V'S A Crowd

How choice, freedom and Keanu Reeves make Cyberpunk 2077 the most exciting game of E3

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In the new CGI trailer for Cyberpunk 2077, unveiled at Microsoft’s Xbox E3 Briefing, main character V is having a bad day. His partner, Jackie Welles, is dead. His fixer, Dexter DeShawn, has betrayed him. When he regains consciousness, he’s lying in a garbage dump. “Wake the fuck up samurai,” says a voice. “We have a city to burn.” The source of that voice? It’s Keanu Reeves.

Cue rapturous applause as Reeves appears on stage to talk about his appearance in CD Projekt Red’s next RPG. It was an exciting surprise in an industry event that rarely keeps a secret for long.

But who is Reeves’ character, and why is he so interested in V?

“Keanu Reeves in our game plays the role of Johnny Silverhand,” says PaweÅ‚ Sasko, lead quest designer for Cyberpunk 2077. “Johnny Silverhand is the frontman of Samurai, a chrome rock band from 2020, from the original [pen-and-paper RPG] book. Now, Johnny Silverhand is a primary character in our game, and the player, V, has him on a chip in his head as this digital ghost.”

Johnny will be a presence throughout the game, although it’s not clear what his motivation is for helping V. “The thing is that Johnny Silverhand has his own agenda,” says Sasko. “He used to be a fighter for freedom, but in the eyes of corporations he would probably be called a terrorist.” Sasko characterises Silverhand as someone with a strong vision of how the world should work, “He’s a true cyberpunk. He’s the guy who goes against the system, against the corporations, and against the city that’s just an embodiment of this.”