After modders unearthed Cyberpunk 2077 files featuring a masculine V voice recording romancing Judy Alvarez, players became suspicious that this was more content cut from the game for the sake of time time. However, CD Projekt Red denies these allegations, saying a male V and Judy romance possibility was never on the table for Cyberpunk 2077. Some spoilers relating to Judy's romance are ahead.
In order to romance Judy Alvarez in Cyberpunk 2077, the player must have created V with a female voice tone and body. To fan dismay, Panam operates similarly: in order to advance a romantic relationship with her, V must have a masculine voice and body type. Some Cyberpunk 2077 fans felt that limiting romantic partners this way was unnecessary, so it's not surprising to see mods allowing a female V to romance Panam and a male V to romance Judy surface online.
In Cyberpunk 2077's game files, modders found voice recordings of a male V reading dialogue that should only be available during romance-related cutscenes, for example, Judy asking V what the night before meant to the protagonist. The male V can be heard responding the exact same way, either that it was just a one-night stand or that he thought it was the start of something special. According to the players who applied the mod to their game, Judy's entire storyline has voice recordings from V's male voice actor, Gavin Drea.
Shortly after, many fans began accusing CDPR of cutting this content from Cyberpunk 2077, believing the option to romance Judy regardless of gender to be available all along. However, speaking to Eurogamer, a CDPR representative denied this was ever the case and gave an explanation for the masculine V voice files.
"Judy was always only a female V romance partner and that was the artistic vision from the start," the CD Projekt representative stated, "there was no romance from the game." They explained that having both voice actors record all of V's lines makes it "easier for our localization teams" to avoid missing recording lines that were necessary for either gender. So while it might seem strange to have recorded several lines worth of dialogue that would have never been used, CDPR stated that it ultimately would avoid making a mistake and having to schedule future recordings with the voice cast.
Some Cyberpunk 2077 players aren't convinced by this statement, believing it to be an excuse, while others are happy to have a proper explanation offered, because it was previously believed that a Judy and male V romance had been cut prior to the mod surfacing.
Cyberpunk 2077 is available now on PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X versions coming in 2021.
Source: Eurogamer