Recommended Game Story · Cyberpunk 2077 Part 17
Chapters in this story
Spoiler Notice: This is a commentary series covering major events, companion stories, branches, and endings of the main game and Phantom Liberty. Each ending is the result of different choices and does not all happen at once. It does not transcribe original dialogue or reenact every scene. Unstated inner thoughts are distinguished as interpretations. AI illustrations are symbolic reconstructions, and V's appearance, gender, and relationships vary depending on the playthrough.
Chapter 1 · The Ethics of a Profession That Uses Other People's Faces
While preparing for the operation, V enters into the procedures of espionage and the techniques of borrowing another person's identity. In the incident surrounding the Cassel twins, V directly witnesses how Reed and Alex handle threats during a mission. The mere fact that they are competent and cooperative does not mean one can predict all the actions they might choose. Being on the same team is not a promise that values are aligned.
The fact that the twins are involved in crime and how they are treated by V are separate issues. The efficiency of espionage makes it easy to reduce others to information and identities. While there is room for V to feel shocked or adopt a pragmatic attitude, readers should remember that this scene serves as a clue for judging future promises. Reed's talk of protection can also include the judgment to eliminate or suppress as necessary.
The process of changing bodies and faces overlaps with V's problems in the main story. A person whose identity is already threatened by another's personality must now intentionally become someone else. The fact that the technology is possible is different from the fact that the change is comfortable. To an organization accustomed to using other people's faces, how personal are Song So-mi's body and V's body? These questions lie beneath the sense of mission success.
The plan Reed hands over and the plan Song So-mi wants are now difficult to keep in the same direction. V does not have the ability to fully read the other person's inner thoughts. One must judge based on what has been heard so far, actions directly witnessed, and the prognosis of one's own body. One must also distinguish between the information gap between the reader, who knows all future results, and V, who is placed in that moment. Just because a betrayal is revealed later does not necessarily mean the trust felt before was foolish.
Chapter 2 · Two Paths Diverging Under the Stadium
In Firestarter, V chooses a major branch: helping Song So-mi escape or cooperating with Reed's capture plan. The events following this choice are different alternatives. On the path of helping Song So-mi, the story proceeds in a direction where Alex handles Hansen and survives. If one chooses Reed's plan, the operation collapses along with Song So-mi's response, and Alex is killed by Hansen. The subsequent development where V faces Hansen also belongs to this path. These two results should not be combined as consecutive events in a single playthrough.
On the path of escaping with Song So-mi, their ability is a powerful means of escape but also a force that can cause harm to those around them. The goal of wanting freedom and the method of obtaining that freedom must be evaluated separately. Just because there is desperation that V can empathize with does not mean the lives of unrelated people become less important. If the moral discomfort of this path is erased, the subsequent confession is consumed merely as a simple plot twist.
On the path of helping Reed, the plan to subdue Song So-mi and return her safely actually leads to a loss of control. The situation where Song So-mi is captured by MaxTac and must be tracked again shatters the confidence that she can be controlled. Reed still tries to believe she can be saved, and V moves while carrying the losses already incurred. Having heard Alex's hopes for the future, that void is heavier than the failure of the operation.
No matter which path is chosen, all judgment does not end here. Even if you trusted and helped Song So-mi, you can make a decision again at the end, and even if you participated in Reed's plan, you are not obligated to follow him to the end he desires. Between keeping the initial promise to the end and seeing new facts and changing one's judgment, V is forced to stop again. The next two installments will explain those different paths separately.
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
CD PROJEKT RED official character visual data
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