While this should be pretty obvious based on the subject matter, keep in mind that there are massive spoilers for the story and endings of Cyberpunk 2077 beyond this point. It’s also a point of no return, if you will.
Point of No Return
Cyberpunk 2077 thankfully includes a features we wish was mandatory by international law - an in-game notice before reaching the ‘point of no return’, which is the moment from which you won’t be able to leave the final mission and will inevitably reach the game’s ending. In this case, that moment arrives when you’re about to enter Embers to meet with Hanako. Keep in mind that upon completing the mission Nocturne Op55N1, and thus the game, you will automatically be loaded back in front of the entrance here after the credits, essentially taking you “back in time” to before the ending, allowing you to continue exploring the game world, completing side missions and so forth. When the game gets DLCs, you’ll be able to play them this way after the ending too. If you ended up romancing one of the characters, it is important to call them during the initial conversation with Hanako, as this will cause them to appear later on during the epilogue. What’s great about this setup is that you can replay the final mission several times to experience the different endings quickly and easily, as opposed to being forced into a whole new playthrough.
The Devil Ending
This ending is among the easiest of the endings to trigger, and it has two final variations which ultimately don’t change too much but are interesting to explore nonetheless. In broad strokes, this ending sees V side with Arasaka Corporation and helping Hanako. Some of the factors that affect exactly how things play out include the fate of Sandayu Oda and Takemura. If you spared the Sandayu and saved Takemura, both with appear during the mission and Takemura will survive. If only Takemura comes along, he won’t live to tell the tale. This ending does not have any mission prerequisites you need to have completed before heading into Embers. All you need to do is pick all of the conversation options favoring Arasaka during the first discussion. This is available despite how V felt about Arasaka previously in the game, and teaming up with the corporation will make Johnny pretty mad at you - but that’s what the omega blockers are for.
After you go through multiple fights during an assault on Arasaka tower wherein you help Hanako exact revenge on her brother, Yorinobu in exchange for the company extracting Johnny Silverhand from your mind, the company ends up upholding its end of the bargain…sort of. V will awaken in an Arasaka installation in Earth’s orbit where it is revealed that Johnny has in fact been removed from your brain - and destroyed - however V’s body has suffered irreversible damage and will expire in 6 months. You can choose to surrender or mind to Arasaka and be integrated into Mikoshi until such technology is developed that you can have a body again, or you can refuse and return to Night City knowing your death is near.
The Sun Ending
This ending follows Rogue’s path, and allows Johnny Silverhand to take control of your body. The prerequisites of this ending are completing the side missions “Chippin’ In” and “Blistering Love”, and selecting the “Think you and Rogue should go” dialogue option. This is only available if the prerequisites have been met. This will cause V to take Pseudoendotrizine instead of the omega blockers, allowing Johnny to take control of their body. After an assault on Arasaka and a final boss battle against Adam Smasher, Johnny plugs into Mikoshi allowing Alt Cunningham to separate his mind from V’s, however it is revealed that V’s body has been altered too significantly by the Relic. If they regain control and live in their body, they will die in 6 months, whereas Johnny can easily live out a long and healthy life in it. V expresses a desire to keep living, but since we’re controlling Johnny at this point, he’s the one who makes the decision.
If Johnny returns V’s body to them, we are shown an epilogue depicting their final months, living as a revered legend in Night City and going off to pull one final heist to immortalize their name before dying. If Johnny stays in V’s body, the epilogue fast forwards a point where he goes to V’s grave to say a final goodbye, enters a guitar store, then boards a bus to leave Night City for good.
The Star Ending
This ending involved getting help from Panam and the Aldecaldos during the assault on Arasaka. The prerequisites here are completing all of Panam’s side missions, meaning “Riders on the Storm”, “With a Little Help from my Friends” and “Queen of the Highway”. These will allow you to call Panam for help during the final mission. During this ending, many of the supporting characters from the Aldecaldos will perish. Once again, there are two variants of this ending, one of which is identical to one of the variants of the Sun ending. V will take the omega blockers and thus remain in control of their body, and fight through Arasaka using the Panzer Basilisk until finally reaching Mikoshi. Here, Alt once again reveals that they can separate V and Johnny, however V’s body has been altered too much by the Relic, meaning if V returns, they will die in 6 months.
Johnny tries to convince V to return to their body despite the 6 month life expectancy, trusting that there must be a solution. Regardless the decision is yours. If you allow Johnny to take over your body, the same epilogue plays as in the other scenario of Johnny living in V’s body - grave, guitar store, bus. However, should V decide to return to their body, the epilogue will instead show them, the character they romanced if any, and the Aldecaldos family escaping Night City and setting off into the Badlands in search of someone or something to cure V.
The Secret Ending
It’s ironic that this one is considered to be the ‘secret’ ending, since one would assume that secret endings are the hardest ones to achieve. Instead, this is by far the easiest of all the Cyberpunk 2077 endings to get, lacking any prerequisites or any particular effort on your part in the final mission. All you need to do for this ending is to pick any of the initial conversation options with Johnny Silverhand on the rooftop before the action kicks off, then during the second round of responses pick “Could also just put all this to rest”. This will cause V to throw the omega blockers away and die as a result, resolving nothing at all.
The Secret-secret Ending
This one is actually worthy of the secret moniker, since it isn’t at all apparent that this is an option. When you are presented by the various ways to approach the final mission, you need to wait to make a decision. Wait for 5 minutes in real time after which Johnny, to whom it is apparent V is struggling with the choice, offers a new alternative - going in alone. There are two possible outcomes here, and they rely on your skill. Since you’ll be undertaking the mission without any assistance from other characters, the already tough battles will be even tougher, and there are no checkpoints. If you die even once during the course of the mission, you get the ‘bad’ secret ending, however if you manage to succeed and finish the mission alone, you will see the ‘good’ secret ending which is ultimately the happiest outcome the story can have. Considering CD Projekt Red have revealed quite a while ago that Cyberpunk 2077 will receive multiple smaller free DLCs as well as several major paid expansions, you can expect the adventures of V and/or Johnny Silverhand to continue. Considering the wildly different outcomes of these endings, we suspect that a) some will be canonized while others won’t and b) it’s almost completely and utterly guaranteed that V will discover a cure for the whole 6 month life expectancy problem in the future content.
