Your Cyberpunk 2077 ending options depend on jobs and conversations you can finish long before the final rooftop. Panam and Rogue each unlock an assault route, Johnny Silverhand has a specific secret-ending conversation, and Phantom Liberty offers a cure with a steep personal cost.
This guide explains all seven ending options, the quests and dialogue needed to reach them, and the final choices that decide V's fate. Start with the comparison if you already know the story, or use the preparation section to keep your preferred route open.
What are the Cyberpunk 2077 endings?
There are seven commonly counted ending options, including Phantom Liberty's conclusion and the secret assault. Several share an epilogue: (Don't Fear) The Reaper can lead to The Sun or Temperance, depending on who keeps V's body.
| Ending option | Main unlock requirement | Deciding choice or outcome |
|---|---|---|
| The Star | Finish Panam's questline through Queen of the Highway | Ask Panam for help, then return to V's body |
| The Sun | Complete Johnny and Rogue's questline through Blistering Love | Send Johnny with Rogue, then return the body to V |
| Temperance | Reach Mikoshi through Panam, Rogue, or the secret assault | Let Johnny keep V's body |
| The Devil | Reach Nocturne OP55N1 | Trust Hanako and accept Arasaka's help |
| The Path of Least Resistance | Reach the rooftop decision | Choose to put everything to rest |
| (Don't Fear) The Reaper | Make the required Chippin' In dialogue choices and wait on the rooftop | Assault Arasaka without bringing allies |
| The Tower | Finish Phantom Liberty with Songbird alive in Reed's custody and accept treatment | Undergo surgery that cures V but ends their mercenary career |
The rooftop decision selects your route through the finale. For the Panam, Rogue, and secret assaults, a later choice inside Mikoshi determines whether V or Johnny keeps the body.
What should you do before the point of no return?
Save before entering Embers
Nocturne OP55N1 sends you to meet Hanako Arasaka at Embers. Entering starts the base game's point of no return, temporarily closing access to unfinished jobs while you complete the finale.
Phantom Liberty's The Tower has a separate entry through Who Wants to Live Forever. Once Reed's treatment is available, you can pursue that ending without first completing Nocturne OP55N1.
Check your quests before Embers
Check relationships and unfinished jobs
Panam's and Rogue's rooftop options depend on completing their respective questlines. Your starting life path does not provide an exclusive ending, so Nomad, Street Kid, and Corpo characters can pursue the same conclusions.
On Misty's rooftop, Johnny also gives you a chance to call your romantic partner. Make that goodbye call if you want their possible epilogue appearance. The effect depends on your ending, and it does not replace the quest requirements for Panam or Rogue.
The Embers checkpoint is also a sensible place to pause for optional quest cleanup. If Welcome to Paradise is still in your journal, use the Welcome to Paradise walkthrough before committing to the finale.
How do you get The Star with Panam?
Finish Panam's jobs and call her
After Life During Wartime, complete Panam's side jobs in this order:
- Riders on the Storm
- With a Little Help From My Friends
- Queen of the Highway
During the rooftop conversation in Nocturne OP55N1, choose:
- Gonna ask Panam for help.
- [Take omega-blockers] Yep. Gonna do this with the nomads.
The Aldecaldos assault then takes you through We Gotta Live Together, Forward to Death, and Belly of the Beast. Once you reach Mikoshi as V, enter the well to return to your body and unlock All Along the Watchtower, The Star's epilogue.
What happens in The Star?
Panam and the Aldecaldos help you breach Arasaka using the Basilisk and a tunnel beneath the tower. The operation costs lives: Bobby and Teddy die during the assault, and Adam Smasher kills Saul.
V leaves Night City with the Aldecaldos, whose contacts offer hope of finding further help. V's survival remains uncertain, but they leave with people willing to stand beside them. If you romanced Judy and called her before the assault, she can join you.
The Star is the strongest choice for a hopeful departure. Its appeal is the Aldecaldos giving V somewhere to belong after Night City has taken so much.
How do you get The Sun with Rogue?
Complete Johnny and Rogue's questline
During Tapeworm, agree to Johnny's plan to speak with Rogue. Follow that thread through Chippin' In, including Johnny's night out in A Cool Metal Fire, and complete Blistering Love before entering Embers.
On the rooftop, select:
- Think you and Rogue should go.
- [Take pseudoendotrizine] I am. Do your thing, Johnny.
Johnny takes control for the assault, which runs through For Whom the Bell Tolls and Knockin' on Heaven's Door. At Mikoshi, while controlling Johnny, cross the bridge so V returns to their body. That leads to Path of Glory and The Sun.
What happens in The Sun?
Rogue and Weyland accompany Johnny into Arasaka Tower. After the AV crashes, finding Weyland gives you another ally for the push through the building. Rogue later dies fighting Adam Smasher, and you can collect her gun during this sequence.
V's return leads to a life of penthouses, Afterlife status, and another dangerous job: a heist on the Crystal Palace. Their health is still deteriorating. The Sun delivers the Night City legend fantasy, but it leaves V chasing another job while their condition worsens.
How do you unlock the secret ending?
Make the required Chippin' In choices
The preparation for (Don't Fear) The Reaper happens during the oil-field conversation in Chippin' In. Select these responses as they become available:
- Nah, fucked that up too.
- What do you want from me?
- OK. But as second chances go, this is your last.
Continue Johnny and Rogue's questline through Blistering Love before starting the finale. Those specific oil-field responses give you a clear dialogue sequence to follow when preparing for the secret route.
Johnny's decisive oil-field talk
Wait for Johnny's alternative plan
During the rooftop decision in Nocturne OP55N1:
- Choose Think you and Rogue should go.
- Leave the next confirmation unanswered for approximately five minutes.
- When Johnny offers another approach, choose Let's hear this plan. and accept the solo assault.
V and Johnny attack Arasaka without bringing Rogue or the Aldecaldos into the operation. For character preparation, the attribute and perk guide breaks down how to plan your build before committing.
A successful secret assault can lead to The Sun if V keeps the body or Temperance if Johnny keeps it. Rogue survives this route, which changes her presence in The Sun's epilogue.
The secret route is the pick for an Afterlife legend conclusion that keeps Rogue out of the fatal tower assault. The trade-off is putting the entire combat run on V.
How do you get Temperance and give Johnny the body?
Temperance is a final ownership decision rather than a separate rooftop assault. Reach Mikoshi through Panam, Rogue, or the secret route, then let Johnny return to the physical world in V's body.
The bridge and well choices depend on which character you control. Use the route-specific actions below:
| Route into Mikoshi | Character you control | Action for Temperance | Action that returns the body to V |
|---|---|---|---|
| Panam and the Aldecaldos | V | Cross the bridge | Enter the well for The Star |
| Johnny and Rogue | Johnny | Enter the well | Cross the bridge for The Sun |
The secret assault also offers the choice to give Johnny the body. Whichever assault brings you there, handing it over leads to New Dawn Fades.
In Temperance, V remains with Alt while Johnny starts a different life. The epilogue follows his friendship with Steve, a visit to a music shop, and his eventual departure by bus. Johnny gets another chance at life, while V gives up theirs in the physical world.
How do you get The Devil with Arasaka?
Trust Hanako on the rooftop
The Devil is available after reaching Nocturne OP55N1 without completing Panam's or Rogue's side content. Choose:
- Think trusting Arasaka's risky but worth it.
- [Take omega-blockers] Yeah. Don't be mad.
This begins Last Caress and Totalimmortal, followed by Where Is My Mind. You help Hanako confront Yorinobu and fight through Arasaka Tower, including a battle with Adam Smasher.
Choose between the contract and Earth
V wakes on an Arasaka orbital station after surgery. Their condition still leaves them with approximately six months to live, and Arasaka presents a final decision:
| Final choice | Result |
|---|---|
| Sign the Secure Your Soul contract | V's mind becomes an engram stored for possible future restoration |
| Refuse the contract | V returns to Earth with their limited remaining lifespan |
Arasaka's final contract choice
Signing places V's future in Arasaka's hands. Refusing gives V their remaining time on Earth. This decision changes the closing scene, but it does not create a playable six-month period after the ending.
How do you get The Tower in Phantom Liberty?
Return Songbird alive to Reed
The Tower requires Phantom Liberty and an outcome where Songbird reaches Reed alive. Either branch of Firestarter can get you there, provided you make the corresponding final choice.
| Firestarter branch | Required later decision | Follow-up toward treatment |
|---|---|---|
| Help Songbird escape | Hand her over alive to Reed during Killing Moon and accept the treatment arrangement | Continue through Through Pain to Heaven and accept Reed's offer |
| Help Reed capture Songbird | Refuse Songbird's request to kill her during Somewhat Damaged | Complete Four Score and Seven and accept Reed's offer |
On the Killing Moon branch, you can contact Reed after Songbird reveals the truth about the cure. You can also surrender her during the walkway confrontation by holstering your weapon and taking Reed's deal.
On the Somewhat Damaged branch, choose That's no solution and Won't do it when Songbird asks you to kill her. Keeping her alive preserves the route to Reed's treatment.
Accept surgery and call Reed
After Reed arranges treatment, follow Who Wants to Live Forever. You can call him through that quest or select his option during Nocturne OP55N1. Accepting the pickup takes you to the surgery ending and Things Done Changed.
Accept Reed's surgery offer
The operation removes the Relic and destroys Johnny. V survives, but the procedure leaves them unable to tolerate the cyberware needed for their old mercenary career. They also spend two years in a coma, waking in 2079.
V's relationships have changed during that absence. Judy has married and moved to Pittsburgh, Kerry is busy with his career, and Panam is unreachable. Back in Night City, Viktor cannot restore V's former cyberware use, and Misty's shop has become a Zetatech clinic.
The Tower ends with V walking into the crowd after meeting Misty. It offers a cure and a chance to keep living, at the cost of Johnny, V's combat capabilities, and much of their old life.
What is The Path of Least Resistance?
The Path of Least Resistance is the suicide ending. It requires no additional side jobs and ends with a cutscene rather than a playable epilogue.
During the rooftop conversation:
- Select one of the available ending plans.
- Choose Could also put this all to rest.
- Confirm with [Toss pills] I know. Exactly what we're gonna do.
V and Johnny have a final conversation before the credits. Messages from V's friends and romantic partner focus on their grief and shock. This is the shortest conclusion, with none of the assault missions or later body decisions.
Can you replay endings without starting over?
Return to the base-game checkpoint
Completing the base-game finale creates a special save around the point before Nocturne OP55N1. Reloading it lets you resume unfinished content and pursue another available ending, with some ending-related bonus items added to your inventory.
That means you can complete Panam's or Rogue's outstanding jobs before another attempt. The secret route still depends on the earlier Chippin' In conversation, so the rooftop wait works only after the required preparation.
Ending rewards to keep in mind
Some finale rewards are tied to the route you take. Panam's assault awards the Aldecaldos Rally Bolero Jacket, while Where Is My Mind rewards include Johnny's Tank Top and Johnny's Aviators.
The Aldecaldos jacket is a practical reason to experience Panam's route even if you plan to explore another conclusion afterward. Keep the pre-Embers save so you can compare the finales without rebuilding your entire playthrough.
Which ending is best for V?
The Star gets the recommendation for a hopeful conclusion. V leaves Night City with the Aldecaldos, and a romanced Judy can come along. The future remains uncertain, but the ending gives V companionship and a reason to keep looking for help.
The Tower is the choice if securing a cure matters most to you. Its cost is explicit: Johnny is gone, V's mercenary career is over, and two years have changed their relationships. For the legend route with Rogue alive, pursue the secret assault and let V keep the body.
For The Star, finish Queen of the Highway, call Panam on the rooftop, and enter the well as V in Mikoshi. Before you cross the Embers checkpoint, use our Cyberpunk 2077 guide collection to finish the jobs you still want to experience.
