#learn to inspire catharsis in your audience without defaulting to killing the main character

[skiitter]

The Cyberpunk endings are fucking stupid.

V, regardless of the life path, starts the game with a new chance at life. They meet Jackie, take this insane gig, and are aiming for the big leagues. And then it all goes to hell in a handbasket and suddenly, V is being punished for her hubris, for playing Icarus a little too well. Saddled with a nightmare engram and a rapidly approaching end, V is forced to handle these things AND work through whatever Night City throws at her.

And she fucking nails it.

Panam and the Aldecaldos are 100% better off after meeting V. Everyone is. She strives to help, to earn her place at the top, and does it with compassion. It’s not easy, either. Fucking serial killers, rogue AI, corporate espionage, and Relic Malfunctions are literally being thrown at her and V takes it in stride. She bruises and bleeds, but gets the fuck back up. 

She manages to singlehandedly do the one thing no one else could: force Johnny Silverhand to contend with what he’s done, and atone. Takes this symbol of rage and hate and violence and makes him sit there and realize that living that way is not a way to live. He doesn’t regret the places he’s burned, just the people. She teaches him humanity and humility and what it means to be vulnerable and how stupid he was for thinking he was better than those that chose to love him.

V befriends nearly everyone she meets, including a dishonored corporate body guard and a fucking vending machine. She performs emotional labor for 90% of the characters in this game, including allowing her literal, actual body to be used purely for the benefit of someone else. Changes Kerry’s entire life, sets him back on the path he lost so many years ago. Gives Rogue a chance at closure from the most destructive relationship she’s ever had. 

The only person V feels that she has ever let down is Jackie and we spend the whole game carrying that weight. Her entire quest for fame, the whole reason she keeps pursuing the Big Leagues, is for her dead partner. A partner who she never replaces, by the way. Johnny Silverhand becomes her angry, jaded and wise consciousness but never her partner. V does everything she does alone, save for her ghost who no one can see. 

It all compounds. Helping Claire with the drag races. Rounding up Delamain’s feral children. Letting River’s niece and nephew win at the stupid game. Telling the new mayor he’s actually being brainwashed by an AI. Catching SEVENTEEN cyberpsychos. All of that takes time. Time V could spend chasing down a million leads to save her life but this is a game of choices and she chooses to help others.

And this all feels normal. That’s generally what these branching, massive RPG type games play out as. It’s not new, but we all love playing a hero. And make no mistake, V is a hero. She’s not some merc, who bends her beliefs to the highest bidder (this is also why Johnny loves her tbqh. its about the conviction). V has a moral code she will not work against and we as players must work within that code, somewhat. 

The story plays out with V taking on these roles of cleaner, helper, friend, lover, confidant. Its beautiful and immersive and V feels better for it. I felt better for it. And all of that culminates in a massive Fuck You. Fuck you for thinking that, at the end of this, there was any chance of saving yourself. Fuck you for building these connections, loving these people, trying this hard. Fuck you for believing this had a happy ending.

The only person, the only fucking person, who is given a chance at salvation is Johnny. And it is exhausting watching yet another female character have to give her life away so that he can learn a lesson. Putting V back into her body to go rot from the inside out for the next six months is so insulting it borders on cruelty. 

The “best” ending, the Star, where V goes off into the sunset with Panam and her clan to hopefully find some miracle cure is such a slap in the face. Why was this option not available before V dragged her body through Arasaka and into the heart of Mikoshi? Are we to believe that suddenly Panam found something out and only now is it worth pursuing? The only “good” ending is Temperance in that at least something comes from V’s sacrifice and I hate that its to uplift Johnny. 

V did so fucking much for others, emotional, physical, and mental labor, all because that’s the person she is. Runs through the fucking gauntlet of Night City. And, in the end, she earns nothing for it. Fuck your happy ending, fuck your hopes. You can kill yourself on the rooftop, take a suicide mission into fucking space, break out of your own narrative constructs to chase a wild goose, or give your body away entirely. Unsatisfying doesn’t even begin to cover it. 

The Cyberpunk endings are Fucking Stupid.

Edit: I just wanna briefly say that I don't inherently blame Johnny for the loss of V's body in the final missions. In every instance that he gets it, he vehemently expresses not wanting it. It's not his fault that he's the Male Character all the women must die for. It's the writers who fail V, not Johnny, Silvermerc ship be damned. Johnny is canonically loyal to V and taking her body isn't something his character does lightly, at all. Just really wanna stress that here.