This article contains spoilers for Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, including the new ending it adds to the base game.
When I knew that I was going to propose to my wife, I called her dad to set up a time for the talk. Not to ask for ‘permission’, but I knew he was the kind of guy who would appreciate being asked for his blessing. We went out for lunch, talked for an hour or two, got through it relatively painlessly, and — as you may have guessed because I referred to her as "my wife" at the top of the paragraph — it worked out. Even knowing that it would probably go fine, that kind of conversation can be nerve-wracking. It's full of drama and tension, which makes it kind of surprising that I'd never seen it in a video game until my second playthrough of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Cyberpunk 2077.
First time around, I played as Dude V, so I romanced Panam. This time around, playing as Lady V, I had the option to romance Judy, and took it. She always seemed like the coolest of the romance options anywa﷽y. Being in a relationship with her means eventually getting a warning text that her grandmother may re💃ach out to talk things over with V.
As I was finishing up the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Phantom Liberty expansion, she reached out. She asked me what my intentions were with her granddaughter, and I did my best to answer honestly. She was satisfied, and said I could call her Abuela from then on. I texted Judy and she said she'd just got off a call with her grandmother. She was happy it went so well. Like my conversation with my real father-in-law, this text exchange had me on the edge of my seat, despite the fact that I never really intellectually thought that it would go any other way.
This is just one example of how Cyberpunk 2077 skillfully incorporates phone calls and text messaging as storytelling tools. I rolled credits on the game last week, and as I look back on this second playthrough, I realize that many of the best story moments weren't contained within main quests or side missions. They were phone calls with characters I was getting to know, or text messages with favorites like Judy or Takemura. So much about the characters is revealed by the way they express themselves in text. The game doesn't have companions like 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Starfield or 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Baldur's Gate 3, but these moments accomplish something similar to banter along the road or a heart-to-heart at camp. It's the perfect way to make sure that, no matter where you are in Night City, you're never far from the characters that matter to you.
I kept playing after rolling the credits on Phantom Liberty because the expansion adds a new ending to the main game and, when I got distracted away from my Cyberpunk 2077 playthrough last year, I was on the precipice of the point of no return. It only took another hour to hit the credits. And the ending that I got by rolling straight from the DLC ending into the main game ending was moving in a way that I've never really found the game to be before.
Having helped the NUSA in the DLC, V is now offered the chance to get the Johnny Silverhand construct in her head surgically removed. The surgery goes as well as it can — R.I.P. Johnny — but it leaves V's body unable to accept any cybernetic enhancements, even the most basic of upgrades. Oh, and V is finding this information out two years after the fact because she slipped into a coma as a result of the operation. V is offered a ride back to Night City, but has to wait for the futuristic helicopter to fly around. That gives her time to call the important people from her playthrough. For me that was Judy, River, Panam, and Viktor.
Judy picked up, and was happy to hear from me after I had missed the date I said I would be back from my trip by a year and 11 monꦯths. V offers to meet up, to pick up where they left off, but Judy is across the country, living in Pittsburgh, and married. This was major whiplash from the "What are your intentions with my granddaughter?" conversation I was having earlier in (what was for me) the same day.
The other conversations weren't any better. River was feeling sad about his life and didn't want to see me, and Panam's phone was out of the service area. Only Viktor was willing to meet up, insisting that the doctors were quacks for suggesting that I'd never be able to use implants again. Spoiler: he was wrong. When you go to call each of these old friends, you can see the record of texts and missed calls, all of them wondering where you are and what's wrong before finally giving up and moving on.
It’s surprisingly powerful stuff, and much of it hinges on the way that the game uses text messages as environmental storytelling, and video calls as a way to communicate naked emotional truth. Judy's hair is longer, now nearing her shoulders. You can see the passage of time in the view window, the pain of a friend disappearing in the desperate unanswered texts.