Recommended Game Story: Cyberpunk 2077 Part 1
Chapters in this story
Spoiler Warning: This is a commentary series covering major events, companion stories, branching paths, and endings of the main game and Phantom Liberty. Each ending is the result of different choices and does not occur all at once. This series does not transcribe original dialogue or reenact every scene. Unstated inner thoughts are distinguished as interpretation. AI illustrations are symbolic reconstructions; V's appearance, gender, and relationships vary depending on the playthrough.
Chapter 1 · A City Piled High and People Valued Low
When you first look at Night City, the first thing you see is light. Advertisements flow between massive buildings, and the lights of other cars slide across the metal of vehicle bodies. However, for those living in this city, light does not mean the same thing. To some, it is a sign pointing to a place to shop; to others, it is a spotlight illuminating floors they cannot enter. Cyberpunk 2077 is a game that makes you walk through these differences in height with your own body. Sightseeing in the city and finding a place for yourself in the city are entirely different tasks.
The protagonist of the story, V, is a mercenary whose appearance, gender, combat style, and tone of voice are chosen by the player. They are not given a mission to save the city from the start. They look for work, get paid, and try to take on slightly bigger jobs next time. Fixers who connect jobs, gangs that move with guns and information, and mega-corporations that stand above the law all exert different powers. If you lump them all together as one villain, you miss the discomfort of this world. This is because V also has to use this structure to survive.
Cyberware that alters the body also reveals this duality. Technology that allows you to see better and move faster looks like liberation. At the same time, it becomes a cost for entering the survival competition, binding an individual's body to the market and maintenance networks. It is not a simple story that humans have lost their humanity because they have attached machines. What matters is not what you have attached, but whether you made that choice yourself, whether you can get help when you break down, and whether you are respected as a person even if your abilities disappear.
From this perspective, the city's landscape goes beyond background explanation. The glittering downtown and the neglected streets are two faces of the same economy. No matter where the player starts, they will meet the people living there. If you only look at the mission objectives and pass by, you can become an efficient mercenary. If you stop for a moment and think about why that person accepted such a contract, it becomes difficult to make the next choice lightly. It is that very pause that this series intends to follow.
Chapter 2 · Three Starting Points, V Not Yet Defined
The game's three life paths are Nomad, Streetkid, and Corpo. The Nomad takes the sense of community outside the city and the border as a starting point, the Streetkid takes street relationships and survival rules, and the Corpo path takes power and downfall within Arasaka. The three introductions are not a past that happened sequentially to one V. They are different backgrounds chosen by the player. Even after joining the common story, there remains room for dialogue and observation according to each background.
From the Nomad's perspective, the city promises something to replace the family they left behind. For someone from the streets, a desire may arise to occupy a higher position in a world that already knows them. For someone from a corporate background, it becomes more desperate to see who treats them as a person when their status disappears. This is a possible reading. The game does not dictate that all Nomad Vs are kind or all Corpo Vs are cold. Background changes the language of choice, but it does not replace the choice itself.
If you remember this difference, it becomes easier to understand the intimacy that follows. The scene where a stranger offers help carries a slightly different weight for each path. To one V, it is the first companion they have gained; to another V, it is proof that relationships are possible even outside of power. Even if you choose the same words, why you said them is a part filled in by the player. Even if a V with a specific appearance appears in the illustrations of this series, it is just one possible look and does not mean the only official V.
If you are starting the game for the first time, it is worth thinking about what perspective you want to use to view the city rather than looking for the most advantageous past. The fun of the starting point in this work does not lie in picking the right answer in advance. It arises when the survival method you took for granted clashes with someone else's method. Soon, V will learn that becoming a legend and gaining people to live with do not always go in the same direction.
Data and Writing Guide
This is an original commentary and critique written by the TroubleMaker operations team, referencing public data and with the help of AI. Official introductions and visual materials are from the developer, and the separately marked walkthroughs are community data comparing events and branches. This is not a full reproduction of all dialogue, quests, or choices, and the content distinguished as interpretation in the text is not a definitive explanation of official lore.
Data verification date: 2026-10-17.
CD PROJEKT RED official work introduction
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