Post by @Coelacanth@feddit.nu

2026-10-19 20:56 UTC

Cyberpunk ending spoilers I like the bittersweet nature of Temperance. Especially as chosen after the secret ending path, that way nobody else gets hurt, too. There is something poetic and beautiful to me of V and Johnny storming Arasaka Tower as a solitary duo, with Johnny cheering on, as contrasted to the very first scene he appears in in the opening. And I don’t know, V learns to stop fighting and accept mortality, Johnny gets a second chance… I just like it. I get the appeal of the Star ending. I do. Especially if you romance Judy (Judy romance plus Sun ending is extra miserable, though). But I guess Star is a little too close to “happily ever after” for my preference in this setting. It’s a nice riding into the sunset, leaving Night City literally and metaphorically for V and the player, but such a happy ending (especially with the throwing the player a bone bit about a potential cure with some technomancer) feels oddly almost inappropriately happy for the setting. Actually I think in some ways the Devil ending might be the most appropriate, especially for some Vs. I mean I hate it and it’s terrible, but it’s also awesome and so, so cyberpunk. And it hits some nice notes with the themes, the misery, the desperation for life, the true nature of SoulKiller, destroying the Johnny engram only to become an engram yourself, the corps always win… But maybe I’m just a sucker for depression.

Replies (1)

@Essence_of_Meh@lemmy.world 2026-10-21 22:52

Cyberpunk spoilers I agree with the first part but I don’t really see bailing out as “happily ever after”, personally. A “happily for a short time V has left”, sure, but not as a fully happy ending. Is there a minuscule chance for V? Maybe. I just can’t take it as anything more than wishful thinking considering even the best tech and doctors from Arasaka and NUSA have huge trouble doing anything about the construct. I don’t have a source on hand but I believe Mike Pondsmith said something akin to “Cyberpunk isn’t about saving humanity, it’s about saving yourself” and that’s something I really like about the Star. A small ray of good in a terrible world, after everything we’ve been and seen throughout the game. I feel like taking the genre as pure doom and gloom makes it less interesting to be honest. Humans have a wonderful ability to find happiness in and make the best of the worst situations one can think of, I don’t see why that shouldn’t be the case in Cyberpunk. It’s one of the very few ways a normal person can “triumph” over corporations and whoever else runs the world in Cyberpunk - by finding a little bit of happiness in a world constructed to suck out your soul. Sorry if my writing is a bit incoherent on this, I need to think about it a bit more before I can put things into words right. I do enjoy all of the endings in their own way and, as you said, work well for different kinds of V. I also think they work well as different takes on the genre: - Devil - you can’t win. - Star - you can find something good even when things are bad. - Sun - take your chances and go out swinging. - Temperance - even a loss can lead to something new. Or something like that. Again, I’m going to need a lot more time to sort out my thoughts about this whole thing.

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