Making friends with a vending machine and other cool, weird stuff I did while playing Cyberpunk 2077

I managed to squeeze a lot of stuff into my latest extended Cyberpunk 2077 hands-on, but that was still only a fraction of what I saw. So here, as an accompaniment to that piece, are some things I experienced that didn't make the cut. Obviously don't read this if you want to go into the game completely naked, because there are a few things here that might be considered spoilers. But if you're hungry for any scrap of new information about the game, here are some interesting things I saw during my 15 hours in Night City.

Taxis gone wild

Early in the story, V uses a luxury taxi firm called Delamain. These driverless cabs come complete with a bald, blue-lipped AI assistant who'll take you anywhere you want to go. Later, V has a close encounter with a Delamain cab that has gone rogue. The driver has suffered a severe malfunction, and others around the city have too. The central Delamain AI then asks V to track down the runaway taxis to stop them causing any more damage—the basis of a fun side quest, which includes a cameo Valve fans will enjoy.

A famous face

Speaking of cameos, V stops for a drink in a hotel bar during an early story mission, and one of the patrons is someone you might recognise. They're regaling an audience of fawning corporate suits with a speech about the latest braindance they're working on, and how it will reach new heights of emotion. A clue: the person in question is also a fan of cameos.

Insert coin

Out in the Badlands—the desert region on the outskirts of Night City—there's a great mission that involves setting up an ambush in an abandoned town. Before the action you get the chance to explore, and discover a story about how corporate greed resulted in the place being left to rot. There's also a bar filled with old school stand-up arcade machines, with retro games running on the screens—one of which features Roach from The Witcher.

Size isn't everything

The vehicle designs in Cyberpunk 2077 are incredible. There are some obscenely cool futuristic cars and bikes for V to buy and/or steal. Then there's the Makigai MaiMai P126. This comically tiny, boxy car is basically the Cyberpunk universe's equivalent of a Smart car, and I love skidding around in it. It looks absolutely absurd, and I'm sure V would rather be driving anything else, but it's great for squeezing through traffic jams.

Power player

In this playthrough I chose the corpo life path, where V starts out as an employee of the Arasaka megacorporation. This knowledge of the corporate world came in handy a number of times, particularly in a standoff with the ghoulish owner of a Japantown nightclub called Clouds. According to the CDPR developer who was chaperoning my playthrough, this encounter can end a number of different, possibly violent ways. But with my corporate background I was able to scare him into thinking he might get on the wrong side of the powerful and influential Arasaka if he didn't help me. The result: squeezing some important information out of him without spilling any blood.

Braindancing on my own

You'll often see the citizens of Night City slumped in corners or sprawled on couches with flickering visors over their eyes, mouths hanging open, completely oblivious to the world. These people are indulging in a kind of hyper-real total immersion VR called braindance that is, obviously, mostly used for porn, but other kinds of entertainment too. And for the truly sick, illegal snuff BDs—where you can experience what it's like to die—can be bought on the black market. In the game, V regularly uses a BD editor to scrub through three-dimensional recordings of important events and hunt for intel.

Law and disorder

If you mow people down with your car or fire a weapon in a public place, you're gonna alert the cops. Cyberpunk 2077 has a GTA-style wanted system, but I found that it was much easier to shake them off on this game. Police are a constant presence in the busier parts of the city, and I spotted a lot of active crime scenes cordoned off with holographic 'DO NOT CROSS' tape. A small but interesting side quest involves a depressed cop who lives next door to V in her apartment megacomplex. This gives you an insight into the culture of the NCPD and the attitudes of some of its officers.

Test of strength

Locked doors are a common obstacle in Cyberpunk 2077. You could search for the key or hack them open, but if your Body stat (which governs your physical strength and resilience) is high enough, you can just prise them open with your bare hands, which feels much cooler.

Language barrier

Being a multicultural metropolis, you'll frequently hear characters speaking in a language other than English in Night City. Luckily, V's cyber implants include a real-time translator, and you'll see the subtitles change—with a nice visual effect—from whichever language the person is speaking, to English. It's a subtle touch, but oddly satisfying to watch.

I'll drink to that

One of the more peculiar characters I met in Night City was a charming chap called Brendan, who just happens to be a talking, seemingly sentient vending machine. He asked me to move a dumpster someone had carelessly left on the street in front of him, which was affecting his sales. Then he dispensed me a can of some futuristic energy drink as a reward. But this is not the end of our relationship. After your first meeting with characters like this in Cyberpunk 2077, they'll often contact you later with a side quest.

Adults only

There's an area of Night City called Jig Jig Street that is dedicated to all things sexy. Wander the crowded neon-lit streets and you'll be propositioned by male and female sex workers, and can pay to sleep with them if you can afford it. Doing so triggers a slickly edited montage of V getting her end away, which is pretty good as far as videogame sex scenes go. Not that the bar is particularly high there. Other eye-catching sights on Jig Jig Street include shops selling all manner of scary-looking dildos, shop mannequins arranged in, uh, interesting positions, and giant buttplugs.