If there’s one good thing I experienced after cerebelluming the Relic, it’s the whole part of Cyberpunk 2077 that I’m missing. And I don’t mean the talks with Johnny Silverhand in which you do not know how the character of Keanu Reevesbut in reliving their past experiences.
The former terrorist and singer of Samurai distinguished himself for being a beggar, a womanizer, an alcoholic, violent and any negative qualifier you can imagine. That is why every time I have been able to control him I have allowed myself to have a weapon in my hand to know why this guy is a Night City legend.
past conflicts
Silverhand had its heyday over 50 years ago, but it hardly matters considering the longevity of people in the futuristic dystopia. That is why I can find Rogue, one of his main links in the city and who is always closing deals in the Afterlife. Johnny warns me to be honest with her and I can see that he doesn’t mess around when he leaves a woman in the lurch who comes out of her swearing at her.
The deal is simple: I pay you 15,000 edis and you give me the information I need to contact Anders Hellman. The guy is now a big shot guarded by Kang Tao, a Chinese company that is competing with Militech for the biggest piece of the military pie. A lone AV is scheduled to traverse a company trade route, and Hellman is supposedly inside it. The problem arises when taking into account that assaulting an AV is tremendously complicated.
The most suitable extraction point is Get out of Night City, to Jackson Plains, and take the guy by the chest, but you need someone who is an expert in the field. A certain Panam Palmer is a native of the place and will be the one to give me a cable in my journey through the arid deserts of the exterior. And it is that the tallest structure there is not a skyscraper, but the sign of an abandoned motel.
Arena, arena everywhere
Panam is fixing his car near an industrial warehouse and I see that he is a person who does not know how to leave the past behind. A member of the Aldecaldos tribe, she was taken away from her by her own people simply for wanting to work independently as a mercenary. I don’t know if she’s too good at doing the job, but it turns out that she was the one who got mad at Rogue earlier in Afterlife. As she tells me, his partner Nash betrayed him on an assignment he had for Roguehe stole his car and now he owed him quite a large payment.
Great, help the girl get her Thorton Mackinaw “Warhorse” back from the Raffen Shiv, another gang of desert thugs. It suggests an ambush in Rocky Ridge, a typical transit town in the middle of nowhere that even above it falls apart and where absolutely no one lives. Since making the coup between two will be much more complicated, we go to the Aldecaldos base to recruit Mitch Anderson and Driss “Scorpion” Meriana. Despite the fact that his relationship with the leader Saul Bright is not the best, he is still allowed to enter the place.
I understand that there was a possibility that the two Aldecaldos would join us, but I reject the option because it would imply that I would have to take out a rifle, which is against my policy in Cyberpunk 2077
Without them knowing what hit them, we recovered the Warhorse from Panama which, thirsty for revenge, cries out to me that it wants to go after Nash. I’m very sorry partner, but that was not part of the deal we have with Rogue through. I’m not going to do an extra bit for your pretty face, which makes me sulky all the way back. I have to remind myself to be relentless, not get romantically involved and that’s much easier on the CD Projekt title.
time to think
Throughout this process of getting to know Panama, getting to Jackson Plains, and planning my every move, I have come to realize how Cyberpunk 2077 does a thousand wonders what has always been asked of GTA. A very popular opinion around Rockstar games is that you should drive while reading the subtitles of the conversation that Trevor and Franklin are having, for example. For many, it is a must of the saga that should be solved for the next GTA VI.
In Night City, just the opposite happens. Every time I’ve had a conversation in the car, as the driver, it’s been on the phone and it’s very short, informative. On the other hand, when the game is going to give me a speech, a series of instructions, context and relevant parts of the story, in those situations I have been sitting in the passenger seat. I would have also found out about the motivations and history of Panama, but the fact that I can only be aware of the dialogue and the landscape helps me get involved. As if that were not enough, I have to choose answers to give and most of them have their transcendental weight.
For example, after getting the Warhorse she sends me back to the passenger seat. makes narrative senseWell, she’s the owner, and at that moment she asks me to go get Nash. There are several options that appear to me to answer and I end up denying him to satisfy his revenge. It was a difficult decision for me, similar to what I thought I would have to do with Jackie during the heist at Konpeki Plaza. The idea of starting a relationship with her crossed my mind, but love collides head-on with my coldness in the role of character that I have desired for my V.
I can’t decide something like this on the move and, if I do, I’ll end up stopping the car to think carefully about what I say. I feel greater respect for the player from Cyberpunk 2077 in this sense that the one that shows GTA. The same happens with the shootings, because the ones that I have fought on the move, I was the co-pilot. All studios learn from the rest and we’ll see if Rockstar takes note.
