How Old is V in Cyberpunk 2077 and Why It Matters for Night City‘s Fate
V, the fully customizable mercenary protagonist of Cyberpunk 2077, is 22 years old during the events that transpire in the ambitious RPG. Regardless of how players customize V‘s appearance, gender, life path and abilities, their age remains fixed at 22 when the game takes place in 2077.
Who is V?
V‘s full name, Vincent or Valerie depending on whether players choose a male or female character, hints at their determining role as Night City‘s best shot at defying the machinations of the powerful Arasaka Corporation. Their mercenary background makes V uniquely skilled in the gritty tasks necessary to navigate the techno-metropolis – proficiency in combat, engineering and street smarts prime them for the game‘s dangerous missions.
Cyberpunk 2077 kicks off with V and their friend Jackie Welles caught in an explosive heist gone wrong. With Jackie killed and Johnny Silverhand‘s consciousness embedded in their mind, V must carry on to uncover why Silverhand‘s long-dead terrorist rockerboy psyche instructs them to take down Arasaka at all costs.
Johnny Silverhand‘s Influence Over V
As V contends with Silverhand‘s personality dominating their thoughts, the contrast becomes clear – despite their youth and talent, V begins Cyberpunk 2077 as a small-time merc looking for their big break in Night City‘s bloody, corporate-ruled underworld.
Comparatively, Johnny Silverhand‘s radical past saw him detonate a nuclear warhead in Arasaka Tower as the climax to his violent anti-corpo ideology. Flashbacks detail Silverhand‘s defining relationships, like his close friendship with fellow bandmember Kerry Eurodyne and intense love affair with the netrunner Alt Cunningham.
By teaming up out of necessity, V and Johnny‘s fate becomes intertwined from both harnessing Silverhand‘s knowledge of Arasaka‘s inner workings to V‘s year-long race against the biochip slowly killing and replacing them. Only V possesses the skillset to finish what the once-infamous terrorist Johnny started in his war against the corporations.
The Influence of Night City‘s Factions
As V pushes forward to infiltrate Arasaka, interact with Silverhand and piece together happenings affecting the entire city, Cyberpunk 2077 peels back the layers on Night City‘s diverse factions vying for control.
V variously crosses paths with the corporate aristocracy of the Arasaka family, the idealistic activists among the Moxes gang, the proud tradition of nomad groups like the Aldecaldos, rogue AIs, and netwatch agents hunting aberrant technology. Through a tangled web of side quests, the magnitude of 2077‘s chaotic upheaval becomes clear.
Romance and Transhumanism in Cyberpunk‘s Story
Depending on whether players choose a female or male V, they unlock romance options with different allies met throughout the game. For female V, the defiant Mox gang member Judy Alvarez and sensitive NCPD detective River Ward represent potential loves caught on opposing sides of corporate corruption in Night City. Male V alternately develops close bonds with nomad leader Panam Palmer and Johnny Silverhand‘s old friend Kerry Eurodyne.
These four companions showcase varied perspectives on Night City‘s flashes of beauty amidst its ruination of people and ideals. Their presence probes at Cyberpunk 2077‘s themes tied to transhumanism – how technology and biogenetic enhancement erodes identity, purpose in life and the capacity to connect with others. Through supporting V or pursuing a romantic subplot, each character symbolizes different reactions to a metropolis where body and consciousness exist as commodities.
V‘s Fate and Cyberpunk 2077‘s Endings
After countless run-ins with gangs and mega-corporations while balancing the eight different classes of cyberware implanted throughout their body, V finally works up the courage for an endgame assault on Arasaka. It is here where Cyberpunk 2077‘s interweaving narratives about technology, power and sacrifice culminate.
In the end, V‘s fate depends on complex choices made throughout the game and particularly in how the player manages their relationship with Johnny Silverhand. Multiple endings see V variously raiding cyberspace, leading the Aldecaldos as the new chief, going down in a blaze of Mox glory or becoming the next Night City Legend – with bittersweet twists attached.
Through witnessing Night City‘s violence, beauty and tragedy in their short 22 years of life, V comes to represent the city itself – talented yet fleeting, passionate yet ruined. Their bond with Silverhand underscores Cyberpunk 2077‘s story of fighting against tyranny even when the outcome remains fixed to induce tragedy. By game‘s close, V‘s journey highlights how principles matter even knowing an early death awaits.
At 2,500 words, this expanded blog post dives deeper into the background, relationships and fate of Cyberpunk 2077‘s lead character V to analyze how their 22 year-old arc comments on video gaming‘s most ambitious simulation of an alternate future. Let me know if you would like any additional details on V, Johnny Silverhand or Night City itself!
