Summary
- Each possible ending of Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty DLC has consequences for the base game.
- Helping So Mi escape results in a potential quest to find a cure, but she and Reed disappear afterward.
- Turning So Mi into Reed unlocks additional final missions for the DLC, and a new potential ending for the main game.
Each possible ending of Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty DLC can affect what happens next in the base game. The DLC's plot revolves around V's eternal search for a cure to their neurovirus. At the beginning of Phantom Liberty, they learn that the New United States government might have a remedy, and they can gain access to it if they'll only play government agent. Their first assignment: NUSA President Rosalind Myers' spaceplane has crash-landed, with the wreckage straddling the two rival sides of Dogtown. V will need to rescue the President, and more importantly, find out who was responsible for the crash.
[Warning: This article contains spoilers for one possible ending of Cyberpunk 2077, and all possible endings of the Phantom Liberty DLC.]
V's government work puts them between Solomon Reed, a put-upon Federal Investigation Agency operator, and Song "Songbird" So Mi, the President's right-hand woman and a skilled netrunner. The two have a history, and Songbird's work behind the mysterious Blackwall is putting her and the President in danger. Reed eventually asks V's help in capturing her. The player can side with either of them, choosing to help Reed arrest So Mi or help So Mi escape during the penultimate Phantom Liberty mission "Firestarter." What they decide there, and what they choose to do after, affects both the ending of the DLC, and everything in the base game that comes after.
What Happens If You Help So Mi Escape At The End Of Cyberpunk's Phantom Liberty
Near the end of "Firestarter," as So Mi is hacking into the stadium's defenses in order to create an opening for Alex, V has the chance to activate the Icebreaker implanted in her by Reed. Reed hopes this will immediately immobilize her, creating an opportunity for him to sweep in and capture Songbird once and for all.
Choose instead to help So Mi escape, and she finishes the job. Alex is able to enter Kurt Hansen's office and remove him from the equation, but V and So Mi still need a way out. Although weakened by her most recent trip behind the Blackwall, So Mi is able to help V by creating environmental obstacles as they run out of the stadium. V has to fight through Hansen's lieutenants, but is spared the fight against Hansen himself. Eventually, they make it to the exit, and they part ways.
So Mi s V a few days later, explaining that she has a lead on a cure for her Blackwall poisoning. She asks V's help to get to a spaceport, where she can board a flight to a lunar medical facility. However, when V arrives, she makes it clear: there's only one slot available. The cure's only good for her, or for V, never for both of them. This starts one of the potential final quests for Phantom Liberty, "The Killing Moon." V literally has to pick So Mi up, as she's basically unresponsive, and put her on a train bound for the spaceport.
When they get off, though, Reed is waiting. He demands that V put So Mi down, or he'll kill them. They should acquiesce and listen to his spiel. At any point, choosing one of the dialogue options labeled "Draw weapon" will cause combat to begin. There's no other way out, so V can choose one whenever they're done listening to Idris Elba in Phantom Liberty. V shoots Reed, picks So Mi up, puts her on the shuttle, and moves on.
There are no major changes to the wider world of Night City associated with this ending. Reed is dead, So Mi is off to the lunar facility, neither of them ever reappear, and no one really acknowledges that V was involved. V might head back to the base game of Cyberpunk 2077 with some of the new vehicles they picked up in Phantom Liberty, a shiny new weapon, and a few more eddies in their pocket, but the rest of the story plays out as normal.
What Happens If You Help Reed Capture Songbird At The End of Cyberpunk's Phantom Liberty
If they choose instead to side with Reed during "Firestarter," the Icebreaker goes off, but it doesn't immobilize Songbird. It sends her careening off the deep end, into a state of Cyberpsychosis, and V has to escape the stadium alone. Hansen kills Alex, then comes after V. At the end of the mission, V jumps into Reed's getaway car, from which the two watch as So Mi is swarmed and arrested by Night City police.
V and Reed try unsuccessfully to halt the MaxTac convoy transporting So Mi. She escapes, but Reed is injured in the attempt. V must infiltrate the facility where she's hiding, following a trail of hacked terminals to the building's core. There, a badly injured So Mi awaits. She asks V to end her suffering. If V kills So Mi at the end of "Somewhat Damaged," there are no changes to the base game of Cyberpunk 2077. The President thanks V for their effort, but isn't happy. Reed is upset, too, but makes an attempt to understand their choice.
However, if V decides to let So Mi live at the end of "Somewhat Damaged," Cyberpunk 2077's base game gets a whole new ending. So Mi survives, but becomes comatose. President Myers thanks V with a medal of honor, and promises to be in about the virus soon. V should head back to Night City and wrap up any last business; a few days later, they'll get a call from Reed. The cure is ready, and V can board a flight to DC to get it.
But first, V has to break the news to Johnny Silverhand. He doesn't love the idea of government-sponsored surgery, but he says he'll find a way to forgive V. The scene cuts to a hospital bed. V wakes up from surgery, and Reed comes in to explain the situation. V's cured, but Johnny's been wiped, and their nervous system is damaged to the point that it can no longer handle sophisticated cyberware.
V frantically returns to Night City, where Vik tries to fix them, but it's a futile endeavor. V meets with Misty, who prepares them for a normal life as another face in the crowd. In the final shot, V walks down a busy street, and the camera pulls back until they blend in with the people around them.
What Happens If You Help Songbird Escape, Then Turn Her In To Reed In Cyberpunk's Phantom Liberty
In order to get this ending, V has to help So Mi escape from the stadium, then choose to give her up to Reed when he confronts them at the spaceport. It's not all that different from the ending in which V agrees to help Reed capture Songbird directly, except that it skips the final two missions and cuts directly to the ending. Reed agrees to help V find a cure, loads So Mi onto a NUSA transport ship, and flies away.
There's no meeting with the President, no daring escape from the Cynosure facility, and no real final climax if V chooses to rescue Songbird at first, but backs out when Reed reappears. However, this ending also opens up the ending in which V flies to DC to undergo surgery, so if the player wants to see that conclusion, they have this option, too.
This new ending to Cyberpunk 2077 is certainly a conclusion to V's story, even if it's not the most satisfying one. In order to achieve it, it's necessary to keep both Reed and So Mi alive until the end of the DLC, no matter what the method. While the changes to the rest of Night City aren't massive and the ending is a little unsatisfying, it's interesting to see how Phantom Liberty's events have a ripple effect, reverberating throughout the wider world of Cyberpunk 2077.
