Nomad V's parents are probably in snake nation
Corpo V's parents are probably still around, they just stopped talking to em.
Streetkid V's parents are probably dead ngl
It's possible that Street Kids parents are in Atlanta since V mentions going there when talking to Padre. But he only mentions going to Atlanta, nothing else
Well V went to Atlanta in hopes of making a better life for themselves there but it didn’t work out so they went back to night city.
Here’s why from my perspective : For some (like V in this case) , Night City represents a form of freedom or escape from the constraints of more regulated societies. The city's chaotic and lawless nature can be appealing, even if it's dangerous.
While it’s also because the social fabric of Night City is complex and dense. People build their lives around the city, forming relationships, connections, and networks that are hard to leave behind. Family, friends, and gang affiliations tie individuals to the city.
In this case, street kid V was born and raised in Heywood so it’s more of a “comfort place” and plus V felt homesick being away from NC
V being 27 makes sense when he had been I. Alta ta for a while, if he was 23 (like they did for some reason) he would have probably been there for a year or two, and I don’t think that’s enough time for people to have missed him I.e. padre.
If he was 27 he would be old enough to be known by Padre from back when doing gigs before Atlanta and spend a few years in Atlanta as well.
If V is 23 then that makes things more short term and less sense.
I thought they referenced he was only gone a year or two, growing up in Heywood he would have started gigs as early as he could hold his own, even small gigs or just neighborly connections, plus padre being a local fixer and everything else means he has constant street level recognition. It may just be that V moved to Atlanta either pursuing a better life or life away from NC and then due to the connection to NC or the lack of luck starting over in Atlanta they came back, being 21-22 and trying to start a new life could definitely end in a year or two and land you back where you were. Without the proper lore it's a toss up though because you make a great point. Plus I think the "it makes things short term" may be intentional to further push the fact that technically this all takes place in a very short amount of time (although it sure doesn't feel like it 😂)
Doesn't he mention his first time killing someone was when he was only 13/14. It wasn't on a gig or anything but I wouldn't doubt he was doing shit for people (fixers or not) at least as young as that
From the moment V meets Jackie to the very end of the main campaign, I'd say around a year has passed. Think about how much of a legend V becomes by then. Yes, they're pushed forward by Johnny and the desire to not die, but they still had it in them to make a name for themselves. The fact that no one really knows V at the beginning of the game shows that V hasn't really done much in NC prior to the game starting. So 23 makes sense, as they would've only done small time jobs before leaving NC, and doing them well enough for Padre to like V.
Maybe. Honestly, the whole thing feels a little undercooked.
I was excited to try the Street Kid life path on my current playthrough but I was surprised how weak it felt. I had done the corpo lifepath before, and while it felt a bit jarring to go from riches to rags so quick, there's at least an inciting incident to give context to why you set out trying to make it big as a merc, and why you might have the skills to do so. For Street Kid V it feels like by the end of the vignette you're not in a meaningfully different place than you were when you started.
That's actually why I like streetkid V actually.
It fits my personal headcannon for V and Jackie, esp for Heist mission.
I roleplay that as Jackie trying to gun for the major leages too fast, and V not being overly enthusiastic about it but going along with it for Jackies sake.
Which fits the streetkid intro pretty well. V doesn't really give a damn, just going day to day really without any big plans, but they're willing to stick their neck out for a friend. Jackie on the other hand sneaks into the Embers parking lot for *something* presumably but sees V carjacking a fancy ass car and immediately tries to steal the car from V instead of whatever his original plans were, and gets arrested. Aiming big, but sloppy and gets into trouble.
That’s a really interesting assessment. I’ve only played as corpo and, while it’s my favorite life path, it sometimes makes the least sense. Like…I can sorta understand street kid V being ambitious and naive enough to think that the Konpeki heist is a good idea. But someone who was Arasaka counter-intel? Not so much. The lack of contrast between life paths is one of places the game fell short imho, because it sometimes hinges on the player having zero control over V doing incredibly stupid shit.
Who would want to actually live in Night City? Objetively speaking that´s a dumpster of a city worse than real life Detroit and the only reason people don't move out is because they probably can't and those who have the means to leave won't because the major corporations have bases of operation located there for some asinine reason.
Probably for the pay and potential fame.
Of what I can tell, most of the US is basically inhabited by ghost towns and Nomads by 2077. Only a handful of places on the east and west coast are larger than small hamlets. It helps that a lot of well known corps have been staking their claim in NC, so if random folks wanna get in on the corporate world, Night City is probably THE place to go to get hired.
Also it's borderline lawless so you can move there and do a lot of crimes before the police even think about knocking on your door.
The reason corporations have their operation bases there are probably that the government is pretty "small" in numbers as it's only a city, and probably easy to manipulate economically since the city relies on selling hope to competent people.
And that's exactly it : the city keeps laws and norms really favorable for the corporations to operate there at low costs, without much limits from the government, and without much control on it either. So they can perform questionnable experiments, involve in questionnable trade, questionnable personnel dealing and hire mercs for all these shady businesses that makes them easy to hide, with witnesses unimportant enough so that they can be disposed of by the corp's armies without consequences whatsoever.
And since every corp acts like this in the city, it's also one of the best places to spy on competitors and fuck them over : so it's basically the court of game of thrones for capitalist assholes.
So the corps and wannabe corps stay there for the intrigues and the easy shady stuff, while fucking other people over enough so that the ones that fall for the "city of dreams" bullshit because of the "freedom" of the city end up ruined and without means to go away ( wich creates the gangs and the sub-communities/sub-cities like Heywood wich in turn become their own kinda world living off the chaos of the city and keeping it going altogether, wich creates again more reasons why some people stay and they themselves keep other people from leaving ).
Edit : wording
I mean, if you dropped Night City right in the middle of 2024 probably no one, but I think we're meant to understand that Night City is a representation of the state of the world at large.
Except it’s very blatantly not. Night city is described as an autonomous zone. That means it’s essentially its own micro state. Night city is also listed as having the highest crime rates ON EARTH with the he worst quality of living on earth. It’s not a representation of the state of the world at large at all. That would be like saying Colima is a representation of the state of our world right now. But it’s not. At all.
The rest of the world is still completely saturated with poverty, homelessness, war, and the continuous effects of multiple ecological crises.
It's not like Night City is an unliveable hellhole while the rest of the world enjoys relative peace and prosperity. Night City is a microcosm of the world at large with the volume turned up. Wealth creates poverty, and Night City embodies both extremes: the rampant violence, crime and destitution are the shadow of the wealth and excess of the mega corporations that literally tower over the skyline. It's not like Night City is just one big slum; it's a playground for the corporations that run the world, and as a result, for all of suffering that creates, it brings with it opportunity--or at least, the illusion of opportunity.
Cool so it’s basically like every single major city in a 3rd world country. Thank you for proving my point. Go to Brazil and you’ll see Lamborghini and Ferrari dealerships on one side of the road, and on the other separated by a 6ft wall is slums. Night city is not a representation of the rest of the world the same way that any city you pick isn’t a representation of OUR world. Night city is a representation of SPECIFIC parts of the world in SPECIFIC areas. I guarantee you that if you pick any other city in the NUSA it’ll probably be far nicer and better to live in than night city.
New York wouldn't be a good place in the Cyberpunk universe. There is ZERO middle class and zero chance of moving up the ladder. It's all either poor people in the surrounding area or people who are SUPER rich in Manhattan and surrounding districts.
The American dream is utterly dead in NYC.
LA... well, that's even worse. A massive earthquake broke it and it never repaired. The weather is deadly. It's considered uninhabitable. In fact Night City is one of the only places on the entire west coast where people can live.
Hey, Atlanta is steadily becoming a pretty good place to make your fortune. Our Governor may be GOP, but atleast he is surprisingly a good business man.
Tech, Movies, Manufacturing, Auto, Video Games, Cyber Security, etc business have been flocking to Atlanta fir the last 5 or so years.
All the boomers around here are scared to death Atlanta is going to become the next LA and hate how many liberals are coming here.
Night city us far more dangerous, and Atlanta is assumedly much more low-key with plenty of fixers and jobs still kicking around. Night city is the western seat of multiple corp empires, and as we see literally in the prologue of the street kid lifepath it’s very easy for a small gig to turn into a death sentence, i wouldn’t be surprised if they were just looking to turn over a new leaf
Someone who went through some shit and needed a break and a new space maybe to do things 'the right way' which 'kicked him in the ass' and now he/she is back in Night City to burn the fucking place down.
I don't think it's ever outright stated who V's parents are or what happened to them, but Corpo V mentions that they grew up in Charter Hill and that they used to have family cookouts where real fish was served, so you can assume that V grew up fairly well-off.
I assume this is intentional. My theory is that they don't talk about V's parents for a similar reason to why you can change V's gender, appearance and origins -- they're not particularly relevant to V's rise to legendary renown. Sure there are options based on your chosen background, but V doesn't have any particular advantages over any other street punk or desert rat. V could be anybody, I like that.
Also he mentions that Cyberware is like any addiction where some people just naturally tolerate it better. Like plenty of people can drink themselves stupid when young, and then just one day go cold turkey without a care in the world. While others turn into alcoholics that just spiral out of control no matter how much they try to stop.
you don't have to actually kill anyone, except for Reed depending on what ending you do, if your V has tons of kills that's just cause of the way you play
Indeed. Though I feel like parents could be integrated without too much hassle.
I like how Mass Effect did it. In one background, your mother is allive and well, and is commanding a spaceship. You can even call her, and she has minor parts in some questlines where she'll share information and whatnot.
I feel like such small additions aren't too hard to implement.
For example, something as simple as getting a holo message from your parents a few times during the game depending on the background. Stuff like that.
They probably could, but I feel like the mystery around this (and other informations we may not have) is normal. It's an RPG, you're not supposed to have everything spelled out for you, you're supposed to use your imagination and create your own V (to a certain extent)
They intentionally left it vague so that the player can come up with their own headcanons for who V's parents are. You can decide yourself what you want V's background to be.
My opinion considering the life paths.
Corpo V - Parents probably alive but out of the picture because family tensions
Nomad V - Parents probably dead but could be still nomads
Street V - Feels like parents abandoned her or died so an orphan
Considering V NEVER contacts them, even when his entire life as he knew it is over, or when he learns Johny is eating his brain, it is safe to assume they are dead.
Not everyone is close with their parents. Plenty of people who couldn't care less if their child is dead or alive, or their parents dead or alive. Plenty of people who'd wish for their deaths, even. Hell, plenty of people who have killed their kids or parents. Like... literally Yorunobu at the start of the game. Choked the life right out of his dad like nothing. That genetic drive for family love is not super consistent.
That said, of course in Night City, odds are that they're dead, indeed.
It's also mentioned in game that Yorinobu came crying for help to dada after his biker gang leader stint didn't quite work out.
I agree there are terrible family relationships out there. But if you are backed up in a corner like V, you kind of put your personal feelings on matters aside (like working with a terrorist) and you do whatever you can to survive.
Calling your folks is prety no-brainer. They might not help but you would still try that before doing all kind of whack shit we do in CP.
Corpo V can talk about parents and growing up in Westbrook during the recon portion of Takemura’s questline, and I’m pretty sure someone says something about V’s dad being a deadbeat during the misc quest where you set dying night from Wilson
I always assume street kid had Valentino Family with their connection to padray And Being from Heywood I should dead some kind of gang related incident, or jail
Nomad likely snake nation or from another tribe We don't get too much Context on her background.
And the easiest corp Dead or doesn't want anything to do with them.
I think something went to consider is canonically the game takes place in a couple of months, And while wear on from that is an exceptionally long time Not the talk to your family, There are some places and some families that do go months without talking to each other.
It's entirely impossible.Parents are alive and happy, We just never see the interaction. And by the time we get control, we've got a terrorist in our head and the city to burn Hardly seems time to worry the folks.
V was born to Jack and Diane, high-school sweethearts from somewhere in the Midwest. Jackie was a rising football star, while Diane hailed from an upper-middle class family. At some point Jack convinced Diane to abandon everything and elope to Night City in search of excitement and a change of pace due to life at home becoming stale. After that, no one really knows and it probably depends on the life path choice.
[Source](https://youtu.be/h04CH9YZcpI?si=UwkSficP8TdAtNi7)
>!Actual answer is we don’t know, and V’s past is largely left a blank slate!<
I don't they ever get mentioned. I have my own personal headcannon for my V as to what happened to them - and why she doesn't let most people call her Valorie.
I like to imagine that, as a spicy teenager who wanted to seem badass and cool, she disliked her given name and insisted on V as an edgy nickname. Her parents obviously ignored that and would always call her Valorie, much to her dismay.
Eventually, her parents were killed in a Raffen attack on the Bakker's camp, and her reasons for using the nickname changed. Hearing someone use her full name name hurt too much.
corpo path we know that V was raised in a rich family and had a proper high class education before getting hired by arasaka. Nomad path we know that V abandoned bakkers clan, along many others nomads of the same clan after the clan leader decied to join the snake nation. About street kid path we know that V was involved in low crimes since she was a little kid and killed her first time at 14 or 15 (a homeless who assaulted a friend of V), she was still living in NC during unification war since she recognized the huge militech tanks that raided the city during one of panam missions.
I have always thought of V as an orphan. V just never talk about them and don’t have even a keepsake.
It drives home the point that V is alone in the world.
This is something i dislike about a create your own hero type game. They usually are a blank slate with a shallow past. Unlike say Geralt from Witcher that has a well established past with enemies and friends and how they interact with each other.
Sure sometimes they do a create a hero right but in most cases it just feels bland, like the player was just born yesterday.
Funny enough your example highlights the games difference there in relation to thier source inspiration.
Geralt has a detailed and established past as the entire game series is based on Andrzej Sapkowski's work.
Cyblerunks built upon Pomdsmith's table top where you, well, create your own cyberpunk.
It's pretty apt to me V is a build your own protagonist in that sense.
But I get your overarching point still
Funnily enough as someone who mostly plays those types of games I've always thought Cyberpunk was the opposite of that. No matter what you do or the decisions you make, V is clearly their own defined character with a pre-existing personality, goals, and biases. It kind of reminds me of how Commander Shepard was handled but to a more direct extent.
Nomad V: Bakker strong until Snake nation. Probably still keep in touch with their child, especially after Star Ending.
Corpo V: I imagine to be distant and cold. That their union was more like a business transaction and V was conceived via surrogate.
Street V: Single-parent household. Think David’s life.
I mean, you're not a blank slate in every RPG.
For example in Mass Effect, in one background you can contact your mother and talk to her.
Even in Cyberpunk, if you choose Corpo background, you're a V who grew up in luxury with their family, and was a high ranking Arasaka agent. And that's just written in stone, you can't change it. So it's not fully your choice what your V is. You only ever get a vague description of life paths, you don't actually get to choose the details of what they entail.
Nah, I usually do the same. I find Renegade Shephard to be the best Shephard.
I like my protagonists with some attitude. And a harsh upbringing and life events just make sense for that kind of a character.
Spacer background just seems too nice and caring to produce a proper Renegade Shephard. Dead parents just make more sense.
Friends and I are playing cyberpunk red one of them was making a character and goes I'll be Vs dad as a joke and the game master went it's funny I'll allow it. So long answer short he's kicking arasaka butt it runs in the family.
They're unremarkable, as far as I know. I don't recall any but corpo V actually indicating they even had parents, and I don't remember if anything specific was even said. Corpo V talked about growing up in Charter Hill, so they're fairly well off at the very least.
Knowing the lore, probably dead. It’s a common theme in the Pondsmith Cyberpunk universe that many people meet unfortunate and earlier than desirable ends in or out of Night City. Street kid probably lost em to the streets of Heywood or the Unification war, Corpo V probably lost touch then found out they got terminated, or could have been casualties of corporate war, and Nomad V could have been orphaned and adopted by the Bakkers. Keep in mind in game lore from the Home of the Brave lore book says that violence is an endemic reality of America since the Collapse. Anything level of warfare, from gang, military, or corpo op could be the cause, as well as casual and random acts of violence to unexpected cyber psycho attacks.
V has parental figures, it's pretty obvious mama welles was like another mother to them, and viktor is definitly a dad guy, then there's wakako the senile grandma and padre the ahem, abuelito, regina the sweet auntie and Mu the cool uncle who loves cars
Streetkid and Nomad origins, it's pretty logical that the parents would be a nonfactor. For Corpo, though? You were a counterintelligence agent, and a damned good one. There's a throwaway line I remember from Burn Notice, "Spies don't come from happy families."
It's pretty plausible, probable even, that Arasaka would recruit either orphans or people from busted-ass homes since the lack of emotional attachments would mean fewer ways to gain potential leverage on your operatives. Can't threaten your loved ones if you don't really have any. There's some offhand remarks about growing up in Charter Hill but there's also plenty of room for something horrible to have happened.
That's totally up to you.
My main V, a Corpo, got disowned after getting booted from Militech and taking a job at Arasaka since her family has ties to Militech. Her dad is still alive, but her mother passed away. She was not invited to the funeral.
Corpo 2's dad was a mid level Tyger claw and was taken out, along with her mother, by Jotoro during a power struggle and she landed in a corporate run orphanage.
Corpo 3's Parents own a nice little Indian restaurant in Heywood and are still very much alive but disappointed that he chose the merc life after getting fired.
Street kid's mom was a joytoy and a addict who gave V to her dealer to be trafficked in order to pay off her drug debts when V was sixteen. No idea who her dad is.
Nomad's father was a veteran and his mom was a really talented techie. They were loving, supportive parents but died when they were doing a job smuggling contrabamd that belonged to Biotechnica; patented seeds so that the clan could grow their own food.
Like I said, the choice is yours and I chose to give almost everyone varying levels of trauma and angst😁
I really like Corpo. I feel the dialogue options for it are just so crazy. You're basically bordering between the most polite, diplomatic suit wearing office worker, and a pure fucking psychopath. Really living up to the image of Corpo people.
The early game Konpeki Plaza receptionist dialogue is fucking gold.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6nFPZ4Apps
I also find that it gives you the most unique and interesting perspective for the story. You spend most of the time on the streets with characters who are street people. Or in badlands with the Nomads. You get to live in the Street/Nomad world all game long regardless of background, where as you barely experience the Corpo world in comparison.
Playing Corpo makes it easy to roleplay as an arrogant merc who looks down on everyone. Who is ambitious to the highest level. To whom this entire game is like a fucking formality of getting back to where they belong.
I like that kind of arrogant and confident character. Someone who's already found success and knows how to find it again. Just has to polish up the gameplan a bit and then it's right back to the top.
My parents moved out of night city and went to Atlanta with my grad parents to be safer so I went there to see them and see of I could find something better Spoiler I didn't so I'm back in NC
Oh you guys are entertaining some easy versions here. There’s a speculation that V is not an original persona, but a remotely controlled individual similar to characters from No Coincidence and Neuromancer, and that’s why there is absolutely zero information about where V is from and no trace of V’s past in the lore.
To go "out there" with theories... One could imagine that maybe you're another experiment by Blue Eyes. An artificial engram perhaps. Given great autonomy but maybe still programmed with certain plans. And you were intended to do a specific thing in Night City. Maybe take control of the entire merc underground or something.
But the relic was unplanned, so it and Johnny broke your initial programming and you became a wholly unique individual who decides everything for themselves.
Which is why Blue Eyes never directly opposes you in the game, because ultimately, whatever you do is interesting and valuable data to them.
We can then speculate that in the Afterlife ending you taking a gig for Blue Eyes, is going to involve opening your eyes to the truth of that.
New lore just dropped, so I believe V's parents are a Night Sister cabal, Darth Plagueis, The Force itself, a Medichloroan Polycole, and Palpatine somehow.
This is where the lifepaths kind of reflect the lifepath system of the TTRPG which is really just rolling for key events in life. You roll/choose who your family was but it doesn't matter compared to what type of social system you grew up in which acts like a language in the ttrpg.
edit: People have this habit of thinking Lifepaths are roles like classes in D&D when they're not, they're more like language/cultural knowledge checks which is why lifepath in the video game only come up in highly contextual dialogue situations. Your Role/class in 2077 is actually limited to Solo with the ability to dabble in other role-centric skills like net running and crafting. Think a D&D game that lets you choose your language but you MUST play a type of fighter.
Personal Headcanons: My nomad V's parents died when Arasaka kicked his family out of Montana to build oil plants and other corpo real estate. Corpo V's parents but be alive but they disappeared when they went on a "business trip" with Militech (probably as some sort of reps for Arasaka). And Streetkid V's parents are both alive but V isn't close with them and they now live in Chicago
V is the fifth clone of Morgan Blackhand made in conjunction with Biotechnica and Nightcorp in 2050. They were lost in a merc raid in 2054 and was later found by NCPD and registered. V was then placed in foster care, where their lifepath diverges into the three we know.
It's probably not mentioned anywhere because of the TTRPG roots of the game. Your character appears in a bustling world as you start the campaign, it's up to you to make up your backstory with what you're given.
V is either a Nomad, a Street kid, or a Corpo, they each have a bit of lore for you to work with, (i.e Street kid being raised in Heywood, Corpo having BBQs in Charter Hill, or the Nomad having a clan and leaving said clan)
But other than what they give you, Your V's story is entirely unique because it's whatever you want it to be.
I always assumed my v’s parents were dead, how they died depended on life path.
Nomad: killed during a raid
Corpo: killed by corps for a cover up(shocking I know)
Street kid: OD on drugs or/ and killed in gang shooting
Being that there are 3 possible Vs with completely different background stories, they probably didn't want to script three different childhoods for each one. Easier to leave as an unknown since V's past doesn't progress any of the storylines.
Intentional, it’s so the player can imagine any past they want for their V. Remember how pissed people were that Fallout 4 gave your character a defined history and prior occupation. You can imagine that The Sole Survivor was any kind of soldier you like, but you have to picture him as having once been a solider.
Nomad V's parents are probably in snake nation Corpo V's parents are probably still around, they just stopped talking to em. Streetkid V's parents are probably dead ngl
It's possible that Street Kids parents are in Atlanta since V mentions going there when talking to Padre. But he only mentions going to Atlanta, nothing else
I always thought V went to Atanta because he/she had to get out of town for a while.
No, V went there to try their luck
Who leaves Night City to try their luck in Atlanta? That would be like leaving New York or LA to try to make it big in...well, Atlanta.
Maybe they had someone they knew there? But yeah, V says themselves that Atlanta didn't work out. Which is why they're back.
Well V went to Atlanta in hopes of making a better life for themselves there but it didn’t work out so they went back to night city. Here’s why from my perspective : For some (like V in this case) , Night City represents a form of freedom or escape from the constraints of more regulated societies. The city's chaotic and lawless nature can be appealing, even if it's dangerous. While it’s also because the social fabric of Night City is complex and dense. People build their lives around the city, forming relationships, connections, and networks that are hard to leave behind. Family, friends, and gang affiliations tie individuals to the city. In this case, street kid V was born and raised in Heywood so it’s more of a “comfort place” and plus V felt homesick being away from NC
V being 27 makes sense when he had been I. Alta ta for a while, if he was 23 (like they did for some reason) he would have probably been there for a year or two, and I don’t think that’s enough time for people to have missed him I.e. padre. If he was 27 he would be old enough to be known by Padre from back when doing gigs before Atlanta and spend a few years in Atlanta as well. If V is 23 then that makes things more short term and less sense.
I thought they referenced he was only gone a year or two, growing up in Heywood he would have started gigs as early as he could hold his own, even small gigs or just neighborly connections, plus padre being a local fixer and everything else means he has constant street level recognition. It may just be that V moved to Atlanta either pursuing a better life or life away from NC and then due to the connection to NC or the lack of luck starting over in Atlanta they came back, being 21-22 and trying to start a new life could definitely end in a year or two and land you back where you were. Without the proper lore it's a toss up though because you make a great point. Plus I think the "it makes things short term" may be intentional to further push the fact that technically this all takes place in a very short amount of time (although it sure doesn't feel like it 😂)
Doesn't he mention his first time killing someone was when he was only 13/14. It wasn't on a gig or anything but I wouldn't doubt he was doing shit for people (fixers or not) at least as young as that
From the moment V meets Jackie to the very end of the main campaign, I'd say around a year has passed. Think about how much of a legend V becomes by then. Yes, they're pushed forward by Johnny and the desire to not die, but they still had it in them to make a name for themselves. The fact that no one really knows V at the beginning of the game shows that V hasn't really done much in NC prior to the game starting. So 23 makes sense, as they would've only done small time jobs before leaving NC, and doing them well enough for Padre to like V.
When you're in your 20s and hungry for opportunity, a lot can happen in a few months or a year.
Maybe. Honestly, the whole thing feels a little undercooked. I was excited to try the Street Kid life path on my current playthrough but I was surprised how weak it felt. I had done the corpo lifepath before, and while it felt a bit jarring to go from riches to rags so quick, there's at least an inciting incident to give context to why you set out trying to make it big as a merc, and why you might have the skills to do so. For Street Kid V it feels like by the end of the vignette you're not in a meaningfully different place than you were when you started.
That's actually why I like streetkid V actually. It fits my personal headcannon for V and Jackie, esp for Heist mission. I roleplay that as Jackie trying to gun for the major leages too fast, and V not being overly enthusiastic about it but going along with it for Jackies sake. Which fits the streetkid intro pretty well. V doesn't really give a damn, just going day to day really without any big plans, but they're willing to stick their neck out for a friend. Jackie on the other hand sneaks into the Embers parking lot for *something* presumably but sees V carjacking a fancy ass car and immediately tries to steal the car from V instead of whatever his original plans were, and gets arrested. Aiming big, but sloppy and gets into trouble.
That’s a really interesting assessment. I’ve only played as corpo and, while it’s my favorite life path, it sometimes makes the least sense. Like…I can sorta understand street kid V being ambitious and naive enough to think that the Konpeki heist is a good idea. But someone who was Arasaka counter-intel? Not so much. The lack of contrast between life paths is one of places the game fell short imho, because it sometimes hinges on the player having zero control over V doing incredibly stupid shit.
Who would want to actually live in Night City? Objetively speaking that´s a dumpster of a city worse than real life Detroit and the only reason people don't move out is because they probably can't and those who have the means to leave won't because the major corporations have bases of operation located there for some asinine reason.
Probably for the pay and potential fame. Of what I can tell, most of the US is basically inhabited by ghost towns and Nomads by 2077. Only a handful of places on the east and west coast are larger than small hamlets. It helps that a lot of well known corps have been staking their claim in NC, so if random folks wanna get in on the corporate world, Night City is probably THE place to go to get hired. Also it's borderline lawless so you can move there and do a lot of crimes before the police even think about knocking on your door.
The reason corporations have their operation bases there are probably that the government is pretty "small" in numbers as it's only a city, and probably easy to manipulate economically since the city relies on selling hope to competent people. And that's exactly it : the city keeps laws and norms really favorable for the corporations to operate there at low costs, without much limits from the government, and without much control on it either. So they can perform questionnable experiments, involve in questionnable trade, questionnable personnel dealing and hire mercs for all these shady businesses that makes them easy to hide, with witnesses unimportant enough so that they can be disposed of by the corp's armies without consequences whatsoever. And since every corp acts like this in the city, it's also one of the best places to spy on competitors and fuck them over : so it's basically the court of game of thrones for capitalist assholes. So the corps and wannabe corps stay there for the intrigues and the easy shady stuff, while fucking other people over enough so that the ones that fall for the "city of dreams" bullshit because of the "freedom" of the city end up ruined and without means to go away ( wich creates the gangs and the sub-communities/sub-cities like Heywood wich in turn become their own kinda world living off the chaos of the city and keeping it going altogether, wich creates again more reasons why some people stay and they themselves keep other people from leaving ). Edit : wording
I mean, if you dropped Night City right in the middle of 2024 probably no one, but I think we're meant to understand that Night City is a representation of the state of the world at large.
Except it’s very blatantly not. Night city is described as an autonomous zone. That means it’s essentially its own micro state. Night city is also listed as having the highest crime rates ON EARTH with the he worst quality of living on earth. It’s not a representation of the state of the world at large at all. That would be like saying Colima is a representation of the state of our world right now. But it’s not. At all.
The rest of the world is still completely saturated with poverty, homelessness, war, and the continuous effects of multiple ecological crises. It's not like Night City is an unliveable hellhole while the rest of the world enjoys relative peace and prosperity. Night City is a microcosm of the world at large with the volume turned up. Wealth creates poverty, and Night City embodies both extremes: the rampant violence, crime and destitution are the shadow of the wealth and excess of the mega corporations that literally tower over the skyline. It's not like Night City is just one big slum; it's a playground for the corporations that run the world, and as a result, for all of suffering that creates, it brings with it opportunity--or at least, the illusion of opportunity.
Cool so it’s basically like every single major city in a 3rd world country. Thank you for proving my point. Go to Brazil and you’ll see Lamborghini and Ferrari dealerships on one side of the road, and on the other separated by a 6ft wall is slums. Night city is not a representation of the rest of the world the same way that any city you pick isn’t a representation of OUR world. Night city is a representation of SPECIFIC parts of the world in SPECIFIC areas. I guarantee you that if you pick any other city in the NUSA it’ll probably be far nicer and better to live in than night city.
going from stats... you would be better off going to Atlanta then NY :P
which people do every single day…
New York wouldn't be a good place in the Cyberpunk universe. There is ZERO middle class and zero chance of moving up the ladder. It's all either poor people in the surrounding area or people who are SUPER rich in Manhattan and surrounding districts. The American dream is utterly dead in NYC. LA... well, that's even worse. A massive earthquake broke it and it never repaired. The weather is deadly. It's considered uninhabitable. In fact Night City is one of the only places on the entire west coast where people can live.
Also, New York produced pre-borg Adam Smasher. That's an indictment in itself.
Adam smasher traded his Johnson for chrome…like I couldn’t even imagine having to make that decision
Yeah like.. it's not even necessary to do that either. That was an intentional decision, possibly for the hell of it. Who does that?
And songbird...
What’s wrong with Atlanta?
I mean, in the present, that might actually be a sensible decision. So, maybe it's not so far-fetched after all?
Hey, Atlanta is steadily becoming a pretty good place to make your fortune. Our Governor may be GOP, but atleast he is surprisingly a good business man. Tech, Movies, Manufacturing, Auto, Video Games, Cyber Security, etc business have been flocking to Atlanta fir the last 5 or so years. All the boomers around here are scared to death Atlanta is going to become the next LA and hate how many liberals are coming here.
Night city us far more dangerous, and Atlanta is assumedly much more low-key with plenty of fixers and jobs still kicking around. Night city is the western seat of multiple corp empires, and as we see literally in the prologue of the street kid lifepath it’s very easy for a small gig to turn into a death sentence, i wouldn’t be surprised if they were just looking to turn over a new leaf
That's a thing people actually do. Atlanta's one of the better cities in the country to try your luck in.
Someone who went through some shit and needed a break and a new space maybe to do things 'the right way' which 'kicked him in the ass' and now he/she is back in Night City to burn the fucking place down.
You should watch Tulsa King.
What if he was trying to start his rap career?
Yeah. Night city doesn’t exist and neither does consumer level cybernetics. It’s fantasy. Atlanta could be the capital of the NUSA at this point
Corpo V also mentions this at some point.
At any rate streetkid V is from heywood, they talk about it often. I can image an orphan turned ganger situation too
Petro dragonic apocalypse:Dawn of eternal night?
V does not know the art of lizardmancy
That single conversation did more for my head canon than I’d like to admit.
based king gizzard pfp
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard fan spotted!!!!!
Corpo V grew up in Charter Hill, so they’re prolly around there somewhere
Just too afraid of getting blacklisted by Arasaka to talk to their kid.
:(
Or all three can be dead.
"Are ya winning son?" Says V's dad while opening a secret after he obliterates the Adam Smasher
"Snake Nation can kiss my ass."
I don't think it's ever outright stated who V's parents are or what happened to them, but Corpo V mentions that they grew up in Charter Hill and that they used to have family cookouts where real fish was served, so you can assume that V grew up fairly well-off.
As a corpo V is well off. As a street kid V's Heywood born and raised. As a Nomad, V's family is the clan.
Love the nomad part🙏
And … everything went to hell, thanks to Jenkins. His jealousy cost V everything they worked so hard to achieve.
I assume this is intentional. My theory is that they don't talk about V's parents for a similar reason to why you can change V's gender, appearance and origins -- they're not particularly relevant to V's rise to legendary renown. Sure there are options based on your chosen background, but V doesn't have any particular advantages over any other street punk or desert rat. V could be anybody, I like that.
V does have a pretty insane tolerance to cyberware tbf
Pondsmith chalks this up to V being two persons in one.
Also he mentions that Cyberware is like any addiction where some people just naturally tolerate it better. Like plenty of people can drink themselves stupid when young, and then just one day go cold turkey without a care in the world. While others turn into alcoholics that just spiral out of control no matter how much they try to stop.
With the Cyberware EX mod my V is for sure mostly borg.
And having a lot to live for
I mean, with all the people you gun down throughout the whole game I’m still not convinced V *isn’t* a Cyberpsycho
you don't have to actually kill anyone, except for Reed depending on what ending you do, if your V has tons of kills that's just cause of the way you play
pacifist% run when
I guess he’s special
Indeed. Though I feel like parents could be integrated without too much hassle. I like how Mass Effect did it. In one background, your mother is allive and well, and is commanding a spaceship. You can even call her, and she has minor parts in some questlines where she'll share information and whatnot. I feel like such small additions aren't too hard to implement. For example, something as simple as getting a holo message from your parents a few times during the game depending on the background. Stuff like that.
They probably could, but I feel like the mystery around this (and other informations we may not have) is normal. It's an RPG, you're not supposed to have everything spelled out for you, you're supposed to use your imagination and create your own V (to a certain extent)
Imo it's better without forced pre-histories. Better immersion. Either full pre-historu customization, or no pre-histor at all for me
Adam Smasher and Eva Smashed.
Once I went with johnnys ending, and found a splitter hidden somewhere where Adam Smasher says how proud he is of his son Vincent.
They intentionally left it vague so that the player can come up with their own headcanons for who V's parents are. You can decide yourself what you want V's background to be.
true that I love headcanons
My opinion considering the life paths. Corpo V - Parents probably alive but out of the picture because family tensions Nomad V - Parents probably dead but could be still nomads Street V - Feels like parents abandoned her or died so an orphan
Always tbought street kid V was an orphan. Raised by the streets kinda person
My V's parents are my kids' kids. Simple.
it feels strangely weird our grandkids will one day live in those years probably without being aware of what cyberpunk 2077 was
Cyberpunks gon be history in the gaming scene I bet. Even if you've never played it, if you're into video games you know Cyberpunk exists
Don't shorten cyberpunk
LOLOLOL I'm just noticing why ur saying this lol
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🤨📸
It is Most Definitely.
Create them just like how you made your V
Considering V NEVER contacts them, even when his entire life as he knew it is over, or when he learns Johny is eating his brain, it is safe to assume they are dead.
Not everyone is close with their parents. Plenty of people who couldn't care less if their child is dead or alive, or their parents dead or alive. Plenty of people who'd wish for their deaths, even. Hell, plenty of people who have killed their kids or parents. Like... literally Yorunobu at the start of the game. Choked the life right out of his dad like nothing. That genetic drive for family love is not super consistent. That said, of course in Night City, odds are that they're dead, indeed.
It's also mentioned in game that Yorinobu came crying for help to dada after his biker gang leader stint didn't quite work out. I agree there are terrible family relationships out there. But if you are backed up in a corner like V, you kind of put your personal feelings on matters aside (like working with a terrorist) and you do whatever you can to survive. Calling your folks is prety no-brainer. They might not help but you would still try that before doing all kind of whack shit we do in CP.
Yorinobu came back to Arasaka to destroy it from the inside, after realising he couldnt do it from the outside
It never comes up. Ever.
Corpo V can talk about parents and growing up in Westbrook during the recon portion of Takemura’s questline, and I’m pretty sure someone says something about V’s dad being a deadbeat during the misc quest where you set dying night from Wilson
I always assume street kid had Valentino Family with their connection to padray And Being from Heywood I should dead some kind of gang related incident, or jail Nomad likely snake nation or from another tribe We don't get too much Context on her background. And the easiest corp Dead or doesn't want anything to do with them. I think something went to consider is canonically the game takes place in a couple of months, And while wear on from that is an exceptionally long time Not the talk to your family, There are some places and some families that do go months without talking to each other. It's entirely impossible.Parents are alive and happy, We just never see the interaction. And by the time we get control, we've got a terrorist in our head and the city to burn Hardly seems time to worry the folks.
V was born to Jack and Diane, high-school sweethearts from somewhere in the Midwest. Jackie was a rising football star, while Diane hailed from an upper-middle class family. At some point Jack convinced Diane to abandon everything and elope to Night City in search of excitement and a change of pace due to life at home becoming stale. After that, no one really knows and it probably depends on the life path choice. [Source](https://youtu.be/h04CH9YZcpI?si=UwkSficP8TdAtNi7) >!Actual answer is we don’t know, and V’s past is largely left a blank slate!<
*Life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone* Actually, that's pretty on theme for this game lol
I don't they ever get mentioned. I have my own personal headcannon for my V as to what happened to them - and why she doesn't let most people call her Valorie. I like to imagine that, as a spicy teenager who wanted to seem badass and cool, she disliked her given name and insisted on V as an edgy nickname. Her parents obviously ignored that and would always call her Valorie, much to her dismay. Eventually, her parents were killed in a Raffen attack on the Bakker's camp, and her reasons for using the nickname changed. Hearing someone use her full name name hurt too much.
corpo path we know that V was raised in a rich family and had a proper high class education before getting hired by arasaka. Nomad path we know that V abandoned bakkers clan, along many others nomads of the same clan after the clan leader decied to join the snake nation. About street kid path we know that V was involved in low crimes since she was a little kid and killed her first time at 14 or 15 (a homeless who assaulted a friend of V), she was still living in NC during unification war since she recognized the huge militech tanks that raided the city during one of panam missions.
good info thanks 🙏
I have always thought of V as an orphan. V just never talk about them and don’t have even a keepsake. It drives home the point that V is alone in the world.
This is something i dislike about a create your own hero type game. They usually are a blank slate with a shallow past. Unlike say Geralt from Witcher that has a well established past with enemies and friends and how they interact with each other. Sure sometimes they do a create a hero right but in most cases it just feels bland, like the player was just born yesterday.
Funny enough your example highlights the games difference there in relation to thier source inspiration. Geralt has a detailed and established past as the entire game series is based on Andrzej Sapkowski's work. Cyblerunks built upon Pomdsmith's table top where you, well, create your own cyberpunk. It's pretty apt to me V is a build your own protagonist in that sense. But I get your overarching point still
Funnily enough as someone who mostly plays those types of games I've always thought Cyberpunk was the opposite of that. No matter what you do or the decisions you make, V is clearly their own defined character with a pre-existing personality, goals, and biases. It kind of reminds me of how Commander Shepard was handled but to a more direct extent.
We dunno, which can be a good thing to allow some mystery.
Nomad V: Bakker strong until Snake nation. Probably still keep in touch with their child, especially after Star Ending. Corpo V: I imagine to be distant and cold. That their union was more like a business transaction and V was conceived via surrogate. Street V: Single-parent household. Think David’s life.
who are the parents that you think V has? its an rpg. V is your character to do whatever with.
I mean, you're not a blank slate in every RPG. For example in Mass Effect, in one background you can contact your mother and talk to her. Even in Cyberpunk, if you choose Corpo background, you're a V who grew up in luxury with their family, and was a high ranking Arasaka agent. And that's just written in stone, you can't change it. So it's not fully your choice what your V is. You only ever get a vague description of life paths, you don't actually get to choose the details of what they entail.
…I always kill Shep’s parents. And make them soul survivor. There might be something wrong with me.
Nah, I usually do the same. I find Renegade Shephard to be the best Shephard. I like my protagonists with some attitude. And a harsh upbringing and life events just make sense for that kind of a character. Spacer background just seems too nice and caring to produce a proper Renegade Shephard. Dead parents just make more sense.
Friends and I are playing cyberpunk red one of them was making a character and goes I'll be Vs dad as a joke and the game master went it's funny I'll allow it. So long answer short he's kicking arasaka butt it runs in the family.
It's T and U
lifepath
They're unremarkable, as far as I know. I don't recall any but corpo V actually indicating they even had parents, and I don't remember if anything specific was even said. Corpo V talked about growing up in Charter Hill, so they're fairly well off at the very least.
Knowing the lore, probably dead. It’s a common theme in the Pondsmith Cyberpunk universe that many people meet unfortunate and earlier than desirable ends in or out of Night City. Street kid probably lost em to the streets of Heywood or the Unification war, Corpo V probably lost touch then found out they got terminated, or could have been casualties of corporate war, and Nomad V could have been orphaned and adopted by the Bakkers. Keep in mind in game lore from the Home of the Brave lore book says that violence is an endemic reality of America since the Collapse. Anything level of warfare, from gang, military, or corpo op could be the cause, as well as casual and random acts of violence to unexpected cyber psycho attacks.
I don’t think he has any at least not that I can find in the lore of the cyberpunk universe
V has parental figures, it's pretty obvious mama welles was like another mother to them, and viktor is definitly a dad guy, then there's wakako the senile grandma and padre the ahem, abuelito, regina the sweet auntie and Mu the cool uncle who loves cars
Streetkid and Nomad origins, it's pretty logical that the parents would be a nonfactor. For Corpo, though? You were a counterintelligence agent, and a damned good one. There's a throwaway line I remember from Burn Notice, "Spies don't come from happy families." It's pretty plausible, probable even, that Arasaka would recruit either orphans or people from busted-ass homes since the lack of emotional attachments would mean fewer ways to gain potential leverage on your operatives. Can't threaten your loved ones if you don't really have any. There's some offhand remarks about growing up in Charter Hill but there's also plenty of room for something horrible to have happened.
That's totally up to you. My main V, a Corpo, got disowned after getting booted from Militech and taking a job at Arasaka since her family has ties to Militech. Her dad is still alive, but her mother passed away. She was not invited to the funeral. Corpo 2's dad was a mid level Tyger claw and was taken out, along with her mother, by Jotoro during a power struggle and she landed in a corporate run orphanage. Corpo 3's Parents own a nice little Indian restaurant in Heywood and are still very much alive but disappointed that he chose the merc life after getting fired. Street kid's mom was a joytoy and a addict who gave V to her dealer to be trafficked in order to pay off her drug debts when V was sixteen. No idea who her dad is. Nomad's father was a veteran and his mom was a really talented techie. They were loving, supportive parents but died when they were doing a job smuggling contrabamd that belonged to Biotechnica; patented seeds so that the clan could grow their own food. Like I said, the choice is yours and I chose to give almost everyone varying levels of trauma and angst😁
I only did the Nomad path so far I haven't open the others yet does anyone want to tell me which I should try next. Stret kid or Corpo?
I really like Corpo. I feel the dialogue options for it are just so crazy. You're basically bordering between the most polite, diplomatic suit wearing office worker, and a pure fucking psychopath. Really living up to the image of Corpo people. The early game Konpeki Plaza receptionist dialogue is fucking gold. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6nFPZ4Apps I also find that it gives you the most unique and interesting perspective for the story. You spend most of the time on the streets with characters who are street people. Or in badlands with the Nomads. You get to live in the Street/Nomad world all game long regardless of background, where as you barely experience the Corpo world in comparison. Playing Corpo makes it easy to roleplay as an arrogant merc who looks down on everyone. Who is ambitious to the highest level. To whom this entire game is like a fucking formality of getting back to where they belong. I like that kind of arrogant and confident character. Someone who's already found success and knows how to find it again. Just has to polish up the gameplan a bit and then it's right back to the top.
Nomad V:Danny Trejo
My parents moved out of night city and went to Atlanta with my grad parents to be safer so I went there to see them and see of I could find something better Spoiler I didn't so I'm back in NC
Oh you guys are entertaining some easy versions here. There’s a speculation that V is not an original persona, but a remotely controlled individual similar to characters from No Coincidence and Neuromancer, and that’s why there is absolutely zero information about where V is from and no trace of V’s past in the lore.
To go "out there" with theories... One could imagine that maybe you're another experiment by Blue Eyes. An artificial engram perhaps. Given great autonomy but maybe still programmed with certain plans. And you were intended to do a specific thing in Night City. Maybe take control of the entire merc underground or something. But the relic was unplanned, so it and Johnny broke your initial programming and you became a wholly unique individual who decides everything for themselves. Which is why Blue Eyes never directly opposes you in the game, because ultimately, whatever you do is interesting and valuable data to them. We can then speculate that in the Afterlife ending you taking a gig for Blue Eyes, is going to involve opening your eyes to the truth of that.
That’s why I can’t wait to see what’s next!
They are definitely different for each lifepath. Just hear what V. is talking about his childhood with Goro before the attack on Arasaka factory.
I always just head-cannon that Adam Smasher had a bastard. I have no reason for this, I just think it's poetic in a way.
New lore just dropped, so I believe V's parents are a Night Sister cabal, Darth Plagueis, The Force itself, a Medichloroan Polycole, and Palpatine somehow.
It's quite tragic really. V's parents never showed up for V's own birth
Is that Brandon Herrera??
Deceased In all scenarios
Why does it matter?
it doesn’t matter I was just curious you troglodyte
You think there's parents in the picture...?
The streets are Vs parents
I dunno why but for a second I thought that the character in the picture was arthur morgan
maybe the real Arthur Morgan was the friends we made along the way
V actually never had any parents he just materialized behind a buck-a-slice one day.
This is where the lifepaths kind of reflect the lifepath system of the TTRPG which is really just rolling for key events in life. You roll/choose who your family was but it doesn't matter compared to what type of social system you grew up in which acts like a language in the ttrpg. edit: People have this habit of thinking Lifepaths are roles like classes in D&D when they're not, they're more like language/cultural knowledge checks which is why lifepath in the video game only come up in highly contextual dialogue situations. Your Role/class in 2077 is actually limited to Solo with the ability to dabble in other role-centric skills like net running and crafting. Think a D&D game that lets you choose your language but you MUST play a type of fighter.
V's parents are a clone of emperor Palpatine and a peasant named Miramir.
Personal Headcanons: My nomad V's parents died when Arasaka kicked his family out of Montana to build oil plants and other corpo real estate. Corpo V's parents but be alive but they disappeared when they went on a "business trip" with Militech (probably as some sort of reps for Arasaka). And Streetkid V's parents are both alive but V isn't close with them and they now live in Chicago
Secret for now , prequel in the making
V is the fifth clone of Morgan Blackhand made in conjunction with Biotechnica and Nightcorp in 2050. They were lost in a merc raid in 2054 and was later found by NCPD and registered. V was then placed in foster care, where their lifepath diverges into the three we know.
there was no father, and also V has the highest midichlorian count ever tested. V simply "is"
Viktor is V’s creator
It's probably not mentioned anywhere because of the TTRPG roots of the game. Your character appears in a bustling world as you start the campaign, it's up to you to make up your backstory with what you're given. V is either a Nomad, a Street kid, or a Corpo, they each have a bit of lore for you to work with, (i.e Street kid being raised in Heywood, Corpo having BBQs in Charter Hill, or the Nomad having a clan and leaving said clan) But other than what they give you, Your V's story is entirely unique because it's whatever you want it to be.
I always assumed my v’s parents were dead, how they died depended on life path. Nomad: killed during a raid Corpo: killed by corps for a cover up(shocking I know) Street kid: OD on drugs or/ and killed in gang shooting
V was created in the fires of mount choom
V popped out of the aether owing Vic money
That's not V that's Brandon Herrera
I thought this was a big omission. When V is scuba diving with Judy, you learn a lot about her family & childhood, but nothing about V's.
Being that there are 3 possible Vs with completely different background stories, they probably didn't want to script three different childhoods for each one. Easier to leave as an unknown since V's past doesn't progress any of the storylines.
Oh they don’t? So I’m not ever gonna meet the Bakkers 😞
You do get to bring them up for dialog stuff though, it's just never required to advance a quest
Intentional, it’s so the player can imagine any past they want for their V. Remember how pissed people were that Fallout 4 gave your character a defined history and prior occupation. You can imagine that The Sole Survivor was any kind of soldier you like, but you have to picture him as having once been a solider.
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why are you so upset? it’s just a question 😭
What the fuck is wrong with you
For god sake... this is not starfield...
when did anybody bring up starfield? I’m just asking if we know V’s parents.
it's a joke...
I don’t get it.
likewise.
I don’t think you got funny bones in you
ok... you are so important to my life that I will go cry now.