Death is an integral part of the story of Cyberpunk 2077. Not only does it follow V’s path, but it is tied to their very fate. The chip inside V’s head is slowly killing them, ensuring that their fate is that of a death sentence. However, V encounters many characters in Cyberpunk 2077, and some have a sad fate.
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It’s always a shame when characters that fans like die, but no one can live forever, especially not in Night City. The saddest deaths in Cyberpunk 2077 are all ones that serve a purpose, and further build V’s character, even in the worst of times.
Updated on October 20, 2023, by Jake Fillery: Cyberpunk 2077 doesn’t shy away from morbid themes and the quest of death. CD Projekt RED has something special on its hands with Cyberpunk 2077, and the writing and acting of the characters in the game are nothing short of incredible. Each character has a lasting impact, and when they die, it’s like a punch to the gut. Cyberpunk 2077 can be a truly emotional experience for many, and with the Phantom Liberty expansion, the Columbarium stacks up more familiar names. Some of the saddest deaths in Cyberpunk 2077 come from the base game and the expansion, and they leave lasting impacts on audiences and players as they witness the deaths of other characters, or are directly responsible for them. Some of the best characters in Cyberpunk 2077 just don’t get the ending they deserve.
12 Scorpion
When V seeks the help of Panam, they must first say hello to her closest Aldecaldo buddies, Mitch and Scorpion. These two immediately present themselves as friendly, and as a family to Panam. They make V feel welcomed into the Nomad clan. The two also share a rich history as war veterans.
Sadly, the two will help anyone in need, even a crashing Kang Tao vehicle, which sees Scorpion killed by the soldiers inside. The Aldecaldos mourn Scorpion and V feels responsible due to their desire to crash the Kang Tao ship.
11 Saul
After forming an alliance and a strong friendship with the Aldecaldos, the two leaders, Saul and Panam declare that they would do anything for V. Even something as wild and dangerous as breaking into Arasaka’s headquarters. Saul is fearless and stays true to his promise to help V to the end. That end was at the hands of Adam Smasher.
Saul has his head crushed underneath Adam Smasher’s robotic foot. It’s a gruesome end to a character that wanted V to live. It’s horrific to hear the anguished screams of Panam, but there’s no time to mourn, as Adam Smasher must die here and now.
10 Alt Cunningham
As the best netrunner in Night City, Alt Cunningham was a powerful woman in Night City. Not only was she the girlfriend of Johnny Silverhand, but she also developed the infamous Soulkiller program which eventually killed Silverhand. After being kidnapped by Arasaka, Johnny Silverhand killed many at Arasaka in a last-ditch effort to get her back.
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Unfortunately, her consciousness transcends into the net, leaving her body empty and dead. Johnny Silverhand disconnected her physical body while she was plugged into the Net, and thus her consciousness manifested into a powerful AI beyond the Blackwall. Watching Johnny mourn is sad, and shows his anger issues.
9 River Ward
There’s a lot to River Ward’s questline in Cyberpunk 2077, and many heavy subject matters involved in the NCPD missions. As V and River follow the trail of the Peter Pan serial killer, they discover the very farm that he uses to kidnap vulnerable young boys. Since the player has the freedom to do what they want, they can leave River at this point.
If players take too long or decline to come with River to the farm, then players will find River’s dead body after it was blown up by a mine. Even Johnny comments that V left him there to die. It’s sad and makes another casualty in Night City for a detective who just wanted to save children and his nephew.
8 Rogue Amendiares
There are a few things that Rogue Amendiares hates. She’s the Queen of the Afterlife and the best Fixer in Night City. However, despite her power and sources of information, one thing she hates over everything is Adam Smasher. She despises Adam Smasher, especially since he’s the reason that Johnny Silverhand died.
When V comes to Rogue with the proposition of attacking Arasaka one last time and taking down Adam Smasher once and for all, she can’t help but oblige. However, when encountering Smasher, she is caught by him and blows herself up to take him out with her. Considering what she meant to Night City, and Johnny Silverhand, her death is a real shame.
7 Alex Xenakis
Alex is an FIA agent who works undercover in Dogtown. She’s one of their best, but one who has finally reached the end of her rope when it comes to her loyalty to her government. She is promised retirement, and a hero’s one at that for one last job in Dogtown that involves saving Songbird and toppling the dictator, Kurt Hansen. However, if players are to betray Songbird in the Firestarter mission, Alex is brutally murdered by Kurt Hansen.
Alex didn’t deserve this death and her dreams of becoming an actress remain unfulfilled. Of course, like all FIA agents, she has done some horrible things for the illusion of peace, but that does not justify her end. Alex just wanted to retire and be happy. Her life was stolen by the FIA, just like Songbird’s was, both when she was alive, and in her death.
6 Jackie Welles
In the prologue to Cyberpunk 2077, players learn of the friendship that begins between V and Jackie Welles. The two had been through thick and thin and desired nothing more than becoming Night City Legends and taking it easy in the Afterlife. They dream big together as best friends, and that friendship is felt with each scene they are in.
Sadly, after a heist, Jackie Welles bleeds to death after taking a rogue bullet. V sits in the car with the corpse of his best friend, whose last act is giving V the chip that he died for. It’s a gut-wrenching death, and a void that never fills throughout Cyberpunk 2077, as a good friend is dead, and he isn’t coming back.
5 Evelyn Parker
The events of Cyberpunk 2077 all unfold due to Evelyn Parker’s greed. She gets in contact with Dexter DeShawn to work on a heist to steal the relic from Yorinobu Arasaka. When the heist goes south, V tries to find Evelyn Parker to discover who set her up, and what else she knows about the relic. However, V discovers that Evelyn has had a fate worse than he thought, as they find her in a secret location of Scavs.
These Scavs have been forcing Evelyn to do unspeakable and horrific acts for XBDs, on top of having her head scrambled and hacked by the Voodoo Boys. For weeks, Evelyn Parker was tortured and abused by many different people, and despite being in a safe environment with Judy, she takes her own life due to the inability to overcome the abuse she suffered.
4 Solomon Reed
Solomon Reed is killed by V if players decide to betray Reed and help Songbird escape in the Firestarter mission. This will start The Killing Moon, where Solomon Reed will be awaiting V and Songbird at the final stop, a shuttled destined to break out of Night City and send Songbird to a space station where she will be cured, and live. Yet, Solomon Reed’s loyalty to the FIA won’t let V put Songbird on that rocket, and it’s either him or V.
V is forced to gun down Solomon Reed, and the man falls to his knees before succumbing to his injuries. Solomon Reed didn’t deserve to die, not a second time for his country. At the end of the day, Reed was a good man, blinded by the comfort of his ideals of the FIA and NUSA, and he once again laid down his life for them, even if they would not do the same. Reed wanted Songbird safe, and he wanted V’s trust, but by going down this path, Reed sees no alternative.
3 Songbird
Songbird and V have a fate all too similar to one another. V and Songbird’s time is running out, and death is soon to follow them. Songbird is in a far weaker state than V by the end of Phantom Liberty, and if players betray Songbird in the Firestarter mission, and complete the Somewhat Damaged mission, neither outcome is good for Song So Mi. She either becomes consumed by the Blackwall, and remains an asset to the FIA, trapped in her own mind searching for identity, or, she is allowed peace, and to die.
Songbird has been dealt a losing hand, and too much time as a Netrunner has seen the bell toll on her. She is being eaten away by Rouge AIs from beyond the Blackwall, and with her one chance with the Neural Matrix squandered, V can give her the peace she seeks by killing her or letting the FIA experiment on her. Neither fate is just, but nobody wins in Night City, even if one is to root for them. Songbird’s death hits hard, as it’s like looking into a mirror, a reflection of how desperate V is to survive, and how deserving they both think they are of this chance.
2 Johnny Silverhand
Johnny Silverhand’s fate may have been sealed on August 20, 2023, when he took the fight to Arasaka Tower, but he was given a second chance when his engram activated inside V’s head. Johnny Silverhand’s initial death was sad, as he had his soul ripped straight out of him, placed into a digital prison where for the last 50 years, he’s been in his own head, in a digital space with no company but his own egotistical thoughts. Knowing he is dead must hit hard, especially when he has to basically make his own funeral.
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Now in 2077, Johnny is still trapped, but there’s still hope that he can pursue his wish: to put an end to the madness that Saburo Arasaka wreaks and to make sure the Arasaka corporation is done and gone. Johnny has no fear of death anymore, but that’s because he thinks he’ll win with V’s help. However, if players pursue The Tower ending from Phantom Liberty, Johnny will effectively be cut out of V’s head, ending his life, and their friendship far too soon.
Whilst Johnny dies in most of the endings, venturing beyond the Blackwall with Alt, it’s The Tower that is perhaps the saddest, as Johnny isn’t getting to Mikoshi, and he isn’t putting a stop to Arasaka. He goes out with a whisper. His last words “Goodbye Vincent/Valarie, today was a good day.” Just shows how much he’s changed from a narcissistic rockerboy, and how as V’s only true friend, it’s over, and that void is felt when V wakes up without him.
1 V (Valarie/Vincent)
The protagonist of Cyberpunk 2077, V (Valarie or Vincent), goes through the ringer in the events of the game’s campaign, and the expansion. V has lost those that they care about, and had trust stripped from him by those they thought could do no wrong. V feels alone in Night City, and with a rockerboy terrorist in their head, slowly taking over their consciousness, V’s time is running out, and the Relic is killing them. It’ll only be a matter of weeks before V is dead, and Johnny Silverhand takes over their body, yet the two work together to ensure this doesn’t happen.
No matter what avenue V pursues, what lead they follows, it’s always a dead end, it’s always someone else that benefits. V has a choice towards the end of the game, to live as a nobody, to die as a Night City Legend, or to bring back their own fate and commit suicide. V’s story will end in death, as the clock doesn’t stop, it merely slows down moments more. V either dies by being placed onto an Engram, like Johnny, forgotten and locked into an Arasaka vault with his life forfeit, or they can put a gun against their head and go out on their own terms. Even for the happier endings where V lives, they are basically dead, as there’s no going back to their life as a merc, or, they die doing what they do best: burning the city.
Cyberpunk 2077
- Platform(s)
- PC , Xbox One , Stadia , PS4 , PS5 , Xbox Series S , Xbox Series X
- Released
- December 10, 2020
- Developer(s)
- CD Projekt Red