Cyberpunk 2077 is a 2020 action role-playing game developed by CD Projekt Red and published by CD Projekt. Based on Mike Pondsmith's Cyberpunk tabletop game series, the plot is set in the fictional metropolis of Night City in California, within the dystopian Cyberpunk universe. The player assumes the role of V (voiced by Gavin Drea or Cherami Leigh depending on the player's choice of gender), a mercenary who gets reluctantly imbued with a cybernetic "bio-chip" containing an engram of legendary rockstar and terrorist Johnny Silverhand (voiced by Keanu Reeves). As Johnny's consciousness begins overwriting V's own, the two must work together to separate from each other and save V's life.
The game's development began following the release of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Blood and Wine (2016). The game was developed by a team of around 500 people using the REDengine 4 game engine. CD Projekt launched a new division in Wrocław, Poland, and partnered with Digital Scapes, Nvidia, Q-LOC, and Jali Research to aid the production, while Pondsmith served as a consultant. The original score was composed by Marcin Przybyłowicz, and featured the contributions of several licensed artists. After years of anticipation, Cyberpunk 2077 was released for PlayStation 4, Stadia, Windows, and Xbox One in December 2020, followed by the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in February 2022, the Nintendo Switch 2 in June 2025 as a launch title, and macOS in July 2025. A DLC expansion, Phantom Liberty, was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S in September 2023, and paired with the Nintendo Switch 2 and macOS releases.
Cyberpunk 2077 received praise from critics for its narrative, setting, and graphics. However, some of its gameplay elements received mixed responses while its themes and representation of transgender characters received some criticism. It was also widely criticised for bugs and glitches, particularly on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions during its launch period. Sony removed it from the PlayStation Store from December 2020 to June 2021 while CD Projekt rectified some of the issues. CD Projekt became subject to investigations and class-action lawsuits for their perceived attempts at downplaying the severity of the technical problems before release; these were ultimately cleared with a settlement of US$1.85 million. As of November 2025, the game had sold over 35 million units, making it one of the best-selling video games of all time. Its total cost to develop and market (including updates and DLC) is reportedly between $436 million and around $440 million, making it one of the most expensive video games to develop. A sequel, Cyberpunk 2, was announced in October 2022 and is in development.
1. Cyberpunk 2077 is an action role-playing game played from a first-person perspective as V. Players can customize V’s voice, face, hairstyle, body type, cyberware modifications, background, and clothing. There are also five main attributes (Body, Intelligence, Reflexes, Technical Ability, and Cool) that can be adjusted to suit the player’s style, with a sixth attribute, Relic, added in the Phantom Liberty expansion.
2. The gameplay is flexible, with two primary play styles: Netrunner (hacking) and Solo (combat). V has various maneuvers to reposition in combat, including sprinting, taking cover, double-jumping, and sliding. Many of these abilities can be unlocked or upgraded through cyberware implants installed by a ripperdoc. Weapon use increases accuracy and reload speed, which is reflected in character animations. Equipment, including weapons and armor, is divided by colored tiers and split into melee and ranged options. Melee attacks use close-combat weapons, while ranged attacks are handled by three weapon types: Power (ricocheting bullets), Tech (penetrates walls and enemies), and Smart (homing bullets, only usable with specific cyberware). The game has four damage types — Physical, Thermal, Electric, and Toxic. It can be completed without killing anyone (excluding robots), with non-lethal options for weapons and cyberware.
3. The open world, Night City, consists of seven regions: the corporate City Centre, immigrant-inhabited Watson, luxurious Westbrook, inner-city Heywood, gang-infested Pacifica, industrial suburbs of Santo Domingo, and the breakaway Dogtown in the Phantom Liberty expansion. The surrounding area, the Badlands, can also be explored. By default, the game is played from a first-person perspective, with third-person view available only while driving or during rare story moments. V owns an apartment and a garage, with four additional apartments available throughout the city. The game features a full day-night cycle and dynamic weather, which affect NPC behavior. Depending on the location, law enforcement may respond to crimes committed by V. Pedestrians can be affected by vehicles and gunfire, and radio stations are available to listen to. Many NPCs speak non-English languages, which can be translated with special implants. V also occasionally uses a technology called "Braindance," allowing them to experience other people's memories.
4. Branching dialogues allow interaction with NPCs and influence quest outcomes, and player choices can lead to different endings. Experience points are earned from main quests and are used to upgrade stats, while side quests provide "street cred," unlocking skills, vendors, locations, and additional quests. Quests are given by characters known as Fixers, shady underworld middlemen specializing in information brokering and smuggling. Throughout the game, V is assisted by various companions. Consumables, such as food, drinks, and drugs, are used for healing and temporary buffs, and objects can be inspected in V’s inventory. Mini-games include hacking, boxing, auto racing, martial arts, and shooting ranges.
Cyberpunk 2077 takes place in Night City (NC), an American megacity in the Free State of North California. The city functions as a corporatocracy, largely unaffected by federal or state legislation, and has over three decades of tumultuous history leading up to the year 2077. Night City suffers from rampant gang violence and corporate warfare, exacerbated by an ineffective and corrupt municipal government and police force.
The city relies heavily on robotic technology for everyday functions, including waste management, building and infrastructure maintenance, and public transportation. Its architecture and fashion are influenced by four aesthetic eras: Entropism, Kitsch, Neo-Militarism, and Neo-Kitsch. Homelessness and poverty are widespread, yet cybernetic modification is available to Night City’s underclasses, leading to cosmetic addiction and high levels of violence. Mentally unstable residents whose modifications push them over the edge, known as cyberpsychos, are handled by the police tactical unit MaxTac. Privatized health corporations, such as Trauma Team, employ paramilitary doctors for rapid medical services. Open carry of weapons is permitted for all residents due to the constant threat of physical harm.
The primary protagonist of Cyberpunk 2077 is V (Vincent or Valerie), voiced by Gavin Drea (male) or Cherami Leigh (female). V is a freelance mercenary whose background can be customized based on player choice. V is accompanied by Johnny Silverhand (Keanu Reeves), a legendary rock star and terrorist who exists as a digitized engram and is playable during certain parts of the game.
The game opens with one of three lifepaths for the player character V—Nomad, Streetkid, or Corpo—each leading to a partnership with street thug Jackie Welles and netrunner T-Bug as mercenaries in Night City.
In 2077, fixer Dex DeShawn hires V and Jackie to steal a biochip called "the Relic" from the Arasaka Corporation. The job collapses when they witness Yorinobu Arasaka murdering his father, Saburo, and framing it as poisoning. During their escape, T-Bug is killed, Jackie is mortally wounded, and the Relic's case is damaged, forcing V to slot the chip. Dex, angered by the fallout, shoots V and leaves them for dead.
V awakens in a landfill, haunted by the digital ghost of rocker-turned-terrorist Johnny Silverhand, who in 2023 carried out an attack on Arasaka Tower with Rogue Amendiares, a Fixer in the present day, and other mercenaries. Johnny perished in the attack with V seeing his memories of the event. V is then rescued by Saburo's loyal bodyguard, Goro Takemura, who suspects the truth and wishes to use V as proof that Yorinobu killed Saburo. Ripperdoc Viktor Vector reveals the biochip's resurrection nanotech is overwriting V's mind with Johnny's engram, leaving only weeks to find a cure. Johnny, initially antagonistic, resolves to help V while also utilizing the opportunity to try and take down Arasaka again.
Teaming with Takemura, V pursues two leads: capturing Arasaka scientist Anders Hellman with the help of nomad Panam Palmer and the Aldecaldos clan, and rescuing Evelyn Parker, who commissioned the heist. Hellman is caught but is unable to help V, and later given up to Takemura. With aid from Evelyn's friend Judy Álvarez, V learns Evelyn was hacked and sold to "Scavs", a group known for kidnapping and harvesting cybernetics from people. Evelyn was abused by her kidnappers and later dies by suicide. Using Evelyn's braindance memories, V discovers she learned of the Relic from the Voodoo Boys; a gang of very private netrunners, who wanted Johnny's engram to reach beyond the Blackwall; a firewall that protects the internet and world from rogue AIs.
Through them, V relives Johnny's past. In 2013, Johnny's girlfriend Alt Cunningham created Soulkiller, an AI that transfers minds into cyberspace but destroys the brain. Arasaka used Soulkiller on Alt, imprisoning her in their digital fortress, Mikoshi. Johnny's later nuclear attack freed her, allowing her to escape past into the Blackwall, to become an AI, but ended with his own capture and upload via Soulkiller. Arasaka's "Secure Your Soul" program and the Relic stem from this technology. V communicates with Alt's consciousness beyond the Blackwall and strikes a deal: if V grants her access to Arasaka's subnet and Mikoshi, she can separate V and Johnny.
Separately, Takemura has resolved to take his information to the Arasaka executives and to this end, V and him capture Hanako Arasaka, Yorinobu's sister, to prove his guilt, but V is forced to flee after Arasaka soldiers attack. Following the ambush, Hanako reaches out to V and offers to help them in exchange for their assistance in ousting Yorinobu, which Johnny greatly opposes.
In the final act, V must choose to either assault Arasaka Tower or accept Hanako's offer. The attack can be carried out solo, with Rogue (Johnny takes control of V's body in this scenario), or with the Aldecaldos. Alternatively, siding with Hanako successfully ousts Yorinobu and sees Arasaka remove and destroy the Relic. All paths involve V defeating Adam Smasher. Regardless, due to the engram's prolonged presence in V's body, the biochip's effects are irreversible. The results leave V with a shorter lifespan in their own body but could offer Johnny a full life, as the Relic has tailored the body for him. Depending on the player's choice, V either uploads their own engram to Mikoshi awaiting a new body, lives on in their current body with a shortened lifespan while seeking means to undo the damage, or permanently surrenders their body to Johnny and leaves beyond the Blackwall with Alt—in the latter ending, which is not accessible if V accepts Hanako's offer, Johnny leaves Night City to start anew.