I recently told everyone how to reach the new “final” ending of Cyberpunk 2077, a new option presented through specific choices in Phantom Liberty. One that joins the existing “Johnny on the roof” paths of the main game.

Now, I want to actually talk about that ending, as it has haunted me ever since I finished it. And though in one way it is technically the “best” Cyberpunk 2077/Phantom Liberty ending, it is still bleak and utterly horrifying. And it may be the ending I ultimately hated the most. Not because it was badly written, but because it just shattered me.

Ahead of the release of Phantom Liberty, I wondered if the promised “new game” ending that accompanied it would finally provide V a way out of her death sentence. In the main game, there was no way for V to actually survive. Either her consciousness would be locked away by Arasaka, Johnny would inhabit her body, or she would continue on terminally ill, and die after the events of the game. But would a new ending let V survive and possibly create a new “canon” so she could return in Cyberpunk 2?

Well, there is indeed a new ending where V survives. But whoa. Whoa.

These are the pair of endings where you hand Songbird over to the NUSA government and Reed, opting not to kill her, as she requests in one ending, or putting her on a spaceship after killing Reed who’s standing in your way in the other ending.

By giving Songbird over, you do indeed have the top NUSA scientists managing to extract the chip from V’s head, saving her life. They say the procedure will take a few weeks but uh, that turns out not to be true.