[Spoilers] Speculation on the Meaning of the Sinnerman Quest Chain

[v2micca]

So, I have been kind of wondering about this particular side quest chain and why it in particular survived the chopping block when so much other content was cut from the main game. i would argue that it is one of the most deeply uncomfortable side stories in the game. And, at least on the surface, it really doesn't tie back into the main story. None of the characters introduced in this particular side quest hold any significance to the setting and are never seen or referenced again. And, unlike the side quests with the Peralaz family, it doesn't set up or introduce any deeper lore to the Cyberpunk 2077 setting.

But, it finally clicked for me when I completed the game following the Where is my Mind ending. I'm not here to argue how effectively or skillfully the writers conveyed the themes of the story, everyone has their own oppionion on the matter and I'm not looking to change it. I'm simply looking at the themes obviously at play in the story. And between Johnny, Alt, and Suboro we are pretty obviously dealing themes of death, rebirth, resurrection, and the Corporate culture that attempts to commoditize even these primordial concepts.

So, in the Sinnerman quest chain, you are dealing with pretty clear allusions to perhaps the world's most famous story regarding death and rebirth while a Braindance Studio executive uses the entire situation as a corporate cash in. The mission becomes a microcosm of the entire story's major themes. Re-enforcing those themes was important enough to the dev's to keep this particular question chain intact, both to buttress the game's core ideas and to act as foreshadowing for Suboro's eventual resurrection if you choose to follow the Where is my Mind ending.

That is my take at least. Feel free to offer counter-arguments.

 

[SaulTuk]

I was deeply impressed with cricifixion scene. Joshua even had his two thugs beside him — Johny, as sceptic, and V, as believer. To think, from the certain point of view both of them are already dead and on borrowed time. On a furlough, in a sense, just like Joshua. I felt no urge to make everything for V's survival, instead i wanted to use his time to help as many people as i could, like Arthur in RDR 2.
A bitter irony, that in order to deliver your message to people you have to deal with corpos and allow them to cash in, because all the means of fast and wide communication are in corps hands.