Cyberpunk 2077's main campaign, though somewhat shorter than fans may have expected, was a rollercoaster for V. After having the Relic lodged into their head and their brain merged with that of Johnny Silverhand's, players were left with one big question at the end of the game. This article contains spoilers for Cyberpunk 2077's main story and endings.
Through Cyberpunk 2077, V is looking for a cure after being told that Johnny's engram will eventually take over their brain, effectively killing the protagonist. In the end, there are a number of paths V can take to attempt to remedy the situation depending on which quests were completed prior to Cyberpunk 2077's point of no return. However, while all Cyberpunk 2077's endings are vastly different, some being more hopeful and others being more bitter, they each end with the same harsh fact: V is going to die anyway.
Cyberpunk 2077's Endings
Cyberpunk 2077 featured a number of endings. For starters, the Arasaka ending is one of the two available to the player without any prerequisites. It's also possibly the most misleading of the bunch. While Arasaka seems like a great go-to option and one of the most capable megacorporations to get the virus out of V's head once and for all, Arasaka proves that it's evil by forcing V to undergo numerous experiments while unable to contact their loved ones. Ultimately, they cannot help and V must decide to either sell their soul to Arasaka by uploading their consciousness to the cloud, or by leaving an accepting death in a matter of months. This ending could lead to a DLC where they attempt to find a cure.
Another ending comes if V allows Johnny to take control and raid Arasaka Tower with Rogue again. While many Cyberpunk 2077 players enjoy this ending, it's not widely considered the best. Still, there are some interesting points found in the final cutscenes after the job at Arasaka is done. V will be living large with whomever they chose to romance, if anyone, knowing that their time is limited. V will accept a job from a mysterious Mr. Blue Eyes, whose true intentions can only be speculated on. With an outbreak of another Corporate War on its hinges, it's possible to see how a DLC could detail both those events or V finding a final cure via Mr. Blue Eyes.
Finally, the best ending is largely considered to be the one featuring Panam, which can only be done if V has completed the Aldecaldos storyline. This ending is the most hopeful, with V deciding to cross the bridge when it happens. However, this could lead to a different direction with DLC, one that doesn't address the fact that V is dying.
The main point here is that, though V is still fated to die in most of them, the endings are quite different, meaning story-heavy DLC would need to figure out how to adapt each of these different endings.
Another Direction for Cyberpunk 2077 DLC
For now, it's difficult to tell what CD Projekt Red has in store for upcoming downloadable content. While addressing the big cliffhanger is the most expected route for DLC, CDPR has proven not to go the path most traveled. Perhaps it has something in store for Johnny, one where V no longer exists. Or perhaps Cyberpunk 2077 will explore other areas that it was lacking. After all, maybe the point of these endings is that V was meant to die all along.
Despite the fact that CDPR has denied these claims, it seems like tons of content was cut from Cyberpunk 2077 prior to its release, and it's possible CDPR will include this cut content in Cyberpunk DLC, such as car customizations and apartment upgrades. Another area the game was lacking in that is normally a big part of the tabletop RPGs is netrunning and AI. When it comes to Cyberpunk's lore, the opportunities for DLC are nearly limitless.
Cyberpunk 2077 is available now on PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions coming in 2021.