels. You actually feel like shit, cause everything and everyone warned you, but you still made a pact with the devil, and now you are paying the consequences. It may be depressing, but its writing is so damn good.
Or they can just make all endings "canon" depending on your new character backstory. Like Engram V that was actually transferred to new body with most of memories locked, and maybe working with Takemura now. Other backstories will be based around outcomes of other endings
@@Zenitchik_130 it would be amazing, yet too difficult for the developers to apply this. Anyway, they already made clearly V's story is to be considered as closed. We'll probably never see V and johnny again, saddly.
@@alessandrogarofalo9951 I mean, yeah, but I still guess just as a backstory to be picked in a start of a game, it could be quite cool, after all not much changed in a world after V, Arasaka is still has biggest gun, Night City is a trashcan and all that. They made backstory kinda working in 2077 (dialogues, ect.) hopefully they would do the same in a next game.
@@Zenitchik_130 Well, not exactly. Depending on the chosen ending, Arasaka can leave night city because of V's attack. Furthermore, if V's chooses Phantom Liberty ending, Militech controls NC. At the contrary, if devil ending is chosen, Arasaka becomes even stronger, with an immortal Saburo as its leader. There a lot of consequences to V's actions, it's literally the most influencial person in NC in 2077 😅
It´s so nice to see a person who cares about good writing instead of which ending is the happiest one.
i truly feel like night city is used best as an anthology type thing. personally i think vs cannon ending should be the panam ending with him leaving night city. if the followup follows v then cool we get to see a mad max style game that i think would be really good. if it doesnt follow v then the legend of v, jackie, the heist, v having johnny in his head i think should all be known to the public by whenever it is. ik im having major oversight especially since i havent finished phantom liberty yet but even how many you tie up theres 3 times as many loose ends that another character could close
There’s only 2 real possible endings either storming arasaka tower alone with Johnny and then V keeps the body leading to the Sun ending or taking Reeds offer and getting the cure and starting Cyberpunk Orion off with the 5th corporate war and blackwall AIs taking over peoples bodies and who best to fight them than someone with no implants
OHHHH SHITE didn't think of that.... Maybe Biotechnica has some secret sauce on the moon too. Bio mods instead of cyberware.
A counter point to the star ending being unlikely to be canonized. While V leaves Night City with the nomads, V's doing it specifically to still find a way to save them self. Panam tells you that she has connections that could possibly help you.
So, a potential sequel could simply establish that those connections worked out and V was cured.
Or we could just have a new main character but go off of the events of that ending.
Something to remember about Alt and the Blackwall... she helped create it. NetWatch worked with her, a rogue AI, to make another AI.
It is one of the reasons she can pierce the Blackwall so easily. She has a literal backdoor wrote into it.
I'd love to get access to Alt's backdoor
@@chrispekel5709 you get it if you help So Mi, but it's not right
@@ans4850 I get it by not helping So Mi, just loot the cyberdeck
@@ans4850
that's not the backdoor the other guy was talking about, haha.
I don;t think the ending is going to matter much. Given the route Phantom Liberty went, I am more convinced that Orion is going to be focused on the main AI that broke through the blackwall and that is up to all kinds of 'no good' on the moon. If you haven't done a lot of side quests, the basic overview is that an AI from behind the blackwall escaped, (possibly the one that absorbed Alt) and has been "acquiring" humans, along with using tech to influence and even overwrite human memories and thoughts. Those affected are represented with blue eyes, and we have lots of hints throughout the game about this AI, such as the "aliens" and "vampires", and especially the Peralez gig, in some situations, you can even encounter homeless people with blue eyes that appear to be watching, and if you scan them it comes up a "suspicious person". Phantom Liberty expands upon this a lot, with SongBird being nearly fully taken over by this AI, one that wants her to get to the moon. Also, in Edge-Runners, Lucy is oddly compelled to go to the moon, and they make a point to let us know the moon is not a place ANYONE would want to visit for a vacation. My theory is that the AI is using tech similar to the Relic to upload itself into human brains. It is an awesome concept, instead of humans trying to escape to cyberspace, we have an AI trying to escape cyberspace into human bodies. Anyways, I think Orion will be a different character. Throughout the game we will hear rumors about "V" and rumors as to what happened, but rumors are always a wee bit of truth and a TON of BS. Remember, V is a loner, and we can see from the "Reed" ending that he doesn't have many real friends, and only after 2 years most people have abandoned him. I think the best example as to how Orion might play out is how they refer to Edge-Runners and David in the game, such as the gig "Over the Edge" where you get Davids yellow jacket. Even though David was famous and a legend, he is also obscure, no one seems to really know what happened to him, even after we talk with Falco, we get no more info. I think V is going to go the same path, and we will have a totally new character that ends up going after the AI on the moon.
What if it’s Rache Bartmoss ? He’s the AI .
@@LyykNevaDies You mean an AI that assimilated what was left of Bartmoss, cuz he is very much dead, soup in a netrunner icebox near deshawns body by that giant trash pile. :) It could be possible Arasaka found him and soulkilled him, but just like ALT, he would get absorbed into an AI. Hmmm, you know, I wonder if "eating" engrams, like ALT caused the AI to take not of the regular world, and even to desire to experience it, and perhaps take it over. All speculation though
What will be the live action adaptation? A series or a single movie? I don't really think they will show us V's story. The setting will be Night City but with different characters.
Personally there are 2 canon ending for me don't fear the reaper (makes sense). The new one because it leaves v in a morgan blavk hand situation no combat cyberware with the ai battle with humans seems to be coming. Plus v would be in a better situation that most people
My guess is exactly the same as yours. The Star ending is the most sattisfying and also my favorite, but the sun ending and sending So Mi to the moon, not siding with NUSA is the most canon and make more sense in my opinion. You naild it!
100%
I want an ending where Johnny, V and Aguilar become the same person and take over Night City with Hands.
You didn't get anything. This Songbird girl controls this Mr. Blue Eyes character, this was a spectacle she meticulously planned from start to finish and you all bought into her bullshit. Hahaha!
And none of you realised that. I can't believe you people...
Im thinking they're gonna pull the same trick from Witcher 3. You'll be asked questions in an interview or Interrogation and fill in the blanks as to what you want to be canon
I think what is particularly interesting is how many times V came across one of Mr. Blue Eyes schemes/plans. IMHO I think you are on the money with your theory, So Mi makes it to the moon and The Sun Ending. We also don't know what happens to V. I saw a Cyberpunk 2077 that showed Mr. Blue Eyes, and a few others wearing the same ring on the same spot on their hand. It's not an accident. I believe Mr. Blue Eyes is an AI or someone working with the AIs from beyond the wall.
Here is the video that shows you that Mr. Blue Eyes has more influence that anyone of us realized. ua-cam.com/video/KVevlNUz2Sc/v-deo.html
Just completed this amazing game the other day. The ending with my V and Panam as a couple riding off into the sunset with their family has so much hope for the future written into it! With Misty‘s tarot card reading, Panam’s contacts to help V, and all the other signs pointing towards them being able to find a cure for V is awesome! I imagine them getting married, having kids! Such a beautiful ending. I hope we get to continue their story together. In my mind, they found the cure for V and they went off and lived a happy life in love, and with all their loved ones. Johnny being reunited with Alt is a fitting send off for him too. I just love these characters so much! I hope for a bright future, and to see them again! Hope to find my Panam someday!!!
The sun ending. Prob will be about rogue Ai truly taking over such as little bird or mr blue eyes or even black hand or even Alt cunningham. They’d prob use V or Johnny to help advance their agenda and it’ll be too late before the main character catches on. That’s really the only ending I can see it keep going
I need an ending where I get to be V and keep Johnny, then Canonize Skippy staying with V. I don't know why, but I really enjoy having both in during the journey.
My canon ending is putting Songbird on the ship, shooting reed, and doing dont fear the reaper solo with your romance of your choice
Sun or secret ending make the most sense generally in all of them but devil Arasaka's fate is the same and Yorinobu succeeds in at keast weakening the company severely
I've always thought the Don't Fear The Reaper ending made the most sense. It sets V up as a legend and leaves his fate unknown. The only other ending that I think is likely is V leaving Night City with the Aldacaldos. Both endings allow V's fate to be semi-unknown but still leave him as a legend like Silverhand and David. But the sun seems most likely because Mr.Blue eyes is definitely an extremely important character.
I’d prefer for V to return as I’m really attached to his character, even though I know CDPR would make just as good a character for the sequel. What they could do is have it so that when Alt separated johnny and V she kept a engram of V (for safekeeping y’know?) in order to create a true influence in the real world if she ever needed to. So when the next game is probably focused on AIs from beyond the black wall, she uses V as kind of her proxy in the real world to create changes that suit her and don’t harm the engram “Ghost City” she’s created in the ruins of Hong Kong, things like that, then for the V in the endings, people still get their sad ending where V dies, but he technically comes back, and so for the game he really questions whether he is human, and there could even be a scene where v visits his own grave, mirroring the scene where you visit johnny’s grave in the oil fields.
Regardless, I am very excited for the story of the next game.
You know what? I think Devil Ending as canon is the most intriguing & has more potentials imo since it really leave you the menacing future sequel that the bad guy won & you have to try again. There are two ways to go about the sequel imo, V return or new protag. Honestly, I think CDPR will choose a new protag since the best way to go about it with to make V conclusion to be more open ended. From this scenario alone, we can safely assume Star, Sun, Temperance can be integrated as pseudo background conclusion canons more easily for sequel, especially for other characters. Now we have main Devil & Tower Endings.
The biggest consequences of both endings are how the major parties will directly claim & change the dominating power over Night city, between Arasaka (Devil) or NUSA & Militech (Tower). imo, Arasaka taking over Night City has a much more balance proposition since Night City still able to keep its independency (on the front) while the eventual 5th corporate war can still happen. This will still leave an open ended scenario for Rogue AI plotlines & the big conspiracy to Nightcorp. As for your Mikoshi arguments, the existence of perfected Relic & how Mikoshi still exist as some kind of eternal prison for any constructs is so much more cyberpunk dystopian imo. It will actually give balance for the Rogue AI war & newer plotlines that will still directly involve Alt Cunningham AI & Mr Blue Eyes imo. Also, the biggest reason to me personally is a major figure Saburo Arasaka's immortality.
From story POVs, you don't want to removed the big boss just like that in your first game! especially when major wars are practically in your doorstep. From this ending, now we can be sure to have at least 2 major characters being immortals, Alt Cunningham & Saburo Arasaka. Since Mikoshi exists, there could be many possible potentials of other characters to get revived somehow. Hell, I would say Arasaka resurrecting Adam Smasher once again like some kind of undying Nemesis is quite terrifying (& great) imo. I would even also argue that Corpo V IS the canon lifepath imo since it can both includes streetkid & corpo life background with streetkid V & Jackie were best friends. It add layers to the characterizations. Also, in the conclusion for V in Devil ending, both V who became engram & V that choose to be "free" still can have an open ended story & potentials imo. For example, what if V really do have "offsprings" with the chosen romance partners or some other unknown person (aside from gay romance for obvious reasons)? it will give story options for controversial V's comeback. This can also applied to V that choose to be free as V could take revenge to Arasaka & will do their damnest, just like Johnny Silverhand.
Commenting early, but Mass Effect 2/3 absolutely changed shit depending on choices made, though mostly relegated to available companions, minor differences and there was only a couple different choices anyhow. Nowhere near close to the varying choices in CP2077. However, with what game sizes are, CDPR's dev cycle, and their commitment to creating an in-depth engaging story, I'd say it's absolutely something they would try and possibly do.
I think streetkid female V with Judy romance, saving songbird and telling the government to fuck off with the don't fear the reaper and giving up the body to Johnny is the best story and best ending in the game
V living chromeless is the safest for V "when" the Blackwall AIs take over. Anyone with chrome will be at war with their own bodies and "the chromeless" will have the fight of their lives as "the chromed" turn into AI controlled puppets but that will be a wierd route to go for the sequel and would make an interesting Spin Off
Regarding the nomad ending, you're assuming we would play as the same character for the sequel.
It could still be cannon and we easily play as someone else, most rpg's do that.
I hope the second game starts at the space casino mission
I hate to think that we need at least what? 7 years? To get a look at the new Cyberpunk title.... while it may take more time for them to finish The Witcher (and its DLCs) 😢
Doesn’t really matter which ending is canon it’s up for interpretation and that’s what makes this series great it can focus on a completely new cast and crew and the fans will love them this series isn’t tied to one character it’s tied to everyone.
My favorite ending is the Johnny/Rogue ending in which they storm arasaka tower. Seems like the best ending to Johnny’s story and his redemption by choosing to give V his/her body back.
Sucks that you get Rogue killed in the process tho.
@@rykingly Still felt like it was the best ending because she got her redemption too. Just hope that V did right by her son. Would be dope if rogue’s son became a part of V’s crew in the sequel
The canon in my head is KIng of Cups + The Star if you romanced Judy or Panam, OR The Sun + giving back the body to V to see a really beautiful Johnny Silverhand closure.
King of Wands and The Sun (With Dont Fear the Reaper and Paths of Glory) - dont even try to change my mind xD
FYI: I commented this before watching the conclusion of the video!
@@HansWurst-gm2rxthere is a really good video here on UA-cam with great valid points why King of Cups fits more as a canon ending, check it out!
I just finished the game today and damn it's gonna be hard to move on. I don't even know what to play now ^^
It's the tower ending, V doesn't get soulkilled and actually lives, does least ammount of damage to night city and the most open ended.
In defense of the nusa ending: if you have a good relationship with johnny by this point you actually get some really good dialogue with him accepting your decision, pondsmith has also said “Cyberpunk is not about saving the world, it’s about saving yourself.” Which this ending sums up perfectly. V’s always just been trying to survive but now gets a chance to actually enjoy life as a normal person he never would have been otherwise
They will probably write the sequels in such a way that there is the lore connection, and references to the events in night city, but exact events are 'fuzzy' and which ending or quests you did is not decisive.
Another much cooler option would be a save import that lets you have different lore based on YOUR V's historical actions even though the impacts are not that game changing for the new characters story line. Amp up the personal history effects and make the save import for what V did about as important as 2077's backgrounds ended up being. If there's no save imported generate a fully random play through of 2077 decisions to reference. New content every game = more replayability. (Yes that would be a LOT of work to write and setup and make it fit in smoothly but it would be SO awesome for the players)
V becoming the queen of the afterlife and becoming a legend in night city is also my cannon ending, except i prefer to send son mi's dead body to myers, i do agree that sending her to the moon does make alot more sense, i just want to grab the blackwall quickhacks lol
Thematically unplugging her in Cynosure was the best ending for the themes presented in the DLC, although sending her to the moon gave the best feels. Only people who liked to tell others to wear a mask during covid want to side with Myers LOL
I'm thinking they will make a prologue bigger and better than 2077 had. That would satisfy tons of people as nobody gets railroaded into "their" story. Not in a full way like mass effect, but just a nice nod to your own story. They can easily set it in 2087 and make a way to have all endings have unique flavors, but ultimately not change the big picture. People who want Johnny to have a second life doesn't make narrative sense as throughout the whole game V is always looking for a way to survive.
I think the ending where V gets the FIA surgery is most likely as why would CDPR make a DLC 2yrs after launch with an entirely new ending to the game. Seems like they will go the way of slowly nursing V back into cyberware like a rehab type way instead of just leaving it as that.
That or most likely cdpr will just do as they did with the witcher.
They will get V in à 5 or 6 hours prologue no matter your ending and then explain how you get here.
Its really easy and possible to do with all of them.
I mean if you have a nomade ending you vould be brought back to nc because of à war and nc being the only city near you "safe".
If you have the sun ending V could just be brought back to nc to capitalise on his legend status or fight against corpo like johny asked him . And so on and so on.
There is a way to make every 'good' ending canon and various pieces of this are hinted at in each ending: All 'good' roads lead to Blue Eyes; we just don't witness it as the player.
- If V solos the Arasaka raid, then we get our most direct reference to Blue Eyes making an offer to solve V's problem... from this ending, you can kinda derive an 'epilogue' for each other ending. Blue Eyes recruited Songbird for being 'unusually talented'. Its a pretty safe bet Blue Eyes sees value in V.
- If V raids with the Nomads, all Blue Eyes needs to do is reach out to them sometime after the credits roll.
- If V opts for the surgery from the president... well... Songbird was recruited by Blue Eyes and not actually Reed. If V takes Reed's job offer, then this pretty much means V will work for Blue Eyes as well.
- If V raids with Rogue, this is effectively the same thing.
- If V chooses to go with Alt, Blue Eyes is *heavily* implied to be an AI. There are a ton of ways for their paths to cross.
For all other endings, the game isn't exactly subtle about making it clear that the player wasn't supposed to pick those choices.
This still isn't without its dark sides: Barring a few 'ambiguous situation' writing tricks, pretty much no romantic relationship made during this game can find its way into a sequel.
Warning: Contains spoilers!
I mostly agree. The sun ending is the one most likely to become cannon.
Furthermore, with So Mi still alive, after V saved her in Phantom Liberty, we know that the cure works and V can even have it eventually, perhaps without the side effects in the new ending of Phantom Liberty (one that I dislike a lot, not because of the side effects, but because absolutely none of your friends / romances stick around / care about V)
Also, Mr Blue Eyes, Alt, the Blackwall and Rogue AIs, being one of the important points for a sequel, I believe is 100% correct. Phantom Liberty made sure of that, by explaining that corpos want control of the Rogue AIs beyond the Blackwall. Something that will give them the edge over other corporations and are willing to do everything to get them. And during Phantom Liberty and the already established lore of Militech and the NUSA being one entity at this point, I think these will be the main villains of the cyberpunk universe moving forward. Yes, I do not believe Mr Blue Eyes will necessarilly be the villain or at the very least, the only villain. Myers, the NUSA and Militech already fit that bill and I hope we can get back at them in the sequel. For me, they are much, much worse than Arasaka ever was.
I side with some of the theories that Mr Blue Eyes is already an AI controlled human that is master-minding the plans of the AIs to destroy / consume the Blackwall and take over the net.
Then there's the part of who will be the main character in the sequel. V again ? After getting the cure ? Maybe that can be the very first mission of the sequel. V going after another possibility for a cure, after a hint from So Mi ? I like it, although I think there's a strong possibility the sequel will not continue V's story, especially given all the endings that are never that great for V (Sun Ending is not bad, but it's still not good either, as there is no clear point for V to get a cure, so he/she will soon die)
But we will see. I would love to see the continuation of V's story!
Yeah, CDPR did a REALLY good job setting up Militech is a Big Bad Corporation for the next game. As you said, they're basically a fucking massive NATION as a corporation. It seems like Militech and the NUSA are basically dropping the charade of being two separate things.
Though I doubt V will be the next playable character. Instead we'll either hear about them as a legend or a sick cameo during the story.
Yeah, I hope CDPR pull a Mass Effect and keep V around
bruh, it's bullshit man cyberpunk it's not about a happy ends.
I actually really like the temperance ending. Johnny keeping Vs body but this would eventually come to weigh heavily on his conscience. He would maybe explore the possibilities of Biotechnica creating a cloned body for Vs engram which is still very much in the possession of Alt. Then maybe you would have to dance more with Arasaka and bring them to make another relic to upload Vs engram onto and then finally insert it into the clone.
We already know Arasaka has the means to overwrite a mind with another due to the devil ending where Saburo takes Yorinobus body for himself, being effectively reborn from an engram. Sure you would need to build in a lot more nuance, but I ain't no writer :P
I just don't like the endings where it simply comes down to you still dying no matter what or being a shadow of your former self in the tower ending.
the clone solution is not possible since V body's DNA is overwritten by Johnny's relic. This is why "offspring" solution is the logical path for the next storyline, in which can have many options & conundrums. For example, what if V do have a child & that child can potentially be the "vessel" for V construct coming back?? Given the options forcefully or not, will V choose it & what would be the repercussions that would entails such choice.
They tried so hard to convince everyone that the tower ending is the worst though realistically it is the best. Sure you will lose access to cyberware and most of your friends but at the end of the day V is 29 and healthy in this ending. Still plenty of time to build a future and leave a mark. Unsatisfying from a gameplay perspective? Sure but the best one from a more realistic standpoint.
I don’t think they did. V gives a little smirk before they walk into the crowd, CDPR clearly did that to show a glimmer of hope
On the contrary, in seems for me that CDPR have done everything to make The Tower best option possible: First of all - V's alive in their own body, no ticking bomb in their system. Second, they have a sweet-sweet job offer at hand. That kind of offer that only a complete degenerate would turn down. With this job they have every chance to allow themselves best medical treatment possible to cure their neural condition or they have a chance to turn to usage of pure bioware. Third, path to the Tower ending was the only one, where V's temporary allies from the FIA and NUSA government were the only ones who never deceived or betrayed them, and accomplished every single promise given. So it is most obvious and reasonable choice to stick to Sol, Rosalind and almighty FIA
Any ending that leaves with the assault on the crystal palace seems like the best choice for a canon ending. Especially if we will be playing as V in the sequel game
V could be a main antagonist in the next game lol and adapts your 2077 build.
Devs + Mike Pondsmith confirmed V’s story ends in Cyberpunk 2077
so I was thinking about this and what if you get to choose like the lifepaths. If CD goes for V as a character in the next game you get to choose what your ending was and play different first ACT/chapter that all come to the same point. Obviously this would just be for V but the other bigger stuff for the world will have to be set in stone.
no way, then we get new game in 20 years lol
For me the Nomad ending is Canon
It makes the most sense! Every nihilist in the city loses, cause they let the city win. But V chooses a new path, to escape the nihilistic and oppressive life. By destroying Arasaka, cutting off Johnny, V is rid of the city.
I'm guessing that they're going to do what Dragon Age did.
Start with a new protagonist and plotline and have mentions of V here and there, including mentions on the ending you did in 2077.
The Tower ending gave me closure: V doesn't get soulkilled, "Alt" doesn't eat the engrams, Mr. BlueEyes/NightCorp doesn't get SoMi, Arasaka implodes and V gets the Relic out of her head and lives. A face in the crowd + "Don't let them change you, Valerie"
Thank you for making this, this isn’t talked about enough given how much they plan to explore this universe, the anime, Orion, the live action whatever with Anonymous Content.
Unfortunately my heart believes V died, Johnny, his tale, Vs tale ends in 2077, but Rogue and Yorinobu, there’s no way they won’t have some sort of mention with how impactful their characters were to the story as a whole.
As much as I love the Star ending where V leaves with Panam, I think the Don’t Fear The Reaper ending would be far better for a sequel. It’s very open ended and it wouldn’t be that hard to write V into a sequel, they could say he even found something in the space base that extended his life but didn’t cure him.
Then again, I kind of feel like they’ll go with the DLC ending bc it would make the whole process of going back to square one (at least in terms of player level) more believable … I just hate how depressing it was.
Regardless, I do hope we get to play as V again
Here's how it can work. You choose corpo life path, and the story starts with you having chose the devil ending. You choose nomad life path and the story starts with you having chose the star ending. You choose Street Kid and it starts with you having chose the Sun Ending. Maybe if you had PL you can choose a Fixer ending to follow up the BOOYAH ending (if you know you know).
They can start a Cyberpunk 3000 where V and Panam conceived a child during the 6 months or so V had left. I really don’t see an ending where V can finally become the best fixer in NC.
The "worst" ending is the most cyberpunk ending you can get, that's why I like it the most. V is signing the rights to his soul to arasaka, as if selling his soul to the devil.
The whole idea of this genre, is to show how unregulated corps is pure evil, that's why cyberpunk main characters most of the time die fighting corps...
The Devil ending is the worst ending for the world and V, that's why it's a pure cyberpunk ending.
I think your putting to much on V still being the main character. This is a game based on a table top RPG, when u start a new campaign you make a new person. The Witcher kept Garealt because he was the main character of the books the universe comes from.
I'd like to point out that Alt and Blue Eyes are not the same (as far as we know), and outside of both being AI; they share little in common. Alt seemingly has no desire to attain a tangible body like she says other AI desire. She sees the net as the superior of the 2 realms and wishes to remain there. She also seemingly has no desire to use human proxies, there were several failed attempts to make contact with her before V. The only reason she even sought them out was curiosity, but her digital ears pricked right up at the thought of nomming on mikoshi. Makes me wonder the scale of power between CN-07(Blue Eyes, or the AI piloting them) vs Alt.
I'm pretty sure Alt is the ultimate and strongest rouge ai ever.. I mean she was the best netrunner who became an ai who could improve and rewrite herself, then with Mikoshi she assimilated like hundreds or thousands of netruners and important people.. So at this point her knowledge, experience and adaptability is like infinite
@@marco002 Yup, at this point the AI using Alt's engram (because it flat out says on multiple occasions when asked that it is NOT Alt Cunningham) is likely an AGI.It's an infintely growing and adaptable entity in the net. Of course it wouldn't wanto be limited by the harsh limitations of the physical world.
@@RicochetForce I would say it is Alt and not at the same time.. It is not teh original Alt as she became an ai and she modified her own code + after mikoshi she assimilated a tons of other personalities
@@marco002 she is actually not the strongest. Not sure exactly how Rogue AI scale to one another in power. She may be after Mikoshi but beforehand she's probably just a step down from the Transcendentals in raw power. Though I find it important to point out who I'm calling "Alt" I'm referring to the AI masquerading as her. The AI itself states it isn't Alt, that soulkiller doesn't transfer a psyche it just kills it and creates an approximation of the dead person's psyche as a digital engram, and even then that this new "Alt" only uses their engrammatic data, so even if the original consciousness was Alt, the amount of AI's and Ghosts she's absorbed has irreversibly altered the entity to not be anything close to the original engram.
@@marco002 Eh, there's not enough in the game to call what we meet in the game Alt Cunningham. It flat out says it's not Alt, when we see Alt in Johnny's (admittedly unreliable "memories") we see the real person is nothing like this AI. And pulling back into the wider CDPR universe, we know Spider-Murphy split Alt's engram up.
I think what likely happened is one of her Engrams fled past the Blackwall and wound up being consumed by a terrifying AI whose only desire is to feed and grow. It is by far the most power hungry thing in the setting at this time.
If it appeared to us as anything other than Alt Cunningham we would immediately react defensively at this Lovecraftian digital entity.
canon ending is Panam ending. because this is the only ending which has connections with Phantom Liberty.
How come? I’m pretty sure the Sun also has a connection to Phantom Liberty, with Mr Blue Eyes and all appearing
@@AveChristusRex789 Mr blue eyes shows up even if you don't have phantom liberty. only in the star ending, Alt will have additional dialogs about the event of phantom liberty.
Every ending (except suicide) can lead to the same starting point for the new game. V ends up as a construct with Alt or Arasaka? No problem - they can get a new body in the future. It’s not impossible because Saburo got one. Every other ending essentially results in V having 6 months to find a cure. Maybe it will be like in the Tower ending - V is cured but loses all cyberware. So it all comes to a clean character with a new body or V’s body but without cyberware which is very convenient for a new game.
i dont think they'll go down this route, but i 100% agree. Them scanning your save file wouldnt actually be as difficult as some think, and the same could be said of the 4 main companions if we're given a new city to explore. Panam and Judy leave anyway, Kerry is a rockstar and can easily tour, and River is a PI now and can do that in any city he wants.
@@declancampbell1277 dreams
Here's a lil spitballin' for the next game. A time jump of two years at least obviously, New Corpo war in full swing.
Life paths, Aldecados, Arasaka, NUSA/Militech and NightCorp/NC legend relating to endings.
The Devil/Arasaka, V is basically a Covert Adamsmasher.
The Tower/NUSA, V is a NUSA/Millitech sleeper agent.
The Sun/NC, V lives his dream but becomes a pawn of Blue Eyes/Night Corp.
The Star/Aldecados, with the assistance of Nomad Technomancers and theft from biotechnica V's the proud owner of a new clone body.
Adamsmasher's absence is explained by the war, or his death in the previous game. The city is under Occupation by Corps. I supose Misty is gone and Vick with assistance from V is Independent. idk. Batta bing batta boom that covers the bases right? Kinda sticks to the life paths, Street Kid, Corpo, Nomad.
The Sun/Don't fear the Reaper is obviously the best.
I know it will never happen but in a perfect world, the Sun or Reaper ending is canon, Songbird goes to the moon, and we get a casino heist DLC to close the loop on V’s story. If we got that, Orion can start fresh with a whole new main character and I would still be the happiest gonk in the world.
Gosh i hope its not the one where v losses all her cyberware... i literally was depressed for days after seeing that one and un installed the game😂
I love when games design endings that are definitive, constant cliffhangers suck
Before the dlc I always thought all the endings could be cannon
The Devil: Saburo didn't erase Johnny when he had him hit with soulkiller, why would he do it now? Makes it an even better trophy to have around, not to mention V as well, they both can brought back in some way, like two mercs walking into a hotel to clap a relic...
Temperance: "I'll never forget a thing" Johnny being in V's body will piss him off eventually, the way I see is that Johnny will prob find a new body for V and annoy Alt in some way to bring them back
Sun: Panam's contact could very well be Mr. Blue Eyes, after that it would be a reverse Temperance
Star: Same way as the Sun, V is fixed by Mr. Blue Eyes, and at some point tries to bring back Johnny
And now the Phantom Liberty comes around and NO! A happy ending? For folks like them? Wrong people, wrong city. Go be a fixer or join Kerry's band or FIA early retirement.
Actually, why not make it the same as the intro-lifepath in CP77?
Corpo would follow V after the devil ending (but with Arasaka pulling out of Night city), nomad would follow nomad ending and street kid would be the ones in which V stays in Night city (secret ending and Rogue ending I think). Where the ending of Phantom liberty can be also taken as normal person life path... 😅
(And Temperance ending would have bit of Johnny, fishing V out of net.) 🤷♀ they've tied the starting lifepaths in the game quite effectively, why not start where they left off...
V's story should end with Cyberpunk 2077. next Cyberpunk game should have new main character.
[Warning: Long Comment Detected]
I see a lot of people want "(Don't) Fear the Reaper" to be the canon final mission but, while I agree that "Path of Glory" is likely the canon ending ("The Sun" etc.. is just the name of the achievement. It's not the name of the ending or even mentioned anywhere at the end of the game.) we don't need DFTR to get "Path of Glory." I love DFTR as much as anyone because it's just fun as hell to go guns blazing through the front door but, sad as it may be, I think it makes a lot more sense story-wise if Rogue dies via "For Whom the Bell Tolls" ⇒ "Knockin' on Heaven's Door".
This is the conclusion of her and Johnny's long story arc. They are given the opportunity to take one last shot at Arasaka together. One last chance at both revenge and redemption for what happened in 2023. They both know the price they are going to pay and it's worth to them. Rogue prepares a will. She makes one last call to her son. She knows she isn't coming back. If Rogue lives, how do we explain V buying Afterlife? What possible reason would Rogue have for selling it to someone that is going to die in 6 months when she doesn't have any need for the money?
If Rogue is gone, that problem disappears. V buys Afterlife in the hope that somewhere in Rogue's vast network of contacts and information, she could find a lead that will help her find a solution. And it works. She catches the attention of Mr. BE. It's the only ending that CDPR made completely new assets (the ship and Crystal Palace) and music for. Every other ending is just the same assets we've seen in the game (maybe rearranged a bit).
Moving on to PL, I agree with you here as well. So Mi needs to get to the moon. This works well because it doesn't interfere with "Path of Glory" and it adds another powerful ally to our roster as we rocket towards Crystal Palace. V smiles as her retro-rockets propel her forward. Can you imagine how amazing it would be if the sequel starts RIGHT THERE? We see the same sequence of events but this time, instead of silence when V smiles, we hear So Mi's voice. "V? Everything's been prepared. Just follow the plan. We can do this." and at that moment we understand why she smiled. And we realize that CDPR created that ending knowing what would happen in PL.
Prequel is most likely, I'm willing to put money on it. probably set during the 2040's and 50's. You'll still have Rogue, Wakako, Padre, and Dexter as Fixers. And there has just been some teases about the lore during that time period. nothing as in depth as the 2060's and 2020's.
I have an idea for the background of corpo v and I think it works pretty nicely
My speculation is this: V/Vincent/Valerie was already psycho before Johnny, they had a multiple personality disorder which is why in real lore they're actually BOTH Vincent and Valerie. The canon ending is the secret ending, just like everyone else thinks EXCEPT V went cyberpsycho and died. Either before the Smasher encounter or during it. Smasher either killed V or V got killed some other way, and Smasher survived but only shortly and got killed anyway. V got soulkilled as was Smasher, and Alt got into Mikoshi through other means. There are other shards with Johnny on them and Johnny gets "reborn" when inserted into a dead body out of desperation by a very old former friend/fan of Johnny.
So these were things I am 90% sure of, now let's get into the wild speculations. There's a fine line between speculations and fanfic, so just to be clear. I am very confident in my previous paragraph. I am somewhat confident in the ending of the next paragraph. And the beginning of the next paragraph are just me doing my best guess as to what the writers will think will make for the best story:
The new Johnny then retrieves everyone from Mikoshi including V, but they've been already partly consumed into the beyond-the-blackwall AI. It turns out the rogue AIs have been mr. blue eyes and other blue eyes NPCs the whole time, and new johnny (who is still the old, darker johnny he was before getting to know V) gets to speak to/interact with Alt and V and everyone through mr. blue eyes. Some time later, the rogue AIs, ie. Mr. Blue Eyes execute their plan. The new net is consumed by the old net, and a new catastrophe emerges. Now every country on earth experiences what the USA did before the previous crash, Japan being the only country that didn't split or lose any territory. A large percentage of humanity dies in the next decades and resembles a mad max world for a while. Then a new, new net appears thanks to Netwatch/Biotechnica and things are slowly returning to normal. Not just humanity, corporations suffer immensely. The only ones who did not suffer were the space colonies. There is a big reshuffling, while Arasaka still exists, it is even smaller. Remember that even in 2077, Arasaka is the 36th largest corporation (despite being a top 3 leader in technology, its revenue is nowhere near the giga-corpos of the world, which have lower tech but stupendously enormous markets in megacities), and NUSA is the 36th largest economy, yes the numbers are the same I think the authors did this on purpose. CP2077 is a world of hunger, inequality and extreme sci-fi high tech. Arasaka is Japan's largest corporation, but inside Japan it has many contenders. Japan has a much bigger economy than NUSA or all of americas. Despite that, in CP2077, the real big corpos are the Chinese and African corpos, with India coming in at 3rd place after a large gap. Then it's Europe and the New Soviet Union (which is really just SovOil corporation - the country) and only then comes Japan. The biggest corporations are the ones who took the biggest fall. Militech is gone and is just the New USA army again. Most of the other corporations are either gone or merged or withering, and the new mega- and giga-corporations are the (former) space corporations. In many ways, the new corporations are just as ruthless and stupid as the old ones, but the new corpos don't have the same gripes with each other as Arasaka and Militech did. Especially because they've learned to cooperate with each other more, because cooperation is crucial to space flight and colonies. Leading to a de-populated, technologically scarce, hot-climate destroyed world, but a much more peaceful one. One where there still is not much hope or opportunity. But opportunity exists for much more % of people. The life paths are no longer just corpo/gang/merc/nomad/homeless/scav. There are relatively normal people living a relatively normal life in tight-knit communities. They are not rare but they are not common at all. But everyone knows there is an alternative way to live which doesn't require you to do immoral things. Of course, these people are targeted by gangs and corpos, but because there are so much fewer people on earth, they can actually fend them off pretty well. Also, the space corpos never did mess with the gangs much. The gangs still exist but are much more independent/less tied with the corpos. It's not like they're enemies or friends, they just don't get into each other's space much. Corpo security is even more crazy now. They're just as brutal if not more, but there's also a much larger spectrum of gangs. Ranging from scavs 2.0 (this time with nukes) to basically friendly neighbourhood corporation with mafia-like past. There is less tech to go around and it's insanely expensive, but everyone has at least some access to it. There are much less public accommodations/spaces/whatever, but tech is often shared with family/friends. Mercs and netrunners are a rare breed. Fixers are almost non-existent in the world except for Night City. Mercs are looked down upon and ostracised, it's much harder to become a merc now so the few mercs there are, are notorious, live longer and are usually either rich or cyberpsycho. Peace is real on earth EXCEPT for of course, resource extraction conflict coming from space mining, which leads into a much more brutal and costly conflict than anything that preceded it on earth. This is why Cyberpunk Orion takes place both in new night city, as well as on Mars and on the space stations
Sequel will need story. New and familiar at the same time. It is question what story will be given to us, but if story of Cyberpunk 2 will be about Blackwall, than I think that quests of Regina, Jefferson and Gary and tarot cards Sun, Tower and King of Pentacles will be canonized. Reason? All of it makes good fondation. Plus V. with Song should return.
I disagree that there needs to be a canon ending, and here's why (spoilers, and this will be a long one). While there should/will be a 'canon' ending insofar as something set as default (i.e. in a future game in the universe, the developers would set one of the outcomes of the original as the default for those that don't have a previous save, or don't want to upload one).
That said, the endings actually aren't all that different really in terms of their outcome. There are only real three endings from a world state perspective (arguably maybe only 2). Either V storms Arasaka, or shoots himself, or gets help from the FIA. So its either: Arasaka gets stormed and Mikoshi is accessed or Arasaka doesn't get stormed. The variation really only comes from what V decides to do.
Now lets think about this from the sequels perspective. CDPR have 3 options for any game(s) set after Cyberpunk 2077:
1. The player character is not V. V dies months later after accessing Mikoshi, like Alt says. OR V lives in the FIA ending but disappears and may as well be dead and is treated as such. In this sequel, all CDPR have to do is mention the events to be inline with the player choices. Very easy to do.
2. The player character is not V. V somehow survives after the Mikoshi incident finding away around Alts ultimatum (or Altimatum if you will) , or survives via the FIA, and is an interactable and relevant NPC in the sequel. This is also about as easy as the above is, you just need to take the player choice into account a bit more given that you will be able to interact with a character that you once played as and you want that version of V to be reflected acurately as an NPC. So it's harder, but honestly not that hard.
3. The player character is V. If CDPR were to take this route, the game would either have V have already figured out how to survive after the Mikoshi incident (or get their combat readiness back from the FIA ending) OR it will follow V in their mission to survive past the last few months they have after Mikoshi/get their combat readiness back from the FIA ending.
Of the 3, the 3rd option is the least likely but regardless they are all reasonably easy to execute. Just have a look at Mass Effect.
I enjoyed the video, but this is all predicated-on V being the main character of the next game. This is unlikely in my opinion, as it requires this kind of canonization that is inherently unsatisfying to players due to the "that's not how my playthrough went!" reaction. My expectations are there will be a new main character. They will, through some means, become host to an AI construct of someone like Johnny, either freed from mikoshi by alt or as a rogue AI or a netrunner who died in the net (*Cough* Bartmoss *cough*). This new character would allow for the following to be hand waved:
1. Alt always destroys Mikoshi.
Either through her interactions with V or through taking advantage of the Arasaka/Militech escalation, she will achieve her goal of destroying mikoshi before the next game. The only x factor is when this happened, which could be covered by a change in resources/choices available or through dialogue changes.
2. There is a contact on the moon who is a netrunner that has been behind the Blackwall.
Songbird if she is saved in Phantom Liberty, or Lucy from Edgerunners if not. This has a bioware substitute NPC written all over it, where if you say kill Wrex in the first game, you meet Wreave playing the same role but with different motivations in the third. In this case, we have Songbird who would have character centric issues with working with militech vs arasaka, or Lucy, who has the same but in reverse. This may open specific choices / paths only available to which specific contact/fixer you end up with. This may be a choice if both are available, but there is a default available in case you chose to return Songbird to NUSA at the DLC ending.
3. Arasaka’s influence has been weakened.
This occurs in all main story endings, and is potentially feasible in the tower, as this ending doesn’t stop Alt from ruining Mikoshi and damaging Arasaka sometime afterwards, possibly through Yorinobu making this possible as it’s very clear in the Devil ending that his motivation was the downfall of the corpos. But Arasaka are brought down a peg either through the all out assault from V, or the return of Saburo causing riots and a huge backlash. This will put militech and arasaka on even footing for a new corpo war, and Arasaka’s ability to use soulkiller will likely be gone.
4. V was a legendary solo in the afterlife.
This is a given, but no matter how you play, V can be considered a legend when rising high enough up the street cred ladder. This could easily be handled through dialogue and side job references. This kind of reference could work for all endings, and would be very easy to add in without obstructing what you want to do in the sequel vs the main game.
5. The Crystal Palace has been assaulted.
Seen in the Star ending (of either variety, using Rogue or just soloing arasaka with Johnny in Don’t Fear The Reaper), this assault will have happened regardless and is likely the catalyst to whatever the start of Project Orion is. Either V will have made the assault themselves, or Mr Blue Eyes would have found a way to make it happen with a team of edgerunners or mercs. My personal belief is whatever engram you get in project orion will come from the Crystal Palace.
6. Militech will have access to rogue AI’s.
Either through recovery of songbird or through the collected data from Cynosure (referenced in game), militech have at least one rogue AI, or the data required to repeat the process. This gives them a story centric AI that can be explained as either being the one that Songbird brought back from behind the Blackwall or one that was found when Militech returned to project Cynosure.
7. The Devil Ending will be the default world state for Project Orion.
This is the only ending that is not unlocked through player action, but is available by default and always available. While probably giving the worst starting world state, if you don’t have an imported save, I would expect this would be the ending the world state would assume (unless they choose to use a dark horse comics style recap like Mass Effect eventually did, though I doubt they could).
8. Nothing else will come into play beyond references.
Peralez will likely be referenced but not active in Orion, either through his lost sanity or just no longer being useful now he’s not being actively modified. Or, he will have been given the Mr Blue Eyes treatment regardless of outcome, and is only present as an AI inhabited meat suit. Judy and Panam both leave night city in all their endings, and neither they nor River are important enough to have a bearing on the world state of Orion. They might make cameo appearances, but nothing more. While Rogue is more important, she is absent in endings that involve the afterlife club, V either buying her out or inheriting if you storm Arasaka with her. This implies that Rogue will either be dead or retired in Orion. None of the other Fixers or companions are important enough or change enough to have an effect either way on the world state. Takamura could make a cameo appearance if saved but will have no bearing on the story as we’ve already seen his part be played by Helman. Finally, Johnny will leave Night City in search of a fresh start, either as a reformed man because you were close friends, or as the same old rockerboy but lacking the resources or contacts he had in life.
That’s what I expect, anyhow.
The Star ending is my favourite (and headcanon), but I don't think CDPR should canonize any ending. Instead, every new entry in this franchise, in whatever form it takes, should be its own thing.
Saying the PL ending doesn’t have any major effects on the world is just… wrong? If you listen to the radio during the car ride, you learn Arasaka has pretty much completely pulled out of NC after Yorinobu’s plan to ransack it succeeded, Militech and Zetatech are the big players now, the 5th Corporate War is practically right around the corner, sections of the city are blocked off by Night Corp.
Just because it’s not a ‘satisfying’ ending for the main character doesn’t mean it can’t or won’t be canon. The Cyberpunk genre and world that Mike Pondsmith created aren’t about happy endings where everyone gets their sunshine and rainbows.
I actually think it's incredibly likely V will die in the canon ending. Having a V cameo would be impossible, since everyone has their OWN version of V. Seeing some random character called 'V' in the next game, I would feel completely disconnected if it wasn't MY V.
V is gone
Judy moved to another city
The Aldecaldos moved on
Rogue is still Queen of the Afterlife
Arasaka lost 75% of its influence after another terrorist attack
Adam Smasher is nowhere to be found
This can be true of all endings. (Ok, except Devil)
I kind of don't want there to be a canon ending. I want what Bethesda usually does, new character, V's story ends in a mystery.
I mean, why does there need to be a canon ending? Vs story is done, he becomes a legend, V becomes Johnny, V leaves Night City with Panam, V loses all cybernetics, and ability to use cybernetics.
Every single ending involves V moving on from Night City, or fulfilling Jackie's dream of you two becoming legends. His character arc is over, I don't see a point in continuing it other than a cheap cash grab. Not only that but Alt makes it quite clear that V probably doesn't even have 6 months to live, she says 6 months maybe even sooner when you're in Mikoshi. It'd be cheap and spitting in the face of everyone if they made 1 ending canon.
I don't think the next game will follow V, and I don't think that the endings are that important. The only ending that massively changes the world state the Devil, with Saburo and Hanako controlling Arasaka. In the other endings Yorinobu controls Arasaka for awhile, but the glimpse of the future in the Tower suggests he will be forced out in a few years. The only other major changes to the world from endings are whether the NUSA has control of Songbird, and whether Rogue is alive. Beyond that the endings all have V far from Night City and unavailable to be directly portrayed in the next game. They are in Mr. Blue Eyes' lab, or a FIA facility, or dead, or wandering with the Aldecaldoes, or Johnny has the body.
V's story is over, the story of Night City continues. The important decision points relate to what information Jefferson Peralez has, do Brigitte's Voodoo Boy's survive their attempts to form a deal with Alt, and the overall state of the city. These are details that could really affect the situation in the city. Why exactly V is no longer wandering Night City is less important to the story of the next merc who tries to climb to the top of the Night City body pile.
I highly doubt we'll get V aside from potentially Easter eggs based on the ending we got. Im guessing that they'll push the clock far enough into the future where the different endings will somehow converge. If the main themes of Orion will be as many speculate a corporate war and potentially AI uprising, and the tide is sweeping across each of the endings, then by 2099 we mostly have a sense of how things will go, regardless of the path the story will take to get there. Consider how much NC changed in 50 years since Johnny's time. My guess is we get an NC at least 20 years in the future. Depending on the save we'll get a different explanation of what's happened, maybe get some quests in the early game Depending on our choices in the previous game. Maybe have a quest from Grayson if you spared him. Maybe be able to get the Porsche from that same container in the docks, since you haven't touched it. Stuff like that. A lot of the side characters might still be around and they should be given a chance to speak on V Depending on how he left things with them in their saves. But i feel like the grand scheme the story can be forced into a certain storyline. If the story od cyberpunk has shown us one thing is that a rock in the river cant move the river's course no matter how much of a splash it makes. Johnny, David, Yorinobu, hell even past NUSA presidents, they all get their legacy eroded postmortem until the corps are back in power. Same with Judy's story. So i dont see a compelling reason yet why they should choose a cannon ending. Johnny nuked arasaka and NC is arguably the same as it was in 50 years.
Almost all the endings have the same result: Arasaka Tower falls for the second time, Yorinobu is ousted, V kills Adam Smasher and just… vanishes. Without a trace. No one knows what happened to them. Rumor says V did it all himself. Others scoff at that idea and say “no way. He had to have had help. An army of nomads I heard. “Well I heard it was an army of mercs from the afterlife”. That will most likely be how it’s handled.
While I would like to see V return as main character,
I doubt we will ever hear anything more about V. At the absolute most we could get a few easter eggs or vague legends, but nothing substantial. Maybe V gets a drink at the Afterlife, but even that seems unlikely.
I'm sure CDPR would find a good way to wrap up the different endings into a prologue and have V return if they wanted to, but afaik they consider V's and Johnny's story done
Here are the summaries for this video:
* The video discusses the possibility of a canon ending for Cyberpunk 2077, as there are multiple endings in the game.
* The creator believes that CDPR will have to choose one ending to use as a foundation for future projects, such as a movie or TV series and a new Cyberpunk game.
* The creator shares their vision on what ending has the biggest chance of being canonized and speculates on the possible consequences of this ending and how it can be used for creating new stories in the Cyberpunk universe.
* The creator discusses the "Devil" ending, which they believe has no chance of being canonized as it goes against the idea of the Cyberpunk world being dominated by mega corps.
* The creator also discusses the "Nomad" ending, which they believe is a good ending but doesn't have potential to be canonized as it loses V as a character for a possible cameo or sequel.
* The creator believes that the "Temperance" ending, where V leaves their body for Johnny to have a second chance in life, is
There are basicly 2 endings if you want to look from next game perspective. It's devil ending and all others. In devil ending Saburo comes back in his son's body and Arasakas is still strong. In all other Hanako dies inside Arasaka tower. Arasaka looses it's momentum and is replaced by other corpos. If you're not playing V in sequel that's mostly enough from big picture as V is either in a comma for 2 years and then returns to NC to be random npc walking, or is basicly dead in 6 months. All other decisions if you want can be inside minor missions resolved as witcher 2 to witcher 3 porting. And if you want to have V in the sequel all ending can be further like a lifepath with small introduction of how did V survive, all options can make V not being able to handle implants and then have some miracle option of stem cells reaserch that will allow slowly to equip more and more cyberware giving story motivation and much needed power reset at start.
In order to have some of the major characters play a role in the later Cyberpunk game(s) it's safe to make the secret ending canon and Make V go on to be a Full Night City Legend that everyone knows. As for V's gender? I'm biased towards the Panam Romance so i prefer Male V but in canon i'd prefer if V's Gender stayed a Mystery tbh and not canonize their Gender.
Honestly I just think V will be only sort of hinted at. Because the common denominators are. That V winds up only a memory. Whether it's that V dies or leaves off grid. Arasoka turns tail either way. Alt will probably do what Alts gonna do regardless, same with Blue eyes. And everything that happens with the characters in the PL ending happens regardless. They don't just happen because you choose that ending. They happen and the only difference is that V is alive to have seen what becomes of them.
There won't be a "canon" ending and V won't return in the sequel beyond a small role or mention. In most endings V is dead within 6 months anyway, so the legend of a merc that in couple of weeks raised to fame is probably all we'll hear in the sequel.
Maybe instead of lifepaths CDPR will let us choose the state you left the game, like Rogue being still alive, Saburo resurrected or if Mikoshi has been destroyed by Alt, but I'm not holding my breath. They can make up an open ended story that allows all the events of 77 to have transpired.
I haven’t finished Phantom Liberty yet, so paused on watching.
My thought is that there is no canon ending, at least as far as CP77’s next full game. V’s story will not be resolved. V will be a legend of Night City with rumours about their fate that link to the various endings.
This premise is nonsense.
No, the game absolutely does not need a „canon ending“ and 100% certainly won’t have one.
V‘s story is done, one way or the other.
Jonny’s story is over, one way or the other.
A sequels protagonist simply won’t be effected in any shape by it, and if there’s any need to refer to things happening in the game - if Rouge is still around or not, given the relevance of the afterlife being the only one I could think of - can be cleared up similar to how Witcher 3 did it, with some questions about past events in the beginning.
Alt is red
Mr B is well.. blue
If you have watched a lot of films, series, animes and player a lot of games... Red is often put against Blue ... so yeah this would be a gr8 idea to befriend Alt to the point she actually helps both you and Johnny.
Remember that V gives a hint about some other way and Alt having a suspended business with Johnny -> she kinda helps V cus she has nothing against him/her but, in doing so, she gets her revenge against Johnny and eats him to become even more powerful.
What if V had enough opportunities to befriend her in order to put peace between her and J to the point where she forgives J just like Rogue did...
So if they considered making on of the base game ending canon then whats the point of Phantom Liberty? For story that ending make the most sense because thats the only ending where V survival is guaranteed and actualy unlike what you said a lot of things changed in that two year in the univers what is almost necesary for a sequel. Like Arasaka is screwed and a lingering new Corpo war, V survives and become a fixer like Rogue, a fresh start with a new character for protagonist because this is an RPG after all so its almost a must. The only problem is with Silverhand, they are stupid if they just throw him in the trash, maybe the NUSA kept him like Arasaka and problem solved, not in V's head anymore but they can still bring him back. I think this is logical at least somwhat, maybe we wont even get a canon endig and they will not touch the past in the next game but unlikely because not even Fallout did that but only the writers know at this point.
This video is making th3 assumption that V is going to have a cameo, i HIGHLY doubt that will be the case. Characters around V make much more sense though, V i expect them to leave vague enough that all endings (apart from the Devil perhaps) remain canon