First, lemme get my character RP out of the way ^^
So I’ve been doing a Street Kid playthrough. Complete chuuni, loves swords and knives and max reflexes and no chill or competence. She had two paths: as soon as possible, raid Arasaka tower, let Johnny take the wheel, and let her pathetic life drift away. I didn’t actually do it, but I imagine this as a separate playthrough and contextualization.
“Second” run, I spec’d her a bit into cool, to back up all the reflexes with survival, and tech specs to be able to back up the cool with unreasonable firepower. Katana build, she is a *house* — impossible to hit, constantly regenerating health, moving at lightning speed one second out of every three. I qualified for Dont Fear The Reaper, so I did it. I just chopped through the front door, stole a keycard, took down an entire army of Arasaka forces armed with nothing but a knife, a katana, and an EMP rocket launcher. I hacked into Mikoshi and decided I want this body, going into space. Was a bit challenging, no worse than saving Songbird.
While I’m here, fuck it, what’s rogue’s plan? And Rogue has an ACTUAL FUCKING PLAN?? With a *strategic bomber* and *military support* and *knocking a satellite out of orbit*?? Because “going in the front door would be suicide”. And I’m like
But in both of these endings, I have to give up on Judy. Clouds just isn’t the place for her - she needs to be free, needs to feel at home. Her home was taken, keeps being taken. So the only solution is a home that cannot be taken: a true community. The Aldecados.
I ride the Star to the end. She says she is finally happy, and this makes me, the player, happier than raiding a glitter station ever could be. I have decided that this is how my Street Kid ends up: recognizing the value and purpose of community.
Having set up this character to qualify for all endings (sans The Tower, which would be incredibly out of character), I now take two endings to be “good”: New Dawn Fades (Don’t Fear the Reaper), and All Long The Watchtower. In the first, Johnny Silverhand gets his life back. All of it. All of his cars, his guns, his clothes, his relationship with Rogue, gets to apologize to Alt, gets everything he ever dreamed of. It feels like it’s almost enough for him. Before I address the Aldecados, let me step through the other endings:
The Sun. If Judy stayed in Night City, there might be ambiguity to The Sun, but in that context, it tells the story of a merc who has lost everything meaningful to blind ambition.
The Devil. Obviously, *this* V would never take this path. I had a V who did. Their engram gets stolen and they are worse off than if they had simply gone with Alt beyond the blackwall. Maybe they could return, to Night City, with no hope left. I would take The Path of Least Resistance in such a scenario. I would not blame my V for doing so.
The second is The Star, with Judy. Where you defeat Arasaka with the power of friendship and also this tank you stole. It’s touching. It’s delightful. I wish it focused more on your love interest than Panam, or if Panam was bi. (I’ve seen the modded playthrough, and it syncs much better than with Judy!) I want to copilot the death tank with my lover, not my best friend. But the caveat that this was written for male Vs aside, we end up in the best possible spot. The woman we love, a family to back us up, our ride-or-die riding MLRS. Finally breathing free, until we die — but then, we were always dying. Everyone is.
Which brings us to themes. The largest throughline is death, and our reaction to it. Death is a given in Night City. Thirty deaths is used as a punchline in the “attract reel” news report. There is a literal death race through the streets and police are simply bribed to look away; and not a large sum! So in a world where life is cheap, how do we engage with it?
We see an offrenda, with Misses Wells. We are ourselves dying, and through Tapeworm, need to confront that. We have an honest, true, engagement with the emotional impact of death on those around us. And it dovetails with:
Revenge. The Beast in Me. Sinnerman. Plastic Love. The fate of Woodman. Even the Adam Smasher fight (Rogue). How much are we willing to give up in order take revenge on those who have wronged is? How much does this hurt us further, instead?
Obviously only select story missions are capable of delivering this. As an open world game, the majority of missions have you driving around killing people, and this absolutely undersells the theme. And there are themes I didn’t touch on this play through, such as the benefits of assimilation vs its costs or the absurdity of change.
But I had fun diving back into night city for a short jaunt. I will leave it here, because the jobs you don’t do says as much about you as the jobs that do. If you’re thinking of giving this (another) play? Drop into character. Give them a story and thoughts, and stick to them even when suboptimal ^^ It’s much more fun that way!
(Also, if anyone needs a save for Pyramid Love, I got you.)