Recommended Game Story · Cyberpunk 2077 Part 20
Chapters in this story
Spoiler Alert: 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 reprint 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 City That Had Already Changed Upon Return
The Tower is an ending that changes the end of the main game, separate from the four outcomes of Phantom Liberty. It is reached when V secures a treatment offer on a path where Song So Mi is handed over alive, and V accepts that offer and proceeds with the surgery. It is not a future automatically applied to everyone just for finishing Phantom Liberty. Even after obtaining the conditions, one can choose other endings of the main game. Unchosen possibilities should not be mixed into actual events.
The NUSA surgery solves the Relic problem, but Johnny's engram disappears, and V remains unconscious for about two years. After waking up, V cannot use combat cyberware as before. This does not need to be exaggerated to mean that V has become a being who can never use any technology again. The significant change the game shows is that the physical abilities and foundation that maintained the familiar mercenary life have collapsed.
During the time V lost, other people continued to live. The reactions and current status of Judy, Kerry, River, and Panam differ depending on the relationships formed. Summarizing that everyone abandoned V equally erases each person's time and circumstances. V's desire for a loved one to wait is understandable, and the choice of the other person to start a different life after a long time of not knowing if V was alive or dead is also a human reality. The same two years were not the same for the person who returned and the person who waited.
Viktor's workplace and the changes in the city show that even the home V remembered was not preserved as it was. The experience of no longer being able to protect oneself with overwhelming power on the streets goes beyond the shock of simply losing stats. For someone who has explained their existence through strength and fame, it is the disappearance of that explanation. Neither saying that all problems are solved because treatment was received, nor that life is over because combat abilities were lost, is enough to explain V.
Chapter 2 · Not Counting the Final Scene Only as a Good or Bad Ending
The meeting with Misty allows one to temporarily set aside the premise that one must live only in the way of a legend. The image of V entering the ordinary crowd holds both defeat and possibility. The lost relationships, the vanished Johnny, and the changed body are not light costs. Still, no one can judge the entire next life in advance. The possibility of creating small tasks and new relationships may seem smaller than a future of conquering the city, but it is not of lower value as a life.
Comparing the endings so far leaves different questions. The Devil asks the price of entrusting one's existence to power that possesses technology, and The Sun leaves behind dangers that continue even after becoming a legend. The Star shows the hope of sharing uncertain times with a community, and Temperance shows the loss of another being remaining by the side of one's new life. The Tower asks what remains when you cannot live as your former self after surviving. This explanation is an interpretation of the theme of each ending, not an official ranking.
The Wands, Swords, Cups, and Pentacles of Phantom Liberty are also not four separate events for the same person. The path to help escape and the path to cooperate with capture are divided first, and then another decision is made at the end of each. One must look at whether treatment is provided to V, where Song So Mi is placed, and whether Reed and Alex survive to see the cost of the choice. When another's freedom and my survival are placed in different boxes, one cannot fill a box with good intentions alone.
This series is an original commentary to understand major events, character and companion missions, key branches, and endings. It is not a reprint that lets you experience all gigs, dialogue, and detailed city events instead. If you play it yourself, I recommend deciding what promises you will keep rather than following an optimal V determined by someone else. Just meeting people in a different order in the same place changes the temperature of the choices. What Night City ultimately asks is closer to whose life you treated with that name and what you called your own life, rather than how big a name you left behind.
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
comments 0