V’S A CROWD

In the new CGI trailer for Cyberpunk 2077, unveiled at Microsoft’s Xbox E3 Briefing, main character V is having a bad day. His partner, Jackie Welles, is dead. His fixer, Dexter DeShawn, has betrayed him. When he regains consciousness, he’s lying in a garbage dump. “Wake the fuck up samurai,” says a voice. “We have a city to burn.” The source of that voice? It’s Keanu Reeves.

Cue rapturous applause as Reeves appears on stage to talk about his appearance in CD Projekt Red’s next RPG. It was an exciting surprise in an industry event that rarely keeps a secret for long.

But who is Reeves’ character, and why is he so interested in V?

“Keanu Reeves in our game plays the role of Johnny Silverhand,” says Paweł Sasko, lead quest designer for Cyberpunk 2077. “Johnny Silverhand is the frontman of Samurai, a chrome rock band from 2020, from the original [pen-and-paper RPG] book. Now, Johnny Silverhand is a primary character in our game, and the player, V, has him on a chip in his head as this digital ghost.”

Johnny will be a presence throughout the game, although it’s not clear what his motivation is for helping V. “The thing is that