History VideoGame / Cyberpunk2077

** You can find [[spoiler:Meredith]]'s corpse wearing cemment shoes in one of the water reservoirs that surround the city. That only happens if [[spoiler:you don't accept her offer in "The Pickup"]].

* AlternateUniverse: Due to being set in the same world as ''TabletopGame/Cyberpunk2020'' by Mike Pondsmith. The setting's history diverges noticeably from ours:

** Depending on player's choices, other casualities are [[spoiler:Takemura, who might get saved in "Search and Destroy", [[GuideDangIt but it's so unclearly telegraphed that many players missed it, especially the ones who tried to save Jackie]], River gets killed if he rushes the SerialKiller's lair by himself, Hanako will die in "The Sun" ending, where Alt brings the Arasaka space station down, Yorinobu's bodyjacked and effectively murdered in "The Devil" ending, Rogue will die in "The Sun" ending and Saul will die in "The Star" ending. Meredith Stout will die if you don't follow her orders on the the flat head retrieval, and there are countless other minor [=NPCs=] who might die depending on players' choices.]]

* CovertPervert: On the outside [[spoiler: Meredith Stout is as dignified, and arrogant, as any other corpo suit.]] By asking about a blink-and-you-miss-it tattoo, she will invite V to meet her in the No-Tell Motel. Given your previous conversations it's easy to think she'll give you an assignement but when you enter the room where she's staying, she'll will be dressed in an outfit consisting of a leather harness, thigh high leather boots, choker and electrical tape. This outfit shows off several tattoos that show a wild side you'd never expect. You then are given the option of having sex with her. If you look in the room after the encounter you can even find a rather large sex toy that she left. (Sir John Phallustiff, a ''very'' good non-lethal melee weapon for that time of the game, which counts as an Iconic weapon, allowing it to be greatly upgraded.)

** In "Chippin' In", V wants to know exactly what [[spoiler:Johnny will do after he takes over V's body to talk to Rogue. Johnny, frustrated and impantient, says:]]
--->''Johnny:'' Don't worry, I'll be gentle. Ya might even enjoy it.

** Different ways of dealing with mortality, your own and your loved ones. Religion is still prominent in the universe, with shinto and catholic priests in the overworld (and Padre being one of the fixers), buddhist monks being a part of different sidequests, and other major religions like Judaism or Islam being mentioned. The "Secure your soul" program promises people immortality through technology, and rich members of society (like the Arasakas, Rogue or Kerry) being able to prolong their lives and youth through different implants and rejuvenation treatments. Many sidequests center around different characters' way of dealing with their loved ones deaths ([[spoiler:Claire seeking revenge for her husband's accidental death, Misty missing Jackie and reminiscing with V, Judy's guilt over Evelyn's death, Kerry's and Rogue's problems with handling Johnny's death, Joshua's spiritual awakening before his death sentence is carried out, how V will handle their own deteriorating health and imminent death]]).

* TarotMotifs: The achievements/trophies for the game and the endings are named after several Major Arcana. Fittingly, starting the game gives The Fool, which is the start of the journey while finishing the main storyline gives The World. There's also a sidequest to locate and scan graffiti of twenty Major Arcana, hallucinations caused by the presence of Johnny Silverhand with appropriately stylized, edgy artwork. Naturally The Fool is directly beside the entrance of V's apartment.

* VillainyFreeVillain: An ExploitedTrope. In the final fight of the Beat on the Brat jobs, Razor Hugh is a championship boxer and kind of a jerk, openly bragging about how you won't last a round against him. Just after you receive an offer from your coach to take a dive against him in exchange for a larger payout, a young girl comes up and tells you about how Razor Hugh beat her father nearly to death even after the ref called the fight, and asks you to avenge her father on her behalf. [[spoiler:Should you win the match, [[LittleMissConArtist you can find the girl outside gloating over the phone about her acting skills and how much money she made off the fight]]. A Street Kid V is genuinely impressed, and tells her there's no need to explain and she should make her eddies where she can.]]

** The Basilisk armoured transport the Aldecaldos steal ends up as this once their techs get to work on it, giving it massively upgraded firepower (an extra gun in its turret and a heavy-duty multi-tube smart missile system), a high-speed booster, and one of the clan's signature fancy paintjobs. [[spoiler:It ends up being dangerous enough to solo an entire Militech strike force with a single pilot and cone out the other side in one piece.]]

** [[spoiler:"The Sun" ending is treated like this for Johnny. After everything they've went through with Johnny, V trusts him enough to give him control over their body to get them to Mikoshi, because they believe they lack the strength to do so themselves. Johnny is clearly very humbled and eager to make V proud.]]

* AdjustableCensorship: There's a "Nudity Censor" option that puts a mosaic-esqe blurs on explicit nudity or adds underwear to characters who are fully nude otherwise and prevents the player from customizing V's genitalia.

* AdvertOverloadedFuture: Night City is completely covered in ads top to bottom. It's hard to walk a couple of meters without running into a tv screen with some incredibly crass advert blaring on it. Tv shows can hardly go for a minute without an ad break, and there is even a entire channel on TV called "Just Ads!" which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.

** [[spoiler:Forcing the personalities to converge into one being causes Delamain to forecefully evolve into a being closer to Alt than his old self and he leaves to go to wander, but he leaves behind a "son" who acts just like the original before the issues. Johnny even points out you may have accidentally created a God.]]

* AnArmAndALeg: Explosives and high-powered weapons like a good old point-blank shotgun blast has a chance to dismember your target. There's even a perk explicitly designed to boost the percentage chance with shotguns for the sake of doing it more often, too.

** After completing Act 1, entering your default Archer Hella for the first time results it in getting hit by a rampaging Delamain taxi and wrecked. Thankfully, right after the cutscene ends (and the relevant quest to get it repaired starts), the local fixer contacts you and offers a car for sale, literally just one level up in the parking garage where the wreck occurs. One of the missions that starts at the beginning of Act 2 ("Heroes") will also reward you with a motorcycle for free depending on how you play the mission out, so that, even if you cannot afford to buy the first car, you won't have to go without some form of wheels for long.

** High-end cars can fall into this. As cool as owning a Rayfield Aerondight is it costs a whopping 220,000 eddies, something you could spend on far more useful upgrades, and it isn’t even the fastest car in the game. You can also get free cars throughout the story and side missions that function just as good, if not better, than the majority of the bought vehicles.

* BakenekoAndNekomata: During the mission "Gimmie Danger", Takemura and V will see a stray cat sitting nearby their hiding place, with Takemura commenting that the animal might be a bakeneko. The same cat model is used multiple times during the game: after Johnny got left for dead in his memories and [[spoiler:when V heads to Misty's Esoterica rooftop to make a decision about theirs and Johnny's fates]]. [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane Are they actually bakenekos or just regular cats?]] It's up to the player to decide. The SniperRifle model in the [[MagneticWeapons Tech Weapon category]] is also called "Nekomata", which is employed by the Arasaka snipers used in the Dashi Parade mission.

** Is the Soviet ripperdoc Nina Kraviz and the real life Russian musician Nina Kraviz are the same person?

** As an initiation into the Maelstrom gang, one has the eyesockets removed and a fair part of the forehead replaced with a set of spider-like glowing red optics...''without anasthetic''.

** At the very start of "Gimmie Danger", Takemura says that the parade is going to celebrate "Japanese heritage", which may suggest that it's being held to celebrate people of Night City who are of Japanese ancestry AND their culture. In the Polish version, the word used is "dziedzictwo", which strictly means culture.

** The Ping quickhack. It doesn't debilitate or damage in any way, but it does reveal every networked device (including enemies with cyberware) in a local subnet when you apply it. It's an instant recon sweep. The legendary version even let you hack enemies through walls, no line of sight required, until Update 1.3 nerfed it.

** Copyrighted music can also be disabled from playing in-game (mostly through in-universe radios). It's likely that both options are intended for streamers, let's play creators, and others playing the game on platforms where not all of the game's content is withing the terms of service.

** [[BladeBelowTheShoulder Mantis Blades]], a pair of massive, scythe-like blades built into V's forearms that can be electrified for additional damage.

* KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter: Three major types of ranged weapons are "Power" -- more or less conventional firearms with the added potential for ballistically plotted ricochet trajectories; "Tech" - electromagnetic railguns that can potentially pierce cover; and "Smart" -- gyrojet guns firing guided micromissiles.

* EveryoneIsBi: Well, not ''everyone''. But in addition to Kerry being bisexual [[note]]In lore; in gameplay, he's only available romantically to a V with a masculine voice and body type[[/note]], Panam can be romanced by a female V with a masculine frame and vice versa for River. [[spoiler:Meredith Stout]] is available as a one night stand for any V if you reply to her texts correctly. Rogue is willing to sleep with Johnny regardless of V's body [[note]]Though it's difficult to say if this is a reflection of her actual identity or more of a IfItsYouItsOkay kind of situation[[/note]], and Johnny himself alludes to [[AnythingThatMoves not really caring about the gender of someone willing to sleep with him]]. V can also be played as bisexual. The only character with an explicitly confirmed orientation that isn't bisexual is Judy, who's a lesbian.

** [=Ripper/Ripperdoc=]: An underground cyberware implantation specialist. Most Rippers also act as trauma surgeons and primary care physicians for those who, for various reasons, don't want to seek aid from a corp-owned medical facility.

* GenderIsNoObject: Women, men, and people of other genders seem to be about equal in the grand scheme of things: There are female ripperdocs, edgerunners, policewomen and soldiers. The most respected fixer in the city, Rogue, is a woman. Alt was a brilliant and well-known netrunner when she was alive, and Judy is considered one of the best braindance editors out there. Female V can be everything a male V can be. One of the [=MAX-TAC=] units is led by a woman (Melissa). Nobody has any objections when Saul appoints Panam as [[spoiler:the second leader to the Aldecaldos, nor do they have any issues if she starts leading them by herself after his death in "The Star" ending. Even a company very heavily tied to traditions like Arasaka has no problems with Hanako taking over after her father's death in "The Devil" ending]]. Amusingly, even all the [[EqualOpportunityEvil gangs]] have male and female members and seem to allow everyone to rise in the ranks on the same terms and allows women to become leaders (Suzy Q is the leader of the Moxes, Ofelia can become a leader of Maelstrom, The Voodoo Boyz are led by Mama Brigitte and Tyger Claws and Animals have high-ranking female members). That being said, women (especially sex workers) do tend to be victims of various forms of sexual assault by a wide margin; the Mox were explicitly formed [[BandOfBrothels by sex workers who felt it was safer look out for one-another]].

** The player can go through the entire game without meeting Kerry and River, two out of four romance options with their own arcs and sidequests. River's sidequest gets added to your questlog automatically after a certain point in the main story, but you have no obligation to actually fulfill it. Kerry's questline is even more hidden, because it requires [[spoiler:completing almost the entirety of Johnny's questchain, with no indication that it will unlock Kerry]]. Kerry's questline also comes very late in the game, at the tail end of act two, right before the ending. After discovering them, romancing them is fairly simple (doing their questline and choosing a few dialogue options), but many players missed them entirely. As of February 2021, only about 14% of steam players finished Kerry's storyline, and about 29% completed River's. Compare that to 32% who finished Judy's, and a whopping 42% who completed Panam's, both of who you meet through the course of the main story.

* ImmortalityInducer: The plot revolves around a prototype chip that allows to store one's soul, or at least a copy of it.

** Update 1.3 introduced Optical Camo cyberware that makes V invisible to enemies for 5, 10, or 15 seconds, depending on implant quality, followed by a lengthy 60 second cooldown. Its graphics effect is a pretty bad example of VisibleInvisibility due to how plainly obvious it is to the player while enemies can barely spot V even while under direct attack, though this may be more for the player's benefit to avoid becoming disoriented by the sudden disappearance of their arms and weapons.

* MadeOfIron: Vehicles in this game are ridiculously sturdy. Crash one into a wall at 200 KPH and the worst that'll happen is that its hood goes flying. T-boning another car at top speed will rarely even dent the door, let alone affect the driver in any way. Motorbikes are even more impressive in this regard, capable of continued operation at maximum performance after crashes that should turn them into compacted cubes of metal, plastic, and rider.

** Evelyn Parker is a ShesGotLegs and blue-haired FemmeFatale who plays the mysterious client before the Heist. She also has a lot of LesYay with her RiotGrrrl friend, Judy Alvarez.

** Despite the game indicating otherwise, you don't actually need to use non-lethal tactics against cyberpsychos. Even if you shoot one in the head with an anti-tank rifle -- which is actually encouraged since one capture practically forces a SniperDuel -- the game counts it as a non-lethal takedown and the target will be left squirming on the floor alive.
*** That being said, it ''is'' possible to actually kill a cyberpsycho if your weaponry is powerful enough (a fully-modded Legendary weapon with boosted crit chance and crit damage will do it), earning a stern admonishment from Regina. Basically, when you face them, bring a powerful gun, but maybe leave the Comrade's Hammer at home.

On September 6th, 2022, in a stream meant to promote the "Edgerunners" update celebrating the nearing release of the spin-off anime sharing its name, the game's first major [[DownloadableContent DLC]], titled "Phantom Liberty", was announced, with a release date of 2023 for only the [[UsefulNotes/TheNinthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames ninth generation consoles]] and PC. According to materials released alongside it, it's kept in the convention of a SpyFiction story, with V taking an oath to assist the government of the [=NUSA=] in a currently unknown mission. Creator/KeanuReeves reprises his role of Johnny Silverhand and will likely keep his status of {{Deuteragonist}} throughout the campaign.

* AluminiumChristmasTrees: One of the loading screen segments has a talk show host addressing that Arasaka docked their supercarrier ''Kujira'' (Japanse for "whale") in Night City, after moving it out of Japanese waters. [[spoiler: While the events of the game reveal that the ''Kujira'' was carrying Saburo and Hanako Arasaka on a trip to confront Yorinobu Arasaka for his theft of the Relic,]] the host jokingly theorizes the ship was moved due to fears that local Japanese fishermen would "...harpoon it for 'scientific research.'" As absurd as it sounds, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_Cetacean_Research this has actually been a major issue]] in whale conservation circles, where Japanese commercial whalers claim their whale-hunting activities as "research", and their trade of whale products as "research byproducts" which allows them to utilize several exceptions and loopholes to be legally allowed to continue their activities.

** The first mission in the gameplay reveal has V rescuing a woman named Sandra Dorsett, who spends her entire time on the whole mission entirely naked. She's also dying and covered in deep cuts and gashes, her complexion is deathly pale from blood loss and trauma, her head shaved bald, having spent god-knows-how-long in an ice-cube filled bathtub in scavenger captivity.

** Jackie's Quadra V-TECH is named after Honda's VTEC variable valve timing system and Audi's Quattro 4WD system. The car itself seems to be based mainly on Ferrari Testarossa, Vector W8, De Tomaso Pantera and Lancia Stratos with a more futuristic Cyberpunk design.
** The Rayfield Aerondight supercar is at least partially based on Bugatti Veyron with its distinctive front grille.

** Flatline -- death.

* GayOption: A V with a masculine body and voice can pursuit [[TheRockstar Kerry Eurodyne]], while a V with a feminine body and voice can chase after [[GadgeteerGenius Judy Alvarez]]. You can also hook up with [[OptionalSexualEncounter joytoys]] regardless of yours and their genders. [[spoiler:Meredith Stout]] is available as a one-night stand for any V, which is completely missable if you don't speak to her correctly.

* GunFu: The actual name of an achievement you get for quickly killing three enemies with a handgun at close range[[note]]specifically, within 3.5 seconds at less than five meters[[/note]]. The devs all but confirmed that the whole thing is yet another tribute to Creator/KeanuReeves, particularly ''Film/JohnWick''.

** "[[DownerEnding The Reaper]]": [[spoiler:Rather than put any of your friends in danger for the sake of you or Johnny, you decide to leave on your own terms and [[DrivenToSuicide shoot yourself in the head]].]]
** "([[TheLastDance Don't Fear]]) [[DyingMomentOfAwesome The Reaper]]": [[spoiler:If you befriend Silverhand and spend a few minutes debating which ending to take, he decides to propose [[OneManArmy assaulting Arasaka Tower solo]]. Whether it be avoiding risking your friends for yourself or Johnny, or simply going out with a bang like Jackie would have wanted, taking this ending means a ChallengeRun with no allies, and without dying once, [[NonStandardGameOver or else you get a]] [[SuddenDownerEnding variant of the Reaper.]] If you survive the whole way, though, you carve your legend out on your own as the one who took on Arasaka headquarters on your own and ''lived to tell the tale.'' The rest of this ending follows a variant of the Sun or Temperance (depending on your decision inside Mikoshi).]]

* OhNoNotAgain: One of the random lines from passersby in response to violence is just an annoyed-sounding "Not again!" ...Which can lead to this trope if it's, for example, in response to a screaming, underwear-clad woman destroying plastic lawn flamingos with a comically oversized vibrator.

** Exaggerated in the [[spoiler:(Don't Fear) the Reaper ending where V stages a solo assault on Arasaka tower, killing every single guard inside and even defeating Adam Smasher. [[DyingMomentOfAwesome And all of this while being on their last legs due to how far Relic has spread]]. There's a reason they become a LivingLegend afterwards.]]

* OneSteveLimit: Averted for the name "Elizabeth" and related. One instance is Elizabeth "Lizzie" Borden, the madame for the brothel that was where Lizzie's Bar is now. Her murder at the hands of Tyger Claw gangsters was the cassus belli that led to the formation of the Mox gang before the game story's time frame. The second instance is pop music star Lizzy Wizzy (birth name Elisabeth Wissenfurth), famous for her full-borg cybernetic transformation in the middle of a concert. Third instance is Elizabeth Peralez, wife to Night City Councilman and mayoral candidate Jefferson Peralez. Thankfully, the story spaces the three characters out so that they do not associate, and each have a different context to keep them from getting confused: Elizabeth Borden is a PosthumousCharacter who has no real prescence in the game other than some brief mentions in dialogues and datashards; Lizzy Wizzy and Elizabeth Peralez are physically present, but the former almost exclusively goes by "Lizzie" and is only around for a single side mission and associated phone/text conversations. Elizabeth Peralez is the most involved of the three, being connected to a major sidequest chain, and moves in completely different circles than both Lizzie Borden and Lizzy Wizzy.

* ShameIfSomethingHappens: How Jackie scares off the Arasaka goons sent after V in the Corpo-Rat beginning. He notes to the goons that they're ''way'' out of water, neck-deep in Mox territory (not to mention inside the middle of what is, for all intents and purposes, the Moxxes' HQ) and that causing trouble, such as trying to kidnap his friend V, may cause people to start shooting, and that "somebody might die today!" The Arasaka goons wisely back off, saving V from whatever gristly fate they had planned for them.

** Many characters warn V about Dexter's "cool guy" act being a sham, and that he's much less chill than he lets on. [[spoiler:He ends up shooting V in the head to avoid being tied to them.]]

* UrbanHellscape: Night City is overflowing with poverty, with at least half of the populace unemployed and/or homeless. The city is also so violent and dangerous that police barely have time to investigate accidents, suicides or non-violent deaths. The ''average'' Homicide Detective is working ''fifty'' homicide cases on a ''daily'' basis. Shootouts and crime scenes are everywhere, and the police are basically another gang, forced to pay deference to the local {{MegaCorp}}s and willing to accept "tribute" from the various gangs around town. The special MAX-TAC division are basically a militarized SWAT unit that gun down dangerous threats with deadly force.

** The final quest in Act I, "The Heist". [[spoiler: The biochip job slowly deteriorates into chaos when Saburo Arasaka suddenly arrives in the penthouse to confront his son Yorinobu over the theft of the chip, forcing V and Jackie to hide. In a fit of rage, Yorinobu murders Saburo and frames the killing as an assassination, which leaves V and Jackie as the perfect scapegoats. The ensuing mayhem results in the deaths of both T-Bug and Jackie, and the quest ultimately ends with [[BoomHeadshot V getting shot in the head by Dex]] in [[HeKnowsTooMuch a desperate attempt to tie up loose ends]]. This mission starts off the primary plot of the game while also ''fully'' cementing that AnyoneCanDie.]]

** Arasaka guns tend to be named after Japanese historical figures from the feudal period, ranging from samurai, daimyo, or even the famous swordsmith Masamune.

* ThemeNaming: The muzzle brake attachments introduced for power weapons in the Version 1.5 update are all named after various monsters or usually unfriendly spirits in various cultural folklores around the world.

*** The Kyubi, a semi-auto assault rifle added in the DLC packaged with the v1.6 patch, has the same length banana magazine that the Ajax has, sharing the same animation set for reloads... and an ''even shorter'' 20-round capacity.

*** The Kyubi, a semi-auto assault rifle added in the DLC packaged with the v1.6 patch, has the same length banana magazine that the Ajax has, sharing the same animation set for reloads. It has the same length mag... and an ''even shorter'' 20-round capacity.