When Cyberpunk: Edgerunners launched on Netflix, it made a huge plot point out of cyberpsychosis. In the world of Cyberpunk, this is the idea that as a person augments their body with cybernetics, they will eventually affect their sanity and ability to function.
Phantom Liberty Is Undoing One Key Thing That Cyberpunk Got Right
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Because it was so prominent in the anime, it retroactively became very apparent that Cyberpunk 2077 doesn’t engage with this on a mechanical level. There are some quests that involve the condition narratively, like a number of cyberpsycho minibosses you’re effectively contracted to take down, but the condition can’t impact you, no matter how much tech you augment yourself with. That’s set to change a bit, however, with September’s Phantom Liberty expansion. While it doesn’t sound like protagonist V will be at risk for full-blown cyberpsychosis, the expansion will introduce some potential—albeit optional—drawbacks to your cybernetics.
Speaking with VGC, Cyberpunk 2077 quest director Pawel Sasko explained that a new cyberware capacity perk will allow you to overhaul your cyberware enhancements so that they’re more powerful, but at the expense of some downsides. The example given is enhanced combat capability at the expense of your health. Protagonist V might not start hallucinating and shooting at people who aren’t there the way characters in the anime do, but there’s some acknowledgement of the lore here.
“It’s all about this balance between risk and reward,” Sasko explained. “We are not going as far as the introduction of cyberpsychosis though, have that in mind.”
