opinion: The Devil ending is extremely unpopular with most players. For Steffi, however, it is the ideal finale for this cyberpunk story.
The best stories have strong endings. Stories that don’t know when or how to end – just awful. Think of all the series that are ridden to death until even the most loyal fans beg for the coup de grace (fellow Supernatural sufferers here?). I feel the same way about games: Even great stories are spoiled when the finale doesn’t hit the mark.
Many of you share this feeling, as I know from heated debates about Mass Effect 3. But we’ve discussed that many times before. It’s time to talk about a really good ending with horror, which almost no one but me likes. If you’ve read the title, you’ve already guessed: it’s about Cyberpunk 2077 and the pact with the devil.
Watch out, spoilers! I will be unrestrainedly spoiling all the endings of Cyberpunk 2077 from here on, so be expressly warned!
Hopefully there are still a few Chooms on board now, because I have an urgent need to talk: Of all things, the ending that most people hate makes me rave. And it’s not just because of Takemura’s beautiful eyes!
Never has an ending scared me so much
We’re talking about “The Devil”, also called the Arasaka ending. Just 4 percent of the community chose it – you’re missing out! This depressing finale is not only fantastically staged, but also took me completely by surprise, swept me away and kept me completely glued to the screen for the last few hours of the game.
In case you don’t know what exactly is happening: You team up with Hanako, fight your way through the Arasaka headquarters with Takemura and overpower Yorinobu, who then forcibly becomes the new vessel for Saburo’s consciousness. Johnny reacts with rage to your decision and believes that V is betraying his own principles. But were they really V’s free choices or did the terrorist influence them?
V finally ends up without a Johnny chip in his head, but with severe brain damage in a space infirmary. The last possible resort: you can have your consciousness digitally stored before your dying body gives up. So suffer the same fate that Johnny had to endure.
Never has a game scene scared me as real as this episode: robotic doctors with ice-cold expressions examine me, force me to answer questions and solve a simple Rubik’s Cube. No matter what I choose, it’s always too slow, always wrong. V gives expression to my frustration as a player by rioting, fighting back, peppering a tray across the room. It’s all so damn unfair! Is this my reward for buying Hanako’s talk of a better future? There’s another bottle flying right behind it!
And this sequence of events goes on again and again and again, there is no escape, V keeps going crazy until suddenly the cube breaks and the distorted grimace of the Tarot Devil roars at me.
This moment taught me two important lessons: I can actually get so scared while playing that I scream out loud. And I shouldn’t do that while my cats are sleeping on my lap. Sorry, munchkins.
Here you can see the complete ending as an uncommented walkthrough. The nightmarish part starts at minute 36:48:
These final moments of V are a horrifying vortex that still sends goosebumps down my spine now and masterfully plays with a deep primal fear: To feel one’s mind crumble, but to be lucid enough to experience it consciously.
If Takemura is alive, he shows up at the station to offer you a last resort: Return to Night City and die there, or surrender completely into Arasaka’s greedy corporate hands and perhaps survive.
If the cyber-samurai has died before then, the arrogant snoot Hellmann takes over that role – and without Takemura’s genuine, friendly concern for you, the complete ending is just miserable. So save him, even if Johnny grumbles!
What makes a man?
The genius of this final decision is how elegantly it addresses central questions of the main story: Cyberpunk 2077 is always about the question of the soul. Is a construct like Johnny still a real human being or just a credible copy? Can, indeed may, technology save us from death – and what price do we have to pay for it? You can philosophise about that for hours. That’s exactly how I want a finale!
The other endings just can’t hold a candle to the devil for me:
- Star: Yes, of course it’s cool to cruise through the desert with the Aldecaldos, like in Mad Max in nice. But somehow it seems too familiar, a lot of stories end with a ride into the sunset.
- Temperance: V leaves the body to Johnny, who returns to Night City with it. Doesn’t really convince me either because my own character has to take a back seat to the rock star for good. I already didn’t like that in some episodes of the main story.
- Sun: I would definitely love this ending if I didn’t feel like CDPR was trying to push it on me as canon. Sequel bait is about as elegant as gorilla arms. And I’m a defiant hipster.
- I don’t even want to talk about the path of least resistance. The credits clearly show what a terrible mistake V is making with this.
Most of these endings have a nicer (or at least more heroic) outcome for V than the Devil finale. But they’re not cyberpunk enough for me! And that brings us to the most important reason why I find the worst ending the strongest.
This is how real cyberpunk goes
Few genres fascinate me more than the terrifying neon dystopias of cyberpunk. They are always about the influence of super-rich corporations, about total dependence on technology – and about the fact that every human being is just a tiny cog in the game of the powerful, whether they want to be or not.
Cyberpunk is a cynical, dark genre with no shining heroes and often no happy endings. Instead, it deliberately leaves us with a tug in our guts. Could this be our future? What has to happen for our story not to end like this?
This is exactly the vision that captures the Devil ending perfectly for me: You can fight all you want, in the end the corporation still wins. In the end, even V Arasaka can’t do any better, on the contrary, Saburo gains his immortality. Also thanks to our deeds, although we didn’t intend it at all.
But V can still decide to sell himself to this overwhelming power – or consciously turn away from it at the last moment, at the price of his own life. Dear developers, please give me more endings to choose from that balance so masterfully between good and evil! It doesn’t always have to be the brute final battle against the enemy. Some stories are best ended with a quiet conversation between friends and the question of what is the price of one’s soul.
Of course, this is just my personal opinion. If you prefer a different ending, feel free to tell me why in the comments! Was The Devil too dark for you? Did a different finale give you a better feeling?
