Recommended Game Story: Cyberpunk 2077 Part 3
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 all happen at once. This series does not transcribe original dialogue or reenact every scene. Unstated inner thoughts are distinguished as interpretations. AI illustrations are symbolic reconstructions; V's appearance, gender, and relationships vary depending on the playthrough.
Chapter 1 · Evelyn's Gaze and Judy's Records
Evelyn Parker is the one who brings information regarding the Relic, and Judy Alvarez helps read that information through braindance editing. Braindance is a technology that allows access to sensations recorded by others. V must find the layout of the hotel room and security clues, but the screen also shows how one person's experience becomes raw material for another's work. While introducing a convenient investigative tool, the game simultaneously touches on the issue of power in owning and consuming experiences.
If you explain Evelyn's actions solely through greed when you first meet her, the subsequent story narrows. She tries to create her own escape route amidst various powers. Of course, choosing to deceive or renegotiate deals shifts danger onto others. Being in an oppressed position does not exempt all actions from accountability. Conversely, one should not view the harm she suffers later as a justified price simply because she made dangerous choices. Separating these two judgments is the first step in reading Evelyn as a person.
Judy's wariness does not stem simply from being unfriendly to V. She is someone who understands technology and knows how people around her are consumed by the desires and transactions of others. It is difficult for her to open up when a strange mercenary appears and tries to peer into her friend's records. For Judy, trust is not built solely on proof of competence. It matters what attitude one shows toward the person in the record and whether one remembers them even after the job is done.
If you read this preparation scene slowly, you can see the different goals of the people connected around the object to be stolen. Dex looks at the completed contract and his own position, Jackie looks at a chance to leap forward, and V looks at their own future. The freedom Evelyn expects and the profit the clients expect are not the same. Participating in the same operation does not mean dreaming of the same ending. This discrepancy is present in the operation before the security devices are even triggered.
Chapter 2 · Thieves Who Became Witnesses
At Konpeki Plaza, V and Jackie enter to steal an object and witness an incident involving the Arasaka family. The moment Yorinobu kills his father Saburo, the scale of the plan changes completely. The thieves' escape problem and the corporate power succession problem overlap in one room. As the official explanation surrounding Saburo's death diverges from the facts actually witnessed, V becomes someone who is no longer being hunted solely because of the object they took.
The important emotion here is the speed at which confidence is broken by fear. Until recently, they just had to move in the prepared order. Now, the very world in which that order functioned has disappeared. Security alarms, T-Bug's loss of contact, and the damage during the escape process cut the safety net in a chain reaction. As the gunfire grows louder, the language of success the two shared turns into a language of immediate survival. This series does not reenact original dialogue, but notes that the purpose of their words shifts from promising a future to holding onto each other right now.
When the Relic's storage conditions fail, Jackie stores the chip in his own body and passes it to V after being mortally wounded. The moment Jackie leaves, the dreams of the two people on the verge of great success can no longer be maintained in the same form. If you read his final act only as a successful delivery of the object, the experience of losing a companion disappears. To the surviving V, the Relic is both a valuable piece of loot and a marker of the time they failed to protect their friend to the end.
Depending on where you send Jackie's body, the subsequent memorial and encounters will differ. It is not assumed that every playthrough sees the same funeral scene. The important commonality is the void left by an individual in the wake of the city's massive events. The word 'legend' that Jackie hoped for no longer just sparkles. Because remembering that name cannot replace the next meal they would have shared together.
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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