(Note: This series is a photo-based travelogue set in Night City, the fictional metropolis of the game Cyberpunk 2077. It assumes an in-universe voice as I play through the game’s story, coinciding with the release of the new Phantom Liberty expansion for the game.)
Hey chooms, remember when I said that if the stars align, a gutsy edgerunner can reach for glory with one big job? A nice thought, for sure, but allow me to outline some of the reasons why most of these big jobs end up with a bunch of corpses stripped for parts and dumped in the harbor.
- If you want to make a boatload of eddies on one job, you gotta target a megacorp.
- Megacorps have, among other advantages, literal private armies outfitted with the latest leadspitters on and off the market. Your street piece just ain’t gonna cut it against a squad of ‘Saka samurai.
- Megacorps hold grudges. Even if you get away, even if you make it out, they will come after you. You might have a few weeks, months or even years of freedom, depending on how deep of a hole you can scurry into. More likely, you have a few hours.
- Mercwork is a traitor’s game. Fixers, clients, fellow crew members, all of them would be more willing to burn you if it means they get an extra share of the take.
- There’s always, always a catch. Night City’s not a place for neat and tidy endings unless your idea of neat and tidy is a .45 round to the cranium.
Still, there’s no shortage of dummies with more chrome than sense willing to risk it all to make it to the top. The higher you go, the messier the fall.
Thumbnail by Conner Dejecacion, design by CD Projekt Red