If you try to sneakily undercut one of Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty's most emotional scenes, CD Projekt counters with hidden dialogue followed by instant death

(Image credit: CD Projekt)

I don't think I'm spoiling too much off the jump by saying that Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty's endings are emotionally charged and more than a little bit devastating. It is also a natural gamer behavior to goof around in such moments, but as reported by VG247, CD Projekt Red seems to have anticipated players attempting to bork one such scene, inserting hidden dialogue to reflect their apparent death drive. Spoilers for Phantom Liberty ahead.

If you side with hacker So Mi over Idris Elba's Solomon Reed in Phantom Liberty's main quest, one of the expansion's potential endings will see you sending her to the moon on a rocket ship docked at the Night City airport. You're supposed to tuck her in for the voyage then watch her fly away.

So long, suckers! from r/cyberpunkgame

User Prototailz on the Cyberpunk subreddit discovered that there's just enough space on the threshold of the rocket's hatch for V to stand on and get dragged along for the launch sequence. If you do it, brain buddy Johnny Silverhand will materialize to incredulously ask "Where you headin' off to?" With V responding, "Just watch the show, Johnny." Famous last words, buddy.

Johnny will hit you with one last "oh, fuck" just before the rocket blasts off, promptly killing V in what seems to be a scripted event. Some commenters on the thread pointed out that the dialogue lines sound like they were repurposed from elsewhere, and I definitely see that. Johnny's "where you headin' off to" definitely smacks more of a bark he'd give when you leave his Conversation Zone™ than while you're pulling a patented reverse Major Kong maneuver.

Still, the dialogue works perfectly as a knowing wink at the player's actions while efficiently reusing those resources. Phantom Liberty in general really impressed me with how it accommodates your choices, with numerous instances of characters reacting to my choices in the main game and vice versa. Baldur's Gate 3 players have similarly found surprising responses to low-probability actions in what might be the new king of RPG reactivity—please just be nice to the dog, though, and read this to find out what happens if you aren't.

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Ted has been thinking about PC games and bothering anyone who would listen with his thoughts on them ever since he booted up his sister's copy of Neverwinter Nights on the family computer. He is obsessed with all things CRPG and CRPG-adjacent, but has also covered esports, modding, and rare game collecting. When he's not playing or writing about games, you can find Ted lifting weights on his back porch. You can follow Ted on Bluesky.