it’s been weeks since I replayed cyberpunk but I really just wanted somewhere to dump my feelings on the devil path in particular, so. here, I guess. I love it.

the way that the entirety of the path, from the meeting with hanako through the end, commits so hard to this downward spiral, is so so special. I think it’s pretty easy to write in a rather corny ‘bad ending’, where you do an obviously bad thing or make an obviously incorrect decision, and oh no! everyone dies, or you lost the big fight, etc. etc. now load your save and get one of the real endings this time, eh?

here, though, you get to justify those bad decisions in a way that feels like a character choice, and then proceed to fall down a terrible-no-good slope lined with giant red flags. you don’t want your friends to die for you, of course, and walking in by yourself isn’t much of a plan, is it? johnny says don’t trust hanako, but his whole thing is hating arasaka, right? misty’s reaction hurts, and is a bit surprising, but you know what you’re doing, don’t you? you’re outsmarting everyone by taking this deal for your own ends! hanako blatantly and repeatedly tells you that she’s withholding important information from you, and is oddly dismissive of you personally, but isn’t that just how corpos are? goro’s here, and we like goro, so it can’t be that bad; though, he does still seem rather committed to the interests of the company, doesn’t he?

there’s an entire atla-fire-nation-level family drama in arasaka that you get to watch unravel from the sidelines, unable to intervene, and it’s horrifying, and it’s… great. the surreal nature of the space segment could be an eye-rolling twist, but is left ambiguously weird enough to be intriguing. there’s a specific phone conversation I had with judy near the very end that just— crushed me.

for all this game’s directional faults, and for never having anything particularly interesting to say about technology or america or capitalist society, cyberpunk totally nails the interpersonal stuff, and there’s an undeniable love for role-playing games in allowing you to act according to your own idea of your own character, then simply letting those consequences play out, for better or for worse. and when it’s worse, well. you had to have seen it coming.

I can’t stop thinking about it. please send help.