When I was sitting in the crowd during the Xbox press conference, the last person I would expect to have come on stage was Keanu Reeves. CD Projekt RED had already managed to position Cyberpunk 2077 as one of the most anticipated titles of 2020, and they only further solidified its position by having that kind of star power included within its story. That said, Reeves isn’t there simply to make a celebrity guest appearance.
Johnny Mnemonic Silverhand
I only walked out of my behind-the-door appointment with CD Projekt RED about an hour ago. And with everything seen, I’m still trying to digest the chunk of gameplay that they threw up on the screen. What they showed takes place about halfway through the game’s story and offered quite a bit in terms of abilities and skills. But, the one thing that was most apparent throughout what I saw was how big of a role Reeves’ character is going to play.
Johnny Silverhand, a digital ghost of sorts, now finds himself within a biochip implanted into the main character’s brain. This is much more than just having a celebrity guest appearance for a short stint. He is part of the Cyberpunk universe and plays much more of an important role than I had initially thought.
Help me Keanu, you’re my only hope
As the demo went on, we saw a lot of interaction between the main character, known as V (who they also showed in the previous demo). These conversations revealed that Reeves is along for the ride to assist the main character in discovering what’s locked behind this biochip and also why people in this world are heavily interested in its existence. There were several events within the demo where he spoke his mind, even telling V to get up and get moving at one point. This makes more sense now considering this is exactly how he was introduced during the last gameplay trailer seen during the Xbox press conference.
Cyberpunk 2077 releases on April 16, 2020, and will come to PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The slice of gameplay I managed to see today showed off just how intricate the game is, especially since we’ve only seen a small scale glimpse into the city of Pacifica.
