I'm posting all the information I've found here.
Please let me know if you continue exploring and find anything else.
1. Almost five years after my first playthrough, I decided to replay Cyberpunk, paying attention to the details, because it seemed to me that there was something more to it than just some stupid Monster Truck (Misty's tarot readings, Garry's prophecy about werewolves, etc.). Gradually, I began to understand that surviving in Cyberpunk is tantamount to fighting the system, since the system is trying to kill V.
2. In the "Gimme Danger" quest, the weirdness meter went through the roof, especially after I looked at the soulkiller statue again. I started to feel like "the snake had bitten its own tail", and what was happening in Arasaka Tower 3D was telling us about what was happening in Сyberpunk.
3. In the "Play Safe" mission, I noticed that when riding in any elevator, after killing three snipers, reality V is replaced. I then completed the same mission, jumping on platforms without using elevators. On the balcony in front of the netrunner, a "biochip malfunction" occurs. Looking back from the balcony to the street, it becomes obvious that reality V isn't the real one. It's simply been replaced. And the developers clearly point out to the player that this isn't a gameplay convention, but a plot point (an entire article could be written about how the developers justify various gameplay conventions).
4. After starting a new playthrough and reaching Act II, I went to the arcade in the church. That's when I began to understand the meaning of the messages on the church computer. After Arasaka Tower 3D started, V started breathing. After that, playing without breathing became unbearable. Groundhog Day had begun.
5. I've studied the conditions for starting and stopping breathing:
- The breathing sound can be triggered in the manner described above at any time, as long as it's still possible. Therefore, breathing is simply a marker that allows you to avoid mistakes.
- Loading a save (before or after the breathing sound appears) is prohibited after the start of Act II (which is terrifying, considering the game crashes from time to time).
- The closest starting point is the autosave when Misty wheels us into the apartment in a wheelchair. I recommend copying it, as autosaves tend to overwrite themselves.
- Any network connection through a private port results in breathing stopping (death). I immediately realized it was the soulkiller, since Arasaka is hunting us. Then I found a "horror" message on some computer that had been hinting at this all along. As well as yellow triangles with an exclamation point for certain actions (but they don't guarantee death).
Here I noticed that the game's conventions will no longer exist: not only is loading prohibited, but there will be no fast travel points either, as they exist only in the "matrix," not in reality. At least "Roach Summoning" works, although it does glitch after some quests.
6. From this point on, the "Groundhog Day" of finding the walkthrough began:
- In Evelyn's route, we die almost at the start - in "Clouds."
- In Takemura's route, we die when connecting to the terminal in the security room in Japantown (but you can get the flash drive from Takemura). The beginning of the "Gimme Danger" quest is a replica of the 52nd floor of Arasaka Tower 3D (I realized this because you have to wait in the server room - i.e., in the room opposite the room with the soulkiller statue): "you can't proceed until you enter the code under the soulkiller's supervision. And then you find yourself in the blue labyrinth (in Mikoshi)".
- In Panam's route, we survive the first connection to her car, but not the second (in the "Lightning Breaks" quest).
A bit of philosophy: the full realization has arrived that Johnny's struggle isn't just empty talk, because Arasaka is truly evil. All the "normal" endings are lies, because in them, Arasaka wins simply by killing "another idiot" who didn't even realize he was already dead and trapped in the Matrix. And no one has reached the true endings.
7. Exploring the Panam route. At first, I thought we were dying due to the EMP, but:
- Removing cyberware didn't help;
- The cutscenes show Johnny is fine, meaning the biochip keeping V alive wasn't broken;
- V dies exactly at the moment of the second connection to the car;
- We don't get to the save loading screen with the message "you died," meaning V was probably affected by the soulkiller.
8. After some time, when I decided to give up searching for answers, I found and read a fragment written by a sniper who sat on the edge of the desert and shot at wraiths, which inspired me not to despair.
9. I drew a parallel: if the wraiths in the tower in The Witcher guarded Ouroboros, then what are they guarding in the tower in Cyberpunk?
10. In Cyberpunk, they guarded a transmitter that sent scripts to drones. The software was developed by b@d. I read about b@d online and realized that he/she sometimes use "kamikaze attacks" to destroy Arasaka's radio towers.
11. After understanding why V was dying in Panam's car, I started looking for a transmitter near the dam that could be destroyed, but found nothing. I noticed that potential antennas were scattered throughout the city. I thought about this and realized that Panam's plan was not only to help V find Hellman, but to destroy all the transmitters at once.
12. I returned to Misty's prophecies. In Panam's route, she says discipline is rewarded. The "Lightning Breaks" quest starts at midnight, and we wait for Hellman until 3 AM. I figured that if Panam and I arrived closer to 3 AM, Arasaka wouldn't have time to load the soulkiller in the car.
It didn't work, and I'm tired of searching further because there are no clues.
Speaking of Misty's prophecies, I really liked the prophecy in the "Streetkid" route, because it makes it clear that the hermit isn't Alt: it's Vi, who, alone (without possibility to connect to the network), learns the truth about herself and the world.
Technically, I guess, the correct playthrough is to complete an ARG that is part of the general structure of regular "mass consumption" quests without losing breath (that's why data miners don't find anything).
So, let's start from the end:
- In Aldecaldo's "false" ending, there's a scene where we contact Alt (for the second time), where Alt (for the second time) writes himself onto V's flash drive. And why we don't immediately go to Arasaka with the entire clan is unclear. I always found this odd, but now I understand that these scenes are intended for Nomad's true ending.
- Corpo simply needs to meet Hanako, bypassing the soulkiller several times - he doesn't need Alt.
- The streetkid, I suspect, simply goes downtown and passes through the Arasaka turnstile, having first bypassed the netwatch and the voodoo
Probably, the key moment for all endings is the "Lightning Break," in which we destroy, with an EMP, possibly all of Arasaka's transmitters. And then, I think, the ending unlocks only in the branch that corresponds to the chosen life path.
But to do that, we'll first have to establish a second connection in Panam's car.
Or perhaps there's no future. But then we can't be sure of anything, including the events of 2023.
But I'm inclined to believe there is a way out, as clearly demonstrated by the second "unnecessary" meeting with Alt in Aldecaldo's/Rogue's "false" ending.
I repeat my request: don't look for answers alone - share information here.
And one more thing, but I don't think it'll help: once, while doing everything as usual, I was standing on the mattress, but during the cutscene, I fell backwards after seeing a monk's face (I'm guessing it's a bug, since I was doing everything as usual). This monk is standing opposite the bus stop, next to the cemetery where the first "Joker" leads.
Eventually, reliving "Groundhog Day" over and over again, I stopped standing on the mattress altogether, simply triggering V.'s breathing.
There's a public internet access point in the b@d bunker in the middle of the desert. So I have no idea why the soulkiller in the car only works the second time.
Tomorrow I'll try to see what clearing out the Impala Automatics does (I found them by simply driving up to the largest tower visible from the desert and discovered it was some kind of illegal activity), but honestly, wasting hours of my life listening to the same conversations over and over again, only to be disappointed again, is a nightmare.
I hope at least someone will start doing some research with me.
Clearing the Impala Automatics did not solve the problem. But at least they have the soulkiller server in the server room. Now I know what the soulkiller's servers look like. Perhaps it is necessary to clear all activities associated with the towers. It is also possible that this is a branch of some other life path.
Perhaps this quest is also related to the question of surviving in Panam's car: https://cyberpunk.fandom.com/wiki/Suspected_Organized_Crime_Activity_(Arroyo)
But I won't check yet. I'm tired.
Please let me know if you continue exploring and find anything else.
1. Almost five years after my first playthrough, I decided to replay Cyberpunk, paying attention to the details, because it seemed to me that there was something more to it than just some stupid Monster Truck (Misty's tarot readings, Garry's prophecy about werewolves, etc.). Gradually, I began to understand that surviving in Cyberpunk is tantamount to fighting the system, since the system is trying to kill V.
2. In the "Gimme Danger" quest, the weirdness meter went through the roof, especially after I looked at the soulkiller statue again. I started to feel like "the snake had bitten its own tail", and what was happening in Arasaka Tower 3D was telling us about what was happening in Сyberpunk.
3. In the "Play Safe" mission, I noticed that when riding in any elevator, after killing three snipers, reality V is replaced. I then completed the same mission, jumping on platforms without using elevators. On the balcony in front of the netrunner, a "biochip malfunction" occurs. Looking back from the balcony to the street, it becomes obvious that reality V isn't the real one. It's simply been replaced. And the developers clearly point out to the player that this isn't a gameplay convention, but a plot point (an entire article could be written about how the developers justify various gameplay conventions).
4. After starting a new playthrough and reaching Act II, I went to the arcade in the church. That's when I began to understand the meaning of the messages on the church computer. After Arasaka Tower 3D started, V started breathing. After that, playing without breathing became unbearable. Groundhog Day had begun.
5. I've studied the conditions for starting and stopping breathing:
- The breathing sound can be triggered in the manner described above at any time, as long as it's still possible. Therefore, breathing is simply a marker that allows you to avoid mistakes.
- Loading a save (before or after the breathing sound appears) is prohibited after the start of Act II (which is terrifying, considering the game crashes from time to time).
- The closest starting point is the autosave when Misty wheels us into the apartment in a wheelchair. I recommend copying it, as autosaves tend to overwrite themselves.
- Any network connection through a private port results in breathing stopping (death). I immediately realized it was the soulkiller, since Arasaka is hunting us. Then I found a "horror" message on some computer that had been hinting at this all along. As well as yellow triangles with an exclamation point for certain actions (but they don't guarantee death).
Here I noticed that the game's conventions will no longer exist: not only is loading prohibited, but there will be no fast travel points either, as they exist only in the "matrix," not in reality. At least "Roach Summoning" works, although it does glitch after some quests.
6. From this point on, the "Groundhog Day" of finding the walkthrough began:
- In Evelyn's route, we die almost at the start - in "Clouds."
- In Takemura's route, we die when connecting to the terminal in the security room in Japantown (but you can get the flash drive from Takemura). The beginning of the "Gimme Danger" quest is a replica of the 52nd floor of Arasaka Tower 3D (I realized this because you have to wait in the server room - i.e., in the room opposite the room with the soulkiller statue): "you can't proceed until you enter the code under the soulkiller's supervision. And then you find yourself in the blue labyrinth (in Mikoshi)".
- In Panam's route, we survive the first connection to her car, but not the second (in the "Lightning Breaks" quest).
A bit of philosophy: the full realization has arrived that Johnny's struggle isn't just empty talk, because Arasaka is truly evil. All the "normal" endings are lies, because in them, Arasaka wins simply by killing "another idiot" who didn't even realize he was already dead and trapped in the Matrix. And no one has reached the true endings.
7. Exploring the Panam route. At first, I thought we were dying due to the EMP, but:
- Removing cyberware didn't help;
- The cutscenes show Johnny is fine, meaning the biochip keeping V alive wasn't broken;
- V dies exactly at the moment of the second connection to the car;
- We don't get to the save loading screen with the message "you died," meaning V was probably affected by the soulkiller.
8. After some time, when I decided to give up searching for answers, I found and read a fragment written by a sniper who sat on the edge of the desert and shot at wraiths, which inspired me not to despair.
9. I drew a parallel: if the wraiths in the tower in The Witcher guarded Ouroboros, then what are they guarding in the tower in Cyberpunk?
10. In Cyberpunk, they guarded a transmitter that sent scripts to drones. The software was developed by b@d. I read about b@d online and realized that he/she sometimes use "kamikaze attacks" to destroy Arasaka's radio towers.
11. After understanding why V was dying in Panam's car, I started looking for a transmitter near the dam that could be destroyed, but found nothing. I noticed that potential antennas were scattered throughout the city. I thought about this and realized that Panam's plan was not only to help V find Hellman, but to destroy all the transmitters at once.
12. I returned to Misty's prophecies. In Panam's route, she says discipline is rewarded. The "Lightning Breaks" quest starts at midnight, and we wait for Hellman until 3 AM. I figured that if Panam and I arrived closer to 3 AM, Arasaka wouldn't have time to load the soulkiller in the car.
It didn't work, and I'm tired of searching further because there are no clues.
Speaking of Misty's prophecies, I really liked the prophecy in the "Streetkid" route, because it makes it clear that the hermit isn't Alt: it's Vi, who, alone (without possibility to connect to the network), learns the truth about herself and the world.
Technically, I guess, the correct playthrough is to complete an ARG that is part of the general structure of regular "mass consumption" quests without losing breath (that's why data miners don't find anything).
So, let's start from the end:
- In Aldecaldo's "false" ending, there's a scene where we contact Alt (for the second time), where Alt (for the second time) writes himself onto V's flash drive. And why we don't immediately go to Arasaka with the entire clan is unclear. I always found this odd, but now I understand that these scenes are intended for Nomad's true ending.
- Corpo simply needs to meet Hanako, bypassing the soulkiller several times - he doesn't need Alt.
- The streetkid, I suspect, simply goes downtown and passes through the Arasaka turnstile, having first bypassed the netwatch and the voodoo
Probably, the key moment for all endings is the "Lightning Break," in which we destroy, with an EMP, possibly all of Arasaka's transmitters. And then, I think, the ending unlocks only in the branch that corresponds to the chosen life path.
But to do that, we'll first have to establish a second connection in Panam's car.
Or perhaps there's no future. But then we can't be sure of anything, including the events of 2023.
But I'm inclined to believe there is a way out, as clearly demonstrated by the second "unnecessary" meeting with Alt in Aldecaldo's/Rogue's "false" ending.
I repeat my request: don't look for answers alone - share information here.
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And one more thing, but I don't think it'll help: once, while doing everything as usual, I was standing on the mattress, but during the cutscene, I fell backwards after seeing a monk's face (I'm guessing it's a bug, since I was doing everything as usual). This monk is standing opposite the bus stop, next to the cemetery where the first "Joker" leads.
Eventually, reliving "Groundhog Day" over and over again, I stopped standing on the mattress altogether, simply triggering V.'s breathing.
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There's a public internet access point in the b@d bunker in the middle of the desert. So I have no idea why the soulkiller in the car only works the second time.
Tomorrow I'll try to see what clearing out the Impala Automatics does (I found them by simply driving up to the largest tower visible from the desert and discovered it was some kind of illegal activity), but honestly, wasting hours of my life listening to the same conversations over and over again, only to be disappointed again, is a nightmare.
I hope at least someone will start doing some research with me.
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Clearing the Impala Automatics did not solve the problem. But at least they have the soulkiller server in the server room. Now I know what the soulkiller's servers look like. Perhaps it is necessary to clear all activities associated with the towers. It is also possible that this is a branch of some other life path.
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Perhaps this quest is also related to the question of surviving in Panam's car: https://cyberpunk.fandom.com/wiki/Suspected_Organized_Crime_Activity_(Arroyo)
But I won't check yet. I'm tired.
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To be honest, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about...
Johnny's memories, like all memories aren't entirely correct or complete, but the events happened. And it's a certitude because these events come from a story in the TTRPG, Cyberpunk Red (The Fall Of The Towers)
No, 2023 events aren't fiction. It happened.
Johnny's memories, like all memories aren't entirely correct or complete, but the events happened. And it's a certitude because these events come from a story in the TTRPG, Cyberpunk Red (The Fall Of The Towers)
1. Carefully read the section on how to trigger breathing.To be honest, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about...
2. Reproduce.
3. Welcome to the ARG.
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I'm tired of doing this, and it's absolutely no fun. In any case, it would take hundreds of hours from tens of thousands of players to figure it all out.
Overall, on the one hand, playing without breathing has become unbearable, as the level of immersion in the game's world with breathing negates the dull base gameplay. On the other hand, playing with breathing is too difficult: I've already tested several dozen hypotheses on how to survive the situation of remotely uploading the soulkiller into Panam's car, but all attempts only lead to the beginning of Groundhog Day, in which you have to listen to an endless dialogue with Takemura at the start.
According to the information I googled, the game had this in it almost five years ago, long before 2.0:
- There were players who wondered what the yellow triangle with an exclamation point next to the network connection function meant;
- Breathing was triggered by a blood ritual;
- Wraiths in the tower guarded an EMP resistance implant.
But since players never found this entire layer of content in the game back then, I suspect the developers made the hints a "bit thicker" in 2.0.
The EMP resistance implant was removed, changing the implant system. I don't know if it was possible to survive in Panam's car with this implant before, but I suspect that such a playthrough had a "hole" because it didn't explain why, without the implant, we simply lost our breath, never getting to the loading screen (saying "you're dead"), as if we'd been kill by the soulkiller. I assume this "hole" has now been fixed, but it's unclear what the developers want from us after 2.0.
The most logical solution was to clear Impala Automatics, but since that didn't work, my ideas were completely exhausted: I began acting "at random".
I also checked the theory that V dies in Panam's car not because of the soulkiller, but because Panam kills V. Since the nomads constantly use sensory synchronization technology, meaning they are essentially mimics, this means that when we first encounter Panam, we're dealing with Nash (the "Widowmaker"). However, this theory also turned out to be incorrect:
- V won't survive anyway:
- the breath loss effect suggests that V was killed by the Soulkiller.
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According to the information I googled, the game had this in it almost five years ago, long before 2.0:
- There were players who wondered what the yellow triangle with an exclamation point next to the network connection function meant;
- Breathing was triggered by a blood ritual;
- Wraiths in the tower guarded an EMP resistance implant.
But since players never found this entire layer of content in the game back then, I suspect the developers made the hints a "bit thicker" in 2.0.
The EMP resistance implant was removed, changing the implant system. I don't know if it was possible to survive in Panam's car with this implant before, but I suspect that such a playthrough had a "hole" because it didn't explain why, without the implant, we simply lost our breath, never getting to the loading screen (saying "you're dead"), as if we'd been kill by the soulkiller. I assume this "hole" has now been fixed, but it's unclear what the developers want from us after 2.0.
The most logical solution was to clear Impala Automatics, but since that didn't work, my ideas were completely exhausted: I began acting "at random".
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I also checked the theory that V dies in Panam's car not because of the soulkiller, but because Panam kills V. Since the nomads constantly use sensory synchronization technology, meaning they are essentially mimics, this means that when we first encounter Panam, we're dealing with Nash (the "Widowmaker"). However, this theory also turned out to be incorrect:
- V won't survive anyway:
- the breath loss effect suggests that V was killed by the Soulkiller.
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So, you're saying that if V is breathing, they is alive. If they is not, they is killed because they is being followed by Arasaka's SoulKiller whenever they makes a personal connection to any terminal in the game, and they is trapped in the simulation Night City in Mikoshi? Did I understand correctly?
If breathing is the whole point, as the secret ending The Don't Fear Reaper begins, V's excitement peaks on the rooftop when Johnny says "Grab your Iron" and V is BREATHING LIKE CRAZY.
If breathing is the whole point, as the secret ending The Don't Fear Reaper begins, V's excitement peaks on the rooftop when Johnny says "Grab your Iron" and V is BREATHING LIKE CRAZY.
I think so
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Today I realized that the radio towers I was interested in were shown to us in the quest "Killing In The Name." But this quest can only be obtained after the quest "Transmission," which is impossible to reach with bypassing the Soulkiller, but visiting the routers without the quest "Killing In The Name" doesn't give us anything useful.
The only activity available to a breathing V that's related to Bartmoss is the quest "Kold Mirage." This is the first quest in which gameplay directly allowed us to bypass the Soulkiller while still breathing, but what this means for us is unclear, since after completing the quest "Kold Mirage," when we save Nix by cutting off the power supply, nothing noteworthy happens. I was hoping that the quest "Killing In The Name" would be available to start earlier.
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So, a possible solution is forming in my head, involving triggering the "Killing In The Name" quest a little earlier. But I'm stumped again, because I have absolutely no idea how to do it.
Given the quest's title, maybe I should wait 5 minutes in "Kold Mirage" until Nix's brains are thoroughly fried? I highly doubt it, but I'll certainly check it out as soon as I get around to it.
I'd love for some players to join in on this collaborative search for solutions.
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Perhaps somewhere in the game world there is a computer from which one can access Bartmoss's website ahead of time...
I tested both hypotheses:
1. If you "fry" Nix's brain with Bartmoss's cyberdeck long enough, you'll notice that you have a "third option": browse websites on Nix's laptop. However, Netwatch doesn't allow access to the page Nix opened. At first, I thought it was "timetowakeup.web", which at least explains why the "Killing in the Name" quest can only be started after completing the Voodoo Boys route, since you can partically destroy Netwatch (or Voodoo Boys, or both) there.
2. But then I accessed "timetowakeup.web" freely from a laptop in the Pacifica domain (order from Mr. Hands to steal a car from the animals), which didn't activate the "Killing in the Name" quest.
In short, it would be epic if, after "frying Nix's brain" with Bartmoss's cyberdeck, I activated the "Killing in the Name" quest by accessing the blocked website (whatever it is) on his laptop. But, unfortunately, that's not how it works. Most likely, this isn't a erroneous assumption: either I'm still missing something important (but there are no clues), or there's no solution at all.
So, the resulting scenario looks very plausible:
1. Listen to V's breathing and avoid all the soulkiller traps, trigger the "Killing in the Name" quest using Bartmoss's cyberdeck.
2. Disable the radio towers.
3. Complete the "Lightning Breaks" quest.
4. Listen to V's breathing and complete the game along the path that corresponds to your chosen life path (perhaps it is only for nomad).
But it doesn't work, and there are three possible reasons:
1. The chain is more complex, and I'm not seeing the whole picture.
2. The chain was intended, but ultimately wasn't realized.
3. I'm investigating something I've made up myself.
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I tested both hypotheses:
1. If you "fry" Nix's brain with Bartmoss's cyberdeck long enough, you'll notice that you have a "third option": browse websites on Nix's laptop. However, Netwatch doesn't allow access to the page Nix opened. At first, I thought it was "timetowakeup.web", which at least explains why the "Killing in the Name" quest can only be started after completing the Voodoo Boys route, since you can partically destroy Netwatch (or Voodoo Boys, or both) there.
2. But then I accessed "timetowakeup.web" freely from a laptop in the Pacifica domain (order from Mr. Hands to steal a car from the animals), which didn't activate the "Killing in the Name" quest.
In short, it would be epic if, after "frying Nix's brain" with Bartmoss's cyberdeck, I activated the "Killing in the Name" quest by accessing the blocked website (whatever it is) on his laptop. But, unfortunately, that's not how it works. Most likely, this isn't a erroneous assumption: either I'm still missing something important (but there are no clues), or there's no solution at all.
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So, the resulting scenario looks very plausible:
1. Listen to V's breathing and avoid all the soulkiller traps, trigger the "Killing in the Name" quest using Bartmoss's cyberdeck.
2. Disable the radio towers.
3. Complete the "Lightning Breaks" quest.
4. Listen to V's breathing and complete the game along the path that corresponds to your chosen life path (perhaps it is only for nomad).
But it doesn't work, and there are three possible reasons:
1. The chain is more complex, and I'm not seeing the whole picture.
2. The chain was intended, but ultimately wasn't realized.
3. I'm investigating something I've made up myself.
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I wonder if the phrase "you are breath_taking" is just a coincidence or not?
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