Never Fade Away: To Live and Strive in Night City

The pitter patter of high-tech sneakers marched in rhythm on the drenched pavement. They were joined by different sets of shoes each drumming to the beat of their own drum as the forefoot landed on the ground like clockwork in the downpour. Light pollution from the structures encasing the sounds of urgent footsteps gleamed in puddles on the streets in which doubled as the path for the physical transport of dreamers and their dreams. Much like the reflection in the puddles, the path(s) to dreams were fuzzy and riddled with obscurity possessing only a silhouette of the heights those in the city hoped to reach. The lights served as north stars captivating its spectators, and anyone who give it attention, to vision themselves among the bright lights with most often imagining themselves as polarizing legendary figures even if it were just a quick escape from the shadows of reality that haunt them. Regardless, to be successful is to overcome the vice grip of ruin, right? To rise to the occasion and escape the crucible in the jaws of defeat. However, what if you were living within those very jaws? This was the dilemma inhabitants of Night City faced, especially those who vowed to come out on top by any means necessary. 

To become legendary and trailblaze a glory is all we hope for, not only in real life, but also in the fictitious worlds we inhabit created by tremendous storytellers and artists. Somehow, we can become conditioned to ride out the storm until the big moment – think Disney films. There comes a moment when our backs are against the wall and, amid darkness in the 11th hour, vindication arrives, and all is right. I admit that is what I subconsciously awaited. We are presented with peace, a problem, struggle, and finally victory in games. That is always not the case, but it is a usual format. We can be stubborn when everything you need to know is in front of you. We can interpret things however we desire to and that can lead to beautiful perceptions and understandings of the pieces of work before us. I was stubborn. There was no Disney moment although there were a couple that gave you the illusion that it the tide turning magical moment had arrived when its fact it never truly did. Cyberpunk 2077 is a game about acceptance. Accepting death. From the very first act when a promising well thought out initiative goes terribly awry it is reasonable to believe and wait for the time of triumph. That was the beauty of it -- the rug was pulled out under from your feet before you could even build the foundation to your famed legendary run in the prominent Night City. You think things will improve and, while it does, it never truly improves to do the one thing that you need the most – survive.

Cyberpunk 2077 is a slow march to your inevitable demise. I can say that I am saddened to say that I must accept it. We want stories and tales of remarkable success at the end. We want to see the fallen hero redeem themselves, trouble souls saved, and the battle tested riding off into the sunset. Life is not always like that and the game makes sure to remind you every chance it gets. Message received? It should be, but the blocker here is selective vision and hearing. We see what we want and hear what we want at times. It became eerily apparently towards the last few hours of my 168-hour playthrough driving across the city to complete an area to finish all open world side quests. Often, we will enjoy the catchiness of music and it was not until that drive that I somehow picked up and listened to the lyrics of my favorite radio station songs. At least half of them were not as hopeful as the melody sounded. In fact, they were telling me what took me so long to see. I was headed to my demise.

"Never Fade Away", my favorite song on soundtrack opens, “Because we lost everything…we had to pay the price” tells me what I should have picked up before. The key here is that the song belongs to Samurai, a famous band from half a century ago so it is easy to overlook going by Cyberpunk’s lore. History finds a funny way of repeating itself and even the music tries to tell you that. The allure of Night City draws you in, it is a lullaby. It invites you in, keeps you wanting more, and the whole time you can easily miss out that the city distracts you as much as it propels you forward. The music, the tech, the fashion, the tricked-out cars, and so much more. You wanted your name in lights, you wanted your legend to echo and roll of the lips of every hustler, seller, and personality from the vast nomad life badlands all the way to the out-of-authority-jurisdiction of Pacifica. As gorgeous, fun, futuristic and captivating it is, it is all out of reach.

My significant other stopped me in my tracks as I shared my epiphany with them in confusion. “Why did you put a week of your life into this then? You spend one hundred plus hours to tell me this depressing story? It doesn’t make sense”. I shared with them the only answer I could share, “the people”. It was not an excuse by any means, it was the truth…my truth. Despite doing everything under the sun in Night City to prolong my march to ruin and achievement hunt, I started to become more attached to the relationships I built on my journey. The big heart of Panam, the resilience of Judy, River’s redemption, Kerry's inner perception, and even a mayoral candidate fighting an intangible opposition. Although things looked bleak continuously running into dead ends for V’s dilemma, my joy came from helping those around me break free from the struggles that held them captive in Night City.

In that very same conversation, I realized that perhaps I was partially right. In the same breath Cyberpunk 2077 is a game about cherishing time with your loved ones from Jackie to even Johnny. One the other side of the coin you are tasked with taking down cyberpsychos, who upon closer inspection are people who have been failed by the city and the system. These individuals are cyber enhanced people that lost themselves due to the amount of cyberware (technological android-like body augmentation enhancements) installed on their bodies which can have mental side effects. It is a battle on sight; however, they all have conversations to read on data shards or computers that dive deeper into the events that led to them to the path they went down. Army vets who lost benefits, family members wanting to be seen, individuals pressured by conformity, and so forth were among the people you bring to justice in hopes for a better future for them. Technology takes center stage as well in Cyberpunk often looking fashionable but like anything else needs to be approached and indulged in moderation. Seeing the effects of massive technology enhancements early on, I chose to keep my enhancements to a barebone minimal. It does not affect your character in anyway other than cosmetics and playstyle for the most part.

In the end, Night City favors no one except the sunrise and sunset and the technology within its borders. Those who aim to become face(s) of the city have a steep price to pay that is not worth it more often than it is. In the game’s opening you see several larger-than-life hot shot characters spiral out for writing checks that they could not cash. Night City can make the ambitious oblivious to the limitations of their means, resources, and time. Night City is the jewel that everyone wants but no one can truly possess in theory. It is claimed by all but obtained by unfulfilled dreams and self-fulling prophecies that have driven the focused too far-off course until they realize when it is too late.

It is in these actual hours of a weeklong playtime experience that I declare Night City as the game’s antagonist. It is the manifestation of perfection and glory chasing stomping grounds despite its glaring holes such as corrupt politics, intense gang warfare, and shady people taking advantage of people’s desires as everyone climbs on the backs of each other to rise higher only for no one to get ahead. The best cybernetic gear and chasing immortality through digital encoding means are highly coveted but guarantee more trouble. More is put into this belief after seeing those who escaped or left Night City are better off. Although it is a short glimpse it is clear to see tremendous weight lifted off the shoulders of them. These are the people who won. They were able to wake up from the matrix that is Night City cashing in all their chips and ending the never-ending game of Russian roulette where the prize is icon status at the cost of their life or their character and spirit.

In all, chase your dreams but do not lose yourself. Chase your dreams but love your people. Chase your dreams, but do not take short cuts. And just because it is shiny does not mean it is good for you. A city’s voice is its people. If you listen to city close enough, you will see what Cyberpunk was trying to get you to accept since the inception. To close out and quote my favorite song on the soundtrack, “A thing of a beauty, I know, never fades away”. Play your hand best you can and make meaningful relationships.