Night City Wire’s second episode aired recently, giving us a look at Cyberpunk 2077‘s life paths and how they shape your experience as protagonist V.
We’ve known what Cyberpunk‘s three life paths are for a while, but if you’re just catching up, you’ll pick either Nomad, Corpo, or Street Kid right at the start of the game.
Street Kid is pretty self-explanatory. You’ve grown up on the streets of Night City, so you know all there is to know about the city’s seedy underside — or so you think. While the Street Kid’s street smarts open up some opportunities further down the line, you’re still completely in the dark about the higher echelons of Night City’s criminal world.
The Nomad is a family-oriented person whose life revolves around the Badlands. Until it doesn’t. Your Nomad seeks something different in Night City, and their prologue is all about finding a way in.
Then there’s the Corpo. This corporate lackey lives and breathes boardroom politics, though there’s a pretty good chance those politics might just be the end of them — and everything else. There’s an internal corruption scandal going on, and as the cyborg-in-the-middle, you’re stuck knowing vital information about the corporation and being completely expendable.
On the bright side, you know how to handle people and get some shrewd dialogue options as a result.
Dialogue options are at the center of how your life path affects the rest of your Cyberpunk playthrough, including who you interact with and how. It won’t just be about weapons. CD Projekt Red gave one example of a smuggling sidequest to illustrate.
The Nomad and Corpo have better understandings of the criminal politics going on behind the smuggling operation and get dialogue options to match their respective insider info. The Street Kid’s totally ignorant of all this and can’t do much — but they do get offered a different path and job from the gang involved.
Regardless of which path you choose, you’ll be able to go anywhere in Night City eventually. CDPR encourages exploring everywhere, since dangerous places like the Badlands have a multitude of untold stories to uncover and get lost in.
The same goes for interacting with NPCs. Your interactions with fixers — brokers who pay the right people to do jobs for wealthy clients — will be completely different depending on who your life path turns you into, but you’ll still get the chance to meet and learn about all the folks of Night City.
Stay tuned to GameSkinny for more Cyberpunk 2077 news as it develops, and be sure to check out the first episode of Night City Wire if you haven’t already, including the Cyberpunk anime announcement and a deep dive into the braindance feature.
