Did you know about the secret alternative ending to Cyberpunk 2077? There is one, and if you initiate it properly, it’ll give you a unique final scenario that involves one silver-handed former musician. The alternative ending, aptly named (Don’t Fear) The Reaper, will alter the standard endings of Path of Glory and New Dawn Fades. Johnny Silverhand isn’t the most likable guy, and you may not want to see his version of the ending of Cyberpunk 2077. Regardless of how you feel about Silverhand, is the alternate ending worth the work? Let’s look at what it takes to unlock the end and what you get.
Obviously, there will be some spoilers for Cyberpunk 2077 from here going forward, mainly regarding its end.
Cyberpunk 2077 Secret Ending: Cyberpunk 2077 Basics
Cyberpunk is a first-person action role-playing game. Though initially released in 2020, it’s better now than it was then. While it’s available for several consoles, including PlayStation 4, Stadia, Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S, it truly shines on the newer ones. In the game, you play as V, a mercenary looking to make their way up in the world of Night City by pulling jobs of varying interest and difficulty. Night City is obsessed with modifications, and V herself is customizable to help make play easier and more fun.
Cyberpunk 2077 is vast, to begin with, and packed with places and people to explore. Add some fantastic graphics and Keanu Reeves, and you have yourself an enticing game. The game is actually ambitious in many regards, and although it’s had some controversy, it’s pretty much ironed itself out. Now the game is playable, and it even has a second life if you take advantage of its many mods.
Reeves plays a critical role as Johnny Silverhand, whose relationship with V is complicated and can be more so depending on choices made throughout the game. It’s these choices that are important to enabling the alternative ending. (Don’t Fear) The Reaper needs you to have a pretty good relationship with Johnny which requires certain choices as you progress through the game. Alternatively, if your relationship with Johnny is not over at least 70%, then you’ll need a focused effort to answer all questions on a specific mission correctly and do things a particular way in the final mission. Let’s break down the unlocking requirements.
Cyberpunk 2077 Secret Ending: Unlocking the Secret Ending
Option 1
This first path requires that mentioned over 70% relationship with Johnny before reaching the final mission’s Point Of Not Return, where you can’t access Side Jobs anymore. To check your relationship progress, enter the Pause menu and look at the number of the center box at the top. The way to boost your relationship number you’ll need to let Johny do whatever he wants throughout the game. When he attempts to perform an action or makes a suggestion, go with it to make him happy. Once you get up over 70%(to be safe), you can move on to the next steps.
Secondly, you must complete these specific Johnny Silverhand-related Side Jobs before entering Embers to meet with Hanako for the last mission, Nocturne OP55N1.
Required Side Missions:
- Chippin’ in
- Tapeworm
- Blistering Love
Option 2
The second option you can use before entering the final mission involves focusing on the Chippin’ in Side Job. The thought is when you perform that job, and if you answer everything exactly how Johnny needs you to, it’ll make him happy enough with you to set you up for the secret ending. When you complete Chippin’ in for either option aiming for the following answers will make way for you to enter the final mission with the option for the secret ending engaged.
Chippin’ in Dialog Answers
- [Inscribe Johnny’s Initials] “Let’s do something about that.”
- “The Guy Who Saved My Life.”
- “Nah, fucked that up too.”
- “What do you want from me?”
- “OK. But as second chances go, this is your last.”
- “You were a real dick in the beginning.”
- “When you said you let down your friends…”
- “Smasher biz really got to her.”
- “Yeah, I’ll call Rogue.”
Nocturne OP55N1
The last mission of the game is Nocturne OP55N1, where you will enter Embers to meet with Hanako. Once you enter the elevator, you won’t be able to look back. Entering here will trigger the last mission and whatever ending you’ve earned yourself through your game choices. This ending will be considered standard despite there being many possible options.
To initiate Johny’s secret alternate ending, you’ll need to follow these directions during the mission. When you get to the last part of the mission, you’ll be alone with Johnny Silverhand on the rooftop. Here, you’ll want to be particular about how you react and answer.
First, select the option that encourages Johnny to go with Rogue:
- “Think you and Rogue should go.”
Then at the next dialog option, your choices will be:
- Could also just put all this to rest.
- Take pseudoendotrizine
- Hang on. Need a minute
Instead of selecting any of these choices, do nothing. Just let the game sit with these choices on screen for about 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, Johnny will speak up and make a suggestion. He will suggest joining you on a “wild suicide run.”
Agree with him and answer:
- Let’s hear this plan out
At the next dialogue option, select :
- Attack Arasaka Tower
This answer will trigger him to begin the final secret mission: attacking the Tower alongside you without Rogue. The game will immediately cut to black and then drop you at the front entrance of Arasaka Tower with Johnny.
Cyberpunk 2077 Secret Ending: A Unique Challenge
The secret version of the final mission is similar in setup. You and Silverhand storm Arasaka starting from the entrace level and working your way down. You should try getting V as close to level 50 as possible, as the mission is challenging. Be sure to bring along your best weapon and armor and also load up on med packs and ammo. Remember, you’ll have to do your leveling before triggering this mission. There are a few good reasons to ensure you take the time to do all this prepping before entering this mission, though.
The enemies here are maxed out. They are all level 50, so being below that already puts you at a disadvantage.
V’s health will be 25% lower than usual to begin the mission. It will continue to slowly decrease at specific points as the mission goes on. While it only lowers by about 1% each time, it is still not helpful, and unfortunately, the longer you take, the lower it goes. Lowering will occur with the warning, “Relic Malfunction Detected.”
The health lowering aspect is so impactful because there is no manual saving during the final mission. There are autosave intervals when you lower into the mainframe level and before the fight with Adam Smasher. Dying at any point on this last mission will trigger a video blurb, not unique to this mission, before cutting directly to the game’s end credits. You won’t be able to load your last save because there aren’t any, but there’s still hope. You can resume the game from one of the two autosaves and try again from there.
If V dies before reaching the first autosave checkpoint, you’ll be sent back to the rooftop before even speaking with Johnny. You’ll have to repeat the process again, precisely as before, to unlock the alternate ending and make another attempt.
Once you successfully reach the Mikoshi Access Point and upload Alt there is one last choice you’ll have to make. Here you can choose between giving your body over to Johnny and joining cyberspace or keeping it for yourself. Letting V keep their body will deliver the ending scene of Path of Glory (The Sun), but with Johnny sitting across from you. In this version, Rogue is alive and will be there at the Afterlife. Choosing to give your body to Johnny gives you the New Dawn Fades (Temperance), ending with Johnny across from you.
Cyberpunk 2077 Secret Ending: Is It Worth It?
The secret final ending is a choice. Like the rest of the game, it really depends on the player. Everyone will have different feelings about how the story plays out and what happens to Rogue, V, and Johnny. The secret ending is obviously Johnny-heavy. If you want to go down swinging alongside the former rocker, this is your mission. Was keeping Rogue alive what you wanted? This secret mission offers that opportunity. The cut scenes at the end are similar to other choice-endings but again have Johnny at their center instead.
The time it takes to set up the secret final mission isn’t terribly long. It just requires you to make certain choices and wait 5 minutes for Johnny to speak up. It’s more about choosing answers you may disagree with and giving up on other possible endings. The time it takes is worth it because, honestly, it’s more time spent playing Cyberpunk 2077.
The thing that truly sets this ending apart is the difficulty. Do you really want to earn that ending? The secret end is the hardcore version of the game’s ending and will require you to play it as such. It may take a while to play it through successfully without being able to save when you want. So contemplating the above end scenes and results combined with the difficulty setting is where your answer lies. Is the secret ending worth it? Probably, unless you really don’t like Johnny Silverhand.