Cyberpunk 2077 endings explained: how the final mission branches and what to decide
Every ending in Cyberpunk 2077 grows out of one late-game mission that hands the player a small set of final choices. The branches feel narrow because the structure is narrow, but each route is long enough that the tone, surviving companions, and the fate of Night City itself change in ways the earlier game only hints at. Players who want a specific outcome usually need to plan two or three decisions earlier, especially when they also own the Phantom Liberty expansion, which adds a separate decision point with its own ending slide.
This guide walks through how the final mission is built, which dialogue and quest flags actually matter, what each ending delivers in terms of story and mechanical aftermath, and where players most often misread the requirements. It also covers the Phantom Liberty branch and the small but real differences between the original 1.0 ending set and the 2.0 and 2.1 revisions that CD Projekt RED shipped after launch. The aim is practical: by the end, you should know which side quests to keep alive, which calls to answer, and which choices quietly lock you out of the route you wanted.
How the ending system is actually structured
The ending system is layered, and most of the confusion comes from collapsing layers that the game keeps separate. Four pieces sit underneath every ending slide a player can see.
- The main-story quest line. The final mission, titled Changes in the base game and rebalanced in later patches, is the single hard gate. You cannot reach any ending slide without triggering this mission through the main story.
- Side quest flags. Several optional quests resolve inside Changes or in the final mission of Phantom Liberty. Their status when you walk in decides which named characters survive, contact you, or appear during the climax.
- Dialogue choice at the point of no return. During the final mission, V speaks to a small set of characters and picks a single path. The choice is binary in the base game and a second binary choice sits inside Phantom Liberty.
- Post-credits epilogue and slide. After the final mission resolves, the game shows a credit sequence and one summary slide that describes V’s fate, who survived, and the state of Night City.
That four-layer model is important because the only player-controlled input that changes the ending itself is the dialogue choice. The other three layers decide which version of that ending the player sees and how many characters live. Many online guides blur the difference and describe outcomes that are really side-quest variants rather than new endings.
The point of no return in the base game
The base game’s last main quest opens a short sequence of calls and meetings, then asks V to choose a single confidant to accompany them to the rooftop of Misty’s Esoterica. The choice is presented as who to bring, but it is functionally the ending selection. The game warns the player explicitly when the point of no return begins, and autosaves are written in a way that lets you reload an earlier save if you want to revisit the choice.
Three named confidants are available for the rooftop visit in the base game. Each one is tied to a different ending.
- Panam and the Aldecaldos lead the Nomad ending, which is the most extended sequence and the one most affected by side-quest completion.
- Johnny Silverhand is the required companion for the Temperance ending if you want to resolve the Relic arc the way Johnny’s arc implies.
- Songbird or Reed only appear in this slot if the Phantom Liberty expansion is installed and you have reached the expansion’s point of no return. In a pure base-game run they do not appear in this menu.
A fourth slot, the solo ending, does not require a named companion: V can walk into the final mission alone and trigger The Sun ending. Selecting no companion from the list, or choosing the option framed as “doing this on my own,” produces that branch.
The four main endings in the base game
Each base-game ending resolves the central question of what V is willing to sacrifice to survive the Relic’s countdown. None of them offer a clean happy outcome. The differences are about who shares the cost, what the player sees during the climax, and how much Night City the player witnesses before the credits roll.
The Sun: V walks the tower alone
The Sun is the solo ending. V accepts a high-risk offer from a corporate contact, climbs a tower alone, and ends up in a situation where survival depends on a future technology that has not been proven. The final scene is short, the body count is high, and the epilogue is one of the more ambiguous slides in the game. Mechanically, the route is the simplest because the side-quest requirements are the smallest. It is also the route most often picked by players who have not completed the major companion arcs and want to see the credits quickly.
Star: Panam, the Aldecaldos, and the desert
Star is the Nomad route. Panam’s side-quest chain, With a Little Help from My Friends and the related Panam quests, must be active and unresolved. V joins the Aldecaldos for an assault on a corporate facility, and the climax moves from Night City to the Badlands. The route has the most action set-pieces and the most hopeful epilogue of the four base-game options, because the slide describes V leaving Night City rather than dying inside it.
Temperance: Johnny stays in the Relic
Temperance plays out like the Star ending in structure but swaps the emotional weight. Johnny takes V’s body at the final crossing, walks out of Misty’s, and lives a short, limited version of V’s life while V exists inside the Relic’s digital space. The route requires that the player have built enough rapport with Johnny through the Tapeworm chain and the chip conversation, and that they accept the relevant dialogue prompt during the final mission. The slide is widely discussed because it leaves the player’s relationship with Johnny unresolved in a way that is meant to be uncomfortable. To clarify the background to Cyberpunk 2077, the Wikipedia article offers a concise reference.
Secret: the Arasaka Tower path
The Secret ending is the hardest to find. It sits behind a hidden set of dialogue options with Johnny during the final mission. To unlock it, the player must have taken specific dialogue positions in earlier Relic conversations and picked the right path inside Changes. The route then loops through a corporate tower assault with a very small squad. It is mechanically similar to The Sun, but the epilogue and the final scene are different. Many players consider it a separate ending because of how the credits play, even though the underlying trigger is a dialogue branch rather than a different companion choice.
Side quests that quietly change the ending
Side quests do not create new endings, but several of them change the named characters who survive to the credits. The base game is consistent about this: if a side quest is left open, the relevant character can be present, absent, alive, or dead during the climax. Players who want a specific epilogue should treat the following quests as prerequisites rather than optional content.
- Panam’s Aldecaldo chain (With a Little Help from My Friends, Queen of the Highway, and the related jobs) decides whether Panam and the Aldecaldos are available for the Star ending and how many of them survive the assault.
- Rogue’s chain (Ghost Town, Chippin’ In, Blistering Love) decides whether Johnny’s arc is complete enough to enable Temperance and whether Rogue is present during a critical scene.
- Judy’s chain (Both Sides, Now; Ex-Factor; Talkin’ ‘Bout a Revolution; Pisces; The Sunken Tower; Automatic Love; The Pyramid Song) decides whether the player can trigger the specific epilogue slide that references Judy and how her storyline resolves.
- Peralez quests (The Hunt, The Beast in Me) decide the content of a background news broadcast that plays during the final mission rather than affecting the ending directly.
- Hanako’s optional meetings decide whether the player has access to the dialogue that unlocks the Secret ending.
The full list of side-quest flags is longer than this, and each one moves a small dial in the epilogue. Players who want a clean run usually complete the main companion chains first, then revisit the final mission with a save made right before the point of no return.
Phantom Liberty and the King of Worms ending
Phantom Liberty adds a second decision point that is independent from the base-game finale. The expansion ends with its own point of no return, and the choice inside that mission produces a separate slide known as the King of Worms ending. The expansion’s finale can be played before or after the base-game finale, but the official guidance is to complete it before the final base-game mission so the King of Worms content is still available.
The Phantom Liberty decision is presented as a binary between two characters: Songbird and Reed. Each option triggers a different final mission, a different set of revelations about the President, and a different epilogue slide. The expansion’s endings are widely considered to be more narratively complete than the base game’s, partly because they resolve character arcs that the original game left open. The trade-off is that the expansion’s finale is also the more violent of the two branches, and one of the routes requires the player to act against a character they may have spent the expansion protecting.
Songbird route
Choosing to help Songbird at the Phantom Liberty point of no return leads the player through a sequence that ends in a hard sacrifice. Songbird’s plan is fragile and the final mission reflects that. The epilogue slide is one of the quieter ones in the expansion, and several characters who survive the base-game ending behave differently in this branch.
Reed route
Choosing Reed keeps the player inside the New United States of America’s chain of command and ends with a more public outcome. The final mission is structured like a long extraction, and the epilogue describes the political consequences of the player’s choice. Several characters from the base game are referenced in this slide even if they do not appear.
How the 2.0 and 2.1 patches changed the ending system
Patch 2.0 and patch 2.1, which accompanied the release of Phantom Liberty and the free update to the base game, did not rewrite the ending system, but they changed the supporting systems around it enough that older guides are partially out of date. Three changes matter for players planning a run.
- Skill tree reset. The old attribute system was replaced. Players planning a specific build for a final mission should not assume their old character file still works the same way.
- Police and wanted system rework. Several Phantom Liberty missions assume a specific relationship with the police system. The reworked wanted system means players can no longer rely on older strategies to stay undetected during the expansion’s final mission.
- Vehicle and perk rebalances. Some of the in-mission travel and traversal that older walkthroughs rely on no longer work the same way. Players who want a specific path should use a recent guide rather than a launch-week one.
These changes do not change which endings exist, but they change how easy it is to reach the point of no return in a specific state. A player who follows a 2020 guide on a 2.1 build may find that the side quest they were told to skip now blocks a dialogue option that was not blocked at launch.
Which choices to make before the final mission
Most ending mistakes happen long before the player reaches the rooftop. The dialogue that locks or unlocks an ending is set up in the side quests and the Relic conversations that lead into Changes. The following table maps the practical decisions a player usually faces. Readers reviewing all cyberpunk 2077 endings and how to unlock them all can use the verified article for additional context on this point.
| Decision | Where it happens | What it controls | What to do if you want the most content |
|---|---|---|---|
| Panam’s trust level | With a Little Help from My Friends, Queen of the Highway | Whether Panam is available for the Star ending and how many Aldecaldos survive | Pick the “help” dialogue options and complete both quests |
| Johnny’s arc completion | Chippin’ In, Blistering Love, Tapeworm conversations | Temperance ending and Secret ending availability | Complete Chippin’ In and pick the “yes” dialogue options in the Relic conversations |
| Judy’s relationship | Pisces, The Sunken Tower, Pyramid Song | Judy’s epilogue slide and dialogue in the final mission | Complete the chain and pick the “stay together” dialogue options |
| Hanako’s offer | Play It Safe, Last Caress | Whether the Secret ending appears in the dialogue tree | Trigger the optional Hanako meeting and accept the offer |
| Phantom Liberty decision | End of Phantom Liberty story | King of Worms ending slide | Make the choice before the base-game point of no return |
The table is a starting point rather than a complete reference. Some of the dialogue options that control these outcomes are time-limited: the relevant choice in Changes may only appear if the player picked a specific line three conversations earlier, and the game does not flag the dependency for the player.
Common mistakes that block the ending you want
The most common ending mistakes are not about the choice on the rooftop. They are about the side-quest chain that leads up to it. The list below is built from the most frequent complaints in the game’s official support channels and from the kind of dead-end saves that show up in community guides.
- Skipping the Relic conversations. Several ending options require specific dialogue positions in the chip conversations. Skipping the prompts that appear in the inventory or journal screen can lock out the Secret ending without warning.
- Attacking a critical NPC during a side quest. A small number of side quests can be completed in a hostile way that leaves a required character dead before the final mission. The game does not always warn the player that the consequence is a blocked ending path.
- Starting Phantom Liberty after the base-game ending. Once the base-game point of no return is triggered and a single ending is locked, Phantom Liberty’s King of Worms slide is still available but some of its supporting dialogue changes. Players who want the full expansion experience should finish it first.
- Missing the autosave that sits before the point of no return. The autosave that the game writes right before Changes is the only reliable way to revisit the final choice. Manual saves made earlier may not include the late-game side-quest flags because of how the autosave system handles quest completion.
- Assuming companion death in a side quest is decorative. A few side quests can end with a named character dead if the player picks a hostile option. The relevant character is then absent from the final mission and the related epilogue slide changes. This is most often seen with Judy’s chain and the Panam chain.
How to plan a clean ending run
A clean run means reaching the point of no return with all the dialogue options open and the right companions available. The most reliable pattern is to treat the late game as a checklist rather than a continuous playthrough. The steps below describe a pattern that works for the base game and for a base game plus Phantom Liberty run on the current patch.
- Finish the main story up to the act that opens the late-game side quests. Do not trigger the point of no return.
- Complete Panam’s chain, Rogue’s chain, and Judy’s chain in full. Do not pick dialogue options that lock out the related ending.
- If Phantom Liberty is installed, play the expansion up to its point of no return and choose Songbird or Reed. Save the game immediately before the choice is made.
- Make a manual save in addition to the autosave once the base game’s point of no return begins.
- Walk into the final mission and pick the companion or the solo option that matches the ending you want.
- Watch the credits and the summary slide. Reload from the manual save if you want to see a different ending.
That sequence is a generic plan, and the specific order of side quests can be shuffled. The important part is that all the chains resolve before the point of no return is triggered, because the game treats a triggered ending as final even if the player reloads a save.
What the epilogue slides actually show
The summary slide at the end of the credits is the most discussed part of the ending system because it is the only official description of what happens after the climax. The slide is short, written in past tense, and the language is chosen to leave room for interpretation. Players who want to know which character survived should read the slide carefully rather than rely on in-game conversation, because the conversations inside Changes are deliberately vague.
Three points are worth keeping in mind.
- The slide describes V’s fate, not Night City’s. Most of the language is about the player’s status, the player’s body, and the player’s companions. The state of Night City is usually handled by a short background line rather than the main paragraph.
- Character outcomes are inferred from the slide and from background dialogue. The game does not list every named character in the slide. Some outcomes are implied by which characters are mentioned and which are not.
- The slide is the same for several routes. The Sun, Star, and Secret endings share a small amount of language because the underlying structure is similar. The differences are in the framing and the supporting sentences rather than the headline.
Players who want a specific set of character outcomes usually have to combine their ending choice with a specific set of side-quest completions. The slide alone does not guarantee a character’s survival.
Comparison table of the major endings
The table below compares the major endings on the dimensions that most players ask about. The information is built from the public ending slides and the in-game dialogue that frames each route. It is meant as a quick reference, not a complete list of every difference.
| Ending | Trigger | Companion | Side-quest dependency | Epilogue tone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Sun | Solo rooftop choice | None | Lowest of the four | Ambiguous survival, public spotlight |
| Star | Panam at the rooftop | Panam and the Aldecaldos | Panam’s chain must be complete | Most hopeful, leaves Night City |
| Temperance | Johnny at the rooftop | Johnny takes over | Rogue’s chain and Tapeworm conversations | Bittersweet, identity loss |
| Secret | Hidden dialogue option | Small squad | Hanako’s chain and specific Relic choices | Corporate, quiet, second most hopeful |
| King of Worms (Phantom Liberty) | Songbird or Reed choice | Expansion cast | Phantom Liberty side quests and Dogtown status | Political, public, expansion-specific |
Ending content that requires New Game Plus or reloads
Cyberpunk 2077 does not have a true New Game Plus that carries a player’s ending into a new playthrough. The ending is a final state, and starting a new game resets the story. Players who want to see all the endings need to keep one save from before the point of no return and reload it after each run. The autosave that the game writes right before Changes is the most useful save for this purpose because it captures all the side-quest flags at once.
A few pieces of content are easier to reach on a fresh save than on a reload. The most important is the Phantom Liberty King of Worms slide, because the expansion’s final mission is part of a longer arc that is harder to replay on a save that has already resolved the base game’s ending. Players who want both the expansion slide and a clean base-game ending usually keep two saves: one made just before the expansion’s point of no return, and one made just before the base game’s point of no return.
Frequently asked questions
How many endings does Cyberpunk 2077 have?
The base game has four named endings: The Sun, Star, Temperance, and the Secret ending. Phantom Liberty adds a fifth ending slide that is independent of the base-game finales. Each of the four base-game endings has small variations based on side-quest outcomes, but the structure is the same.
Can you get the secret ending on a first playthrough?
Yes, but only if the player has made the right dialogue choices in the Relic conversations and the Hanako meetings earlier in the game. The Secret ending is hidden inside the same dialogue tree as the other endings and is easy to miss. There is no in-game prompt that tells the player the option is available.
Does Phantom Liberty change the base-game endings?
Phantom Liberty does not replace the base-game endings, but it adds a new decision point that can be played before or after the base-game finale. The expansion’s ending is a separate slide and does not change which base-game ending the player sees. Playing the expansion before the base-game finale is the official recommendation because the expansion’s final mission is part of a longer arc.
What happens if I skip Panam’s side quests?
Skipping Panam’s side quests removes the Star ending from the rooftop choice. The other three base-game endings remain available, and the game does not warn the player that the Star ending has been removed. Players who want the most hopeful ending should complete Panam’s chain before the point of no return.
Do choices in the prologue matter for the ending?
No. The prologue decisions and the early lifepath choices do not affect the ending slides. The earliest choice that matters for the ending is the dialogue in the Relic conversations, which appear later in the main story. Players who finished the game on a previous patch do not need to restart to keep their ending options open.
What is the canon ending?
CD Projekt RED has not officially designated a canon ending. The game’s marketing and its sequel setup reference elements from more than one ending, and several follow-up materials avoid picking a single route. Players who want to know what the developers consider canonical usually have to look at the post-launch novels and the sourcebook rather than the game itself.
Can you reload an ending after you see it?
Yes, if the player kept a save from before the point of no return. The most reliable save is the autosave written at the start of Changes. Manual saves from earlier in the story may not include all the side-quest flags and can produce a different ending than the player expects when reloaded.
Do companion deaths in side quests carry over?
Yes. If a named character dies during a side quest, the final mission and the epilogue slide reflect that death. The most common example is Judy’s chain and the Panam chain, where a hostile dialogue option can leave a character dead before the final mission. The game does not warn the player that the consequence is a permanent change to the ending sequence.
Is there a way to see all endings without replaying?
No. The game shows one ending per playthrough, and there is no in-game gallery of the ending slides. Players who want to see all of them need to keep a save from before the point of no return and reload it for each ending. The autosave at the start of Changes is the most reliable save for this purpose.
Does the Dogtown status in Phantom Liberty affect the King of Worms ending?
Yes. Several Phantom Liberty side quests and the player’s relationship with Dogtown’s factions change the dialogue options available in the expansion’s final mission. Players who want the full King of Worms slide usually complete the main Dogtown quest chain and pick the dialogue options that keep the key characters alive.