"You fire your gun at a human enemy 10 levels higher than you - headshot."

[Sardukhar]

• Headshot is fatal 90% of the time

• 
  
  Why is that?
  
  "Gunshot wound head trauma is fatal about 90 percent of the time, with many victims dying before arriving at the hospital"
  
  Very much this.
  
  Time to treatment, the "platinum minute" is so key. A lot of that has to do with how long EMT/paramedics take to get to you, the chance they have of stabilizing you.
  
  Interesting side note - if you see an ambulance running Code 3 (lights and sirens up here), they are almost always going -to- the emergency. Unless (mostly) it's a cardiac or stroke, if they can't stabilize you when they get there, it's too late or there's no hurry. No hurry either way, I suppose.
  
  In more formalized, non-Street combat, (typically military) with first aid, medics etc already deployed and trauma care nearby or on quick response, your survival rate is much higher than being a gang member in South Central.
  
  So with GSW, head trauma especially, you just shock out and die in the ambulance or before it gets there. It's not instantly fatal - the skull and brain are pretty tough, all told.
  
  Long story short - although head trauma GSW are terrifically traumatic, they are not a one-hit-kill necessarily. You still have time. Just not much time.
  
  MORE however, than if you have a heart attack! Yes.
  
  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/06/150630135103.htm
  
  6% survival rate outside hospitals.
  
  My paramedic wife says that, despite what TV tells you, if you go into cardiac arrest and you aren't in or near a hospital, you are nearly always dead dead dead.
  
  That's why Code 3 on the way to the hospital - otherwise, patient dies. odds of death are crazy high anyway. More so than from a "headshot."
  
  From a Cyberpunk 2020 standpoint, enter Trauma Team Inc - the aerial, armored, combat-capable ambulance response corporation.
  
  They specialize in getting there and saving/resuscitating you on-site. Odds of survival way up.

 

[Suhiira]

[*]Headshot is fatal 90% of the time

Your data is a bit skewed.
It should read "Brain injuries are fatal 90% of the time".
As pointed out less then half the human head is the brain, LOTS of people survive getting their jaw, ear, nose, eye, etc. blown off.

 

[Lisbeth_Salander]

As pointed out less then half the human head is the brain, LOTS of people survive getting their jaw, ear, nose, eye, etc. blown off.

I find it really unlikely for CDPR to put that difference in the game. Headshots that aren't insta kills are extremely frustating for most players (including me), unless there is an explanation. I hope we won't have enemies running around without jaws due to headshots in CP2077 since it's more likely for the pain to incapacitate them.

Also, frontal shots will mostly not only hit the jaw but the whole face and that will most certainly cause the victim to colapse in pain and bleed to death. So, why would a headshot not kill an enemy in CP2077, unless a trauma team rescuing dying enemies is even a thing in the game? Too, complicated. Why would even be the objective of ambulances carrying out minor npc enemies to the hospital? Immersion? Yeah, maybe that would be nice.

But it would be simpler to implement "enemies with broken jaws or noses" that got to squirm in pain due to headshots, and eventually die. That should also work with broken limbs.

 

[Snowflakez]

I find it really unlikely for CDPR to put that difference in the game. Headshots that aren't insta kills are extremely frustating for most players (including me), unless there is an explanation. I hope we won't have enemies running around without jaws due to headshots in CP2077 since it's more likely for the pain to incapacitate them.

Also, frontal shots will mostly not only hit the jaw but the whole face and that will most certainly cause the victim to colapse in pain and bleed to death. So, why would a headshot not kill an enemy in CP2077, unless a trauma team rescuing dying enemies is even a thing in the game? Too, complicated. Why would even be the objective of ambulances carrying out minor npc enemies to the hospital? Immersion? Yeah, maybe that would be nice.

But it would be simpler to implement "enemies with broken jaws or noses" that got to squirm in pain due to headshots, and eventually die. That should also work with broken limbs.

Yeah, I mostly agree, but there is definitely at least a few opportunities for CDPR to take advantage of the whole "headshots aren't always fatal" thing.

For example, let's say there's a 1/50 chance some baddie you kill comes back to haunt you later. It doesn't need to be anything significant, but let's say he now has his head bandaged up and he now has his own little rag-tag game of angry, drug-addled psychopaths itching to get revenge. This could be a dynamic encounter - you're walking down an alley and you get ambushed.

Big baddie says "You can't kill me that easily" or something less-cheesy, and a fight ensues. This time, he does not come back (we're approaching Shadow of War "Nemesis" territory if he does, and I don't really want that here). The player thinks "hey, that was kind of cool, I remember that annoying jerk who kept chucking grenades at me" or maybe they don't think about it at all. I dunno. I'll leave the specifics up to CDPR, if they use it at all.

 

[Lisbeth_Salander]

Shadow of War "Nemesis"

I'm a simple person, you say "Nemesis System" I give redpoints.