It took a long time for Cyberpunk 2077 to get made, but it is finally here. Despite the issues that have popped up with the game, there is still a lot to enjoy, and there are all kinds of small details that are easy to miss if you're not paying attention. Not only are there references to other cyberpunk movies, like Blade Runner and Demolition Man, but there is even a character backstory that is a direct shout-out to a memorable moment on The Office. Let's take a look at some small details that you might have missed in Cyberpunk 2077.
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00:00A fully realized metropolis that players can freely explore, Cyberpunk 2077's Night City
00:06redefines what a game's open world can be. It makes perfect sense, then, that the developers
00:11would load it up with as much detail as possible, including fun references and Easter eggs.
00:17Should Cyberpunk 2077 players guide V into Afterlife, a bar owned by Night City fixer
00:22Rogue, they may find themselves getting into a discussion with an NPC named Dennis. This
00:28character will in turn introduce V to another character named Harayoshi, who purports to
00:33have been a brain surgeon, top of all, with good instinct, back in Japan. He goes on to
00:38tell the story of how he was picked to perform brain surgery on the boss of the Tiger Claws,
00:42a crime syndicate discussed elsewhere in Cyberpunk 2077. But under his watch and his knife, the
00:48crime boss died, and the Tiger Claws held Harayoshi responsible. So, he says, he stowed
00:53away on a boat and headed for America, where Dennis saved him.
00:57But there is secret. I killed Tiger Claw boss on purpose. World best surgeon make no mistake."
01:04This is all a lengthy homage to the American version of The Office. On the 2010 episode
01:09Happy Hour, a man named Hide reported that, in his old life in Japan, he was a world-renowned
01:15heart surgeon who operated on a Yakuza boss and killed him, necessitating his escape by boat to
01:20the U.S., where Daryl saved his life and gave him employment as a warehouse and dock worker
01:25at Dunder Mifflin.
01:26My big secret. I killed Yakuza boss on purpose. I good surgeon. So best."
01:36The 1993 Sylvester Stallone movie Demolition Man could be considered part of the cyberpunk
01:41subgenre. Like Blade Runner or Cyberpunk 2077, it takes place in a not-so-distant future where
01:48technology allows for body mods and advanced artificial intelligence. Crime is rampant,
01:53and it always seems to be nighttime, with the world lit up by huge video screens and neon signs.
01:58An odd joke from Demolition Man has survived for decades. When Stallone's character is unfrozen
02:03and wakes up in 2032, he's perplexed by the new way of cleaning oneself after using the restroom.
02:09Toilet paper has been replaced by a system of three seashells,
02:13the exact use of which isn't explained in the film.
02:16"...but the place where you're supposed to have the toilet paper,
02:18you got this little shelf with three seashells on it."
02:21"...haha, he doesn't know how to use the three seashells."
02:24Perhaps Cyberpunk 2077 takes place in a similar fictional futuristic universe as Demolition Man,
02:30because the residents of Night City have apparently adopted the three seashells
02:34method of personal hygiene. Players can explore V's apartment and poke around the bathroom.
02:40Next to the toilet, just by a curtain, sit three seashells,
02:43which apparently aren't just for decoration.
02:47The Cyberpunk 2077 locale Lizzie's Bar is the domain of a gang called the Moxers,
02:52where a character named Judy Alvarez runs a braindance suite,
02:55offering paying customers illegal and illicit virtual reality-like experiences.
03:01As a tech expert, she also helps out protagonist V on their various Night City quests.
03:06How about it, V? Raw braindance. Ever taken a dip before?
03:11Whenever V puts in or receives a call from Judy, a box pops up on the player's screen,
03:16depicting her avatar, a traditional rendering of a ghost emerging from a red shell. In other words,
03:21this is literally a ghost in a shell, a subtle reference to Ghost in the Shell,
03:25the classic cyberpunk Japanese manga and anime franchise.
03:29Judy is into other future-leaning pop culture that's positively ancient in the time frame
03:34of Cyberpunk 2077. She's heavily tattooed with some roses, the number 13 on her left arm,
03:40and some words scrawled on her left hand. A close look shows that it reads,
03:44"'There was nothing to fear, nothing to doubt.'" That's the lyric from Pyramid Song,
03:49a particularly melancholic track off of Radiohead's 2001 album Amnesiac.
03:54You know you're a hardcore gamer if you can recognize major video game developers
03:58from their virtual incarnations. One such industry luminary is Hideo Kojima,
04:03who brought such important works as Death Stranding and the Metal Gear series to the world.
04:08He didn't work on Cyberpunk 2077, but he may have had an influence on its creators,
04:13as he knows how to build an immersive, addictive world.
04:16CD Projekt Red's developers said thanks by including an image of Kojima in Cyberpunk 2077.
04:22In one of the main early quests called The Heist, V arrives at Arasaka's hotel and checks in,
04:27but gets the chance to explore a hotel bar on the way to their room. That's where you'll notice
04:32a person who looks just like Kojima sitting in a booth and talking to some admirers,
04:37some of whom are seemingly pitching him movie ideas.
04:41When you think of cyberpunk entertainment, the images that come to mind likely look like
04:53something out of Blade Runner, Ridley Scott's visionary and influential 1982 film based on a
04:59story by Philip K. Dick. Cyberpunk 2077 closely adheres to Scott's idea of the future, with Night
05:06City very much resembling Blade Runner's neon-in-the-dark, crime-and-android-riddled Los
05:10Angeles. Cyberpunk may also conjure images of a major character from Blade Runner,
05:15combat replicant and uprising leader Roy Batty, as portrayed by Rutger Hauer. His last words are
05:20poetic, cryptic, and one of the most heart-wrenching lines in film history.
05:25"...all those moments will be lost in time."
05:32"...like tears in rain."
05:36In Cyberpunk 2077, on the Memorial Building in the game's North Oak section, V can find a plaque
05:42decorated with the Blade Runner quote, and attributed to Roy Batty next to an image of a
05:47dove. Batty makes a far more direct appearance in Vista del Rey on the rooftop of a building there.
05:52There's at least one more reference to Blade Runner within Cyberpunk 2077. A character named
05:57Misty runs a store called Misty Esoterica in the Watson District of Night City, which is also a
06:03front for cybernetic enhancement purchases. With her big blonde hairstyle, lengthy bangs, spiky
06:09necklace, and dark eyeshadow, Misty bears a striking resemblance to Pris, the android girlfriend of Roy
06:15Batty. A mercenary wandering around a massive, seedy, frightening fictional city full of shady
06:21and morally flexible characters, that's the premise of Cyberpunk 2077. But it could also
06:26be used to describe some entries in the Grand Theft Auto series, particularly Vice City and
06:31San Andreas, two of the most popular, immersive, and influential video game titles of the early
06:362000s. San Andreas featured two of the best-known characters in gaming, protagonist CJ and bad guy
06:43Big Smoke. In Cyberpunk 2077, two minor characters make a brief appearance in a text sequence,
06:49and they're obviously a play on CJ and Big Smoke in that their names are JC and Little Smoke.
06:54Unfortunately for them, both JC and Little Smoke wind up dead in Cyberpunk 2077,
07:00and the latter's remains are found with a half-eaten hamburger next to him,
07:04likely a nod to Big Smoke's big love of fast food.
07:07"...I'll have two number nines, a number nine large, and a large soda."
07:17In Cyberpunk 2077, you might encounter a quest that involves hunting down and rebooting a
07:22handful of AI-operated Delamain taxis that have seemingly turned evil, if not sentient.
07:28When V does track down one of these rogue cabs, the sound of the AI's voice,
07:32and even some of the dialogue it delivers should probably feel familiar to seasoned gamers.
07:36You know, what with the whole test thing.
07:39"...I have a surprise waiting for you after this next test.
07:43Telling you would spoil the surprise, so I'll just give you a hint."
07:47Dare to compare, boys and girls?
07:49"...I have a surprise waiting for you after this next test.
07:53Telling you would spoil the surprise, so I'll just give you a hint."
07:57Central to the Portal series, as the villain in the first game and an antagonist turned
08:01potato turned kinda-sorta-protagonist in Portal 2, is GLaDOS. Short for Genetic Lifeform and
08:07Disk Operating System, an AI that controls Aperture's computerized enrichment center,
08:12it was programmed with a traditionally feminine character and voice, and a stone-cold personality,
08:17all of which are present when the taxi AI makes its presence felt in Cyberpunk 2077.
08:23Accessible in Apostrophe Coastview in the Pacifica area, this disembodied,
08:28inhuman voice wants to test V and also threatens physical harm and ominously mentions that, quote,
08:33"...all the cake is gone," a direct reference to Portal's most famous The Cake is a Lie joke.
08:39Prior to the long-awaited release of Cyberpunk 2077, developer CD Projekt was best known and
08:44most beloved for The Witcher, a series of role-playing medieval fantasy quest games
08:49based on stories by author Andrzej Sapkowski. CD Projekt programmers certainly have a special
08:54spot in their hearts for the company's previous contribution to gaming, which is evident in
08:59Cyberpunk 2077, despite taking place in a dystopian sci-fi America far from the distant past of the
09:05continent. For example, there's a weapon V can obtain in the game, a katana known as the Black
09:10Unicorn. That's the name of a sword brandished by Geralt in The Witcher 2 and 3. It's reserved
09:15for gamers who purchase Cyberpunk 2077 via GOG, and the sword shows up in V's apartment alongside
09:22some Witcher 3 clothing articles. In a meta, world-falling-in-on-itself kind of way,
09:27it would seem that the Witcher game series exists in the universe of Cyberpunk 2077.
09:32During the introduction to the Corpo Lifepath, one of three available in the game,
09:36players can explore an ordinary-looking desk in one of the drawers as an issue of Retro Gaming,
09:41a magazine celebrating video games that are old in the futuristic year of 2077.
09:46On the cover, you'll find Ciri, a main character from that retro franchise, The Witcher.
09:52Beyond Geralt of Rivia and Ciri, the breakout character from The Witcher series just might be
09:57Roach, the trusty and noble steed ridden by Geralt, and with whom he has a strong and
10:01profound bond. The world seems to love the horse decades into the future, when Cyberpunk 2077 is
10:07set, because he's all over the game. Furthering the notion that the Witcher exists in this game's
10:11universe, there are video game cabinets in a Cyberpunk 2077 arcade locale inviting players
10:17in to play Roach Race. This isn't an actual game in the real world, but it is here,
10:21and it involves Roach participating in various activities reminiscent of the horse race in The
10:26Witcher. Roach makes another quiet appearance in Cyberpunk 2077's world in the form of a
10:31sticker on V's car. Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film The Shining is a landmark in horror.
10:37Both a psychological thriller and supernatural tale, it's about the evil spirits that lead to
10:42a lot of death, murder, ghosts, and mental breakdowns for the Torrance family,
10:46who agree to be the winter caretakers of a clearly haunted hotel.
10:57Here's Johnny!
10:59In one of the film's most mind-boggling and terrifying sequences, Jack Torrance,
11:03portrayed by Jack Nicholson, passionately makes out with a naked woman who emerges from a bath,
11:08only for her to transform into her true form, that of a monstrous dead person.
11:12That all goes down in Overlook Hotel Room Number 237,
11:15a destination so significant that it became the name of a movie about The Shining. It's
11:20also referenced in Cyberpunk 2077. As V and Jackie walk around Arasaka's hotel,
11:25they encounter Room Number 1237. Inside, a dead woman is found in a bathtub.
11:31As Fortnite offers players the chance to perform a silly pop-culture-inspired dance
11:35after a round of killing and bloodshed, so too does Cyberpunk 2077 lighten its pervasively dark,
11:42heavy, and unsettling tone with a feature in its photo mode. Players can take photos
11:46of their version of V during gameplay, and they can pose them in a number of pre-programmed and
11:51named positions, all of them references to movies, games, TV shows, and even memes.
11:56Among the listed options are Joker Stairs, which captures V looking like the Joker from Joker,
12:01dancing on a staircase. V can also strike a winning Dark Souls pose with a V for Victory
12:06Entry, or evoke the aghast reaction of the South Park kids with Oh My God, They Killed V.
12:11Drake's much-repeated and reworked Hotline Bling video-based meme
12:15can be found under the title Hard Pass Slash Now You're Talking.
12:19Other poses are inspired by JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Titanic, Sailor Moon, and Pulp Fiction.