Cyberpunk 2077's story weighs heavy on choices. While some of the game's most difficult choices don't change the outcome of its various endings, such as the Delamain quests Epistrophy and Don't Lose Your Mind, other side quests can bring about changed endings and ending credits sequences, such as Panam and the Aldecaldos quests. This article contains spoilers for Cyberpunk 2077.
Because the game falls under the Cyberpunk genre umbrella, Cyberpunk 2077 often deals with morality, humanity, and personal ideals. V could help Claire get her revenge, but will that make her feel any better in the end? Are all corpos evil like Johnny Silverhand believes? Should V tell Jefferson Peralez the truth, or would the truth get him killed? Cyberpunk plays with moral dilemmas, but the crux of those dilemmas is within the game's endings, where both the hardest decisions lie and the consequences from previous decisions are waiting.
Male or Female V, and Who to Romance
Just as choosing between the three different lifepaths in Cyberpunk 2077, choosing the gender of V might seem arbitrary. However, it directly impacts who the player can romance. Cyberpunk features the two binary genders (for the most part), and they influence who is attracted to V based on if the player chooses a masculine or feminine voice type. In turn, romanced characters can also influence Cyberpunk 2077's ending to varying degrees.
It seems that much more focus was put on the romanceable women of Cyberpunk, Panam, Judy, and even Rogue, than on the men, River and Kerry. Judy and Panam's questlines are far longer than the two romanceable men and all three of them can have a direct impact on how the story unfolds. Should V choose to let Johnny go on a date with Rogue, Rogue and her assets can assist V with the final mission. Should V choose to complete the Aldecaldos quests and max out their relationship with Rogue, Panam and Saul will help V in the end. But if they chose to romance River Ward instead, he will essentially break the relationship off. Though, the romance decision hinges more on deciding who to call on the rooftop than actually declaring a serious relationship, since multiple characters can be romanced throughout the game.
Additionally, the game's final credits will be tailored not only to which ending is chosen but who, if anyone, was romanced. For example, if V chooses the suicide ending and romanced Judy, they'll receive a heartbreaking video message from her during the credits. For some, romancing may not be all that important to their experience of a game, but as with CD Projekt Red's other major title Witcher 3, romances in Cyberpunk can have a major influence on the story.
To Let Johnny Take Control or Not
Allowing Johnny to take control of V's body so he can talk to Rogue and find Adam Smasher is a side quest in Cyberpunk 2077 and therefore isn't a requirement, but it's an important questline to maxing out V's relationship with Johnny Silverhand. This is, in turn, key to getting the secret ending to Cyberpunk. If the player chooses to do these missions, they go about as well as V expects them to, but ultimately, Johnny gets the job done as he promised.
Though this decision to let Johnny take the wheel the first time isn't difficult, most players end up popping the red pill. It's allowing Johnny to take the wheel in the end, should the player have finished the Rogue quests through Blistering Love, that is a hard choice. After the point of no return in Cyberpunk 2077, Misty will take V up to a roof where they and Johnny decide which route to go for the final mission. If Blistering Love was completed, Johnny will insist V let him and Rogue take care of it. They'll handle Arasaka Tower much like they did the first time.
When V's contemplating this decision, there's really no telling how well this method will go. Is handing the reigns to the chaotic Johnny Silverhand better than putting trust into Hanako and her plan to overthrow Yorinobu? At this point, it's difficult to say. Neither ending is what's to be expected, though, but Rogue and Johnny's second chance at tearing down Arasaka Tower goes just about as well as it did the first time, and it's not considered the "best" ending among most players. However, this option will surface the strongest relationship between V and Johnny and some touching dialogue will come as a result.
Trust Hanako Arasaka and Take Her Offer
If players don't spend any time on side quests throughout Cyberpunk 2077 and instead beeline through the main missions, they'll be left with one of the default options: taking Hanako's offer and testifying against Yorinobu Arasaka. On the surface level, even among all possible endings, this method likely looks to be the safest. That is unless V has been taking Johnny's distrust of corpos seriously. Hanako's offer seems to handle the problem the least violently and promises V a safe way of removing Johnny's construct from her head, but Johnny and Misty will both drop several hints that this ending isn't as happy as it looks.
Despite the fact that Hanako will keep her word, the Arasaka ending, also known as the Devil ending, referencing Misty's tarot cards, is made all the more bitter if players were able to save Takemura during Search and Destroy earlier on. On one hand, it's uplifting to have Takemura by V's side throughout the final mission rather than being alone. On the other hand, when V is ultimately imprisoned by Arasaka afterward, Takemura will be the one to deliver V's bad news. If V chooses to sign the contract, they'll be literally selling their souls to Arasaka.
Return to V's Body or Become "Immortal"
The Relic is more than just a heist mission that sets V's life on its course. As with Johnny Silverhand's construct, it's a way of condensing a conscious as data, which some characters, like the Arasakas, treat like immortality. Most endings will yield the option to become an engram either by being presented a contract by Arasaka or by willingly leaving with Alt. In Johnny and Rogue's ending, the player will continue to assume the role of Johnny while making this decision.
However, Cyberpunk 2077 will never show what actually happens to the digitized copy after they choose to go behind the Blackwall using the Soulkiller program. Becoming an engram means becoming part of the A.I. behind the Blackwall, but could potentially mean becoming "immortal" in a Relic, the way that Arasaka has been storing minds in Mikoshi for decades, including Johnny's and Saburo Arasaka's. Other than the Devil ending, if V allows Johnny to take their body and digitize their own mind instead, a somber scene will show him leaving Night City for good.
Cyberpunk 2077 is available now on PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X versions coming in 2021.