All Phantom Liberty Endings Ranked Worst to Best in Cyberpunk 2077

since today is the end of the year in this  video I'm going to be ranking all four of   phantom Liberty's endings from worst to best going  over the various story consequences morality of   different decisions and varying rewards in order  to decide which is best I know opinions differ   wildly on this so I very much look forward to  reading the comments but first on with the video   bottom of my list then and let me preface this  there are reasons both for and against picking   any of these four endings which I'm going to go  over but the worst ending to Phantom Liberty I   think is the King of Swords the one wherein you first side with So Mi fight your way through the   orbital air Spaceport inadvertently triggering  a huge Massacre with many Innocents caught in   the crossfire and then after all that fighting  and suffering on So Mi's behalf do a full U-turn   right at the end either because you realize  she betrayed us or you just don't want to kill   Solomon Reed instead handing her back over to  the NUSA to become their prisoner once again   we can then if we so choose be given the neural  Matrix in return Unlocking The Phantom Liberty   ending ending or we can just hand her over for  nothing which from a gameplay standpoint is the   most pointless thing you could probably do so  breaking it down this ending overall is not the   best case scenario for us the player any of the  major characters or indeed the rest of the world   from a shallow gameplay standpoint as well we miss  out on Reed's Pariah pistol and the quantum tuner   cyberware we only get those from sending So Mi  to the moon for V I would say it's the least   rewarding path again we struggle through hell well  we may as well have just handed her over to begin   with what was the point of going through so much  only to decide when merely a few feet away from   our destination to just give it all up which  of course sucks for So Mi as well more so than   any other ending to provide her with the hope of  Escape in the first place only to snatch it away   again and I'd say if you're going the route of  betraying her you might as well do so from the   off the king of Pentacles at least the other  end where she returns to the NUSA it becomes   a choice between whether to actually kill her  or not a more complicated and excusable choice to   make either way than here and I know that sounds  bad before explaining but just for now trust me   here we're essentially saving our own hide at the  last second and yeah okay I suppose reeds as well   and essentially throwing So Mi under the bus and  sure she did the same to us first lying about the   neural matrix it's not completely unjustified us  turning her in but it's still a dick move to make   especially this late in the game as for Reed I'd  actually say it's the second best outcome for   him after reviewing them all see because meeting  with him afterwards at a CHOOH2 station we can see   Reed beginning to question whether what we did was  right I can't sleep trying to break things down   keep asking myself and I don't know but maybe  you do I'd say this journey of realization is   taken furthest for him in the ending where So Mi dies king of Cups whilst in the ending where we   side with him the whole way king of Pentacles  there's not even a glimmer of realization or   moral questioning there though flashing forward  2 years for a second an opportunity we only get   after King of Swords or king of Pentacles Reed  does seem the same in both instances by that   point in the brief interaction we have with him  and I suppose it's confirmed then that for both   of these he stayed on at Langley working for  the NUSA though I'd wager behind the scenes Reed   probably doesn't follow his ideals as blindly  after King of Swords as he still does in King   of Pentacles as for Myers despite getting So Mi  in this one like she wants she's also just caused   some major issues for herself by triggering the  massacre at the orbital air Spaceport securing   an asset at the cost of potentially starting  a war so she neither fully wins or loses for   this one and depending on your attitude towards  Myers whether you just want to tell her where   she can stick it or do empathize a little with  the position she's in this ending is good for   neither of those outlooks telling her where  to stuff it is most satisfyingly done to her   face in the king of Cups ending whereas if you  want to stay on her good side this obviously   isn't the choice for that either and a War of  Nations will likely harm many more Innocents   whilst potentially just consolidating her power  in the long run what with wartime measures the   only person who possibly benefits from this ending  the most then is Alex who obviously suffers most   and immediately if we betray songbird in this  ending we don't actually know what happens to   her for sure just that she survives though we  do get more insight in a different ending that   we'll get to but essentially she'll have things  either go a bit better a bit or roughly the same   as that one and I'd wager it's the same but again  we'll get to it as for the rest of the world in   this ending well I did a recent video breaking  down the wider consequences and hidden secrets   of both ending paths so I won't go into masses of  detail there again but essentially the massacre at   the Spaceport is hugely devastating so many people  lose loved ones there's some specific stories on   that hidden in shards throughout and a memorial  Upon returning there with a very long list of   names and of course this at least is entirely  avoidable by us if we pick to betray Songbird King   of Swords and king of Pentacles after all wind up  being more or less the same result in the end so   if you can live with betraying So Mi and want to  get that Tower main ending you can achieve that   without causing this immediately devastating event  of course there's arguments on the other side of   this somewhat damaged potentially has us bring a  rogue AI into the world and hasten destroying the   border between our realm and theirs the blackwall  but that's less of a definitive given unlike all   these deaths so overall from a loot standpoint  firstly this is by far the poorest ending   with nothing you can't get from a different one  additionally regardless of which characters you   do and don't want to support here there are also  better outcomes for any one of them including V   I'd say who again has to become a bit of an [ __ ]  to do such a 180 at the last second though all   that factored into play it's also the only ending  where things wind up sort of okay for just about   all the main characters V gets what they want Reed  begins to see the error of his ways Myers probably   does alright from this and Alex gets to live in  fact just this once everybody lives and sure song   bird returns to the NUSA probably with no hope of  ever gaining Freedom which does suck for her but   then still being alive you never fully know what  will happen in the future and the door remains   open just a crack for the possibility of eventual  Freedom it's just unlikely and it's also probable   that nothing will change for the better really in  the lives of any of our characters for this one   so whilst the King of Swords is very much a so  so ending king of cups is a lot more polarizing   there's definitely strong reasoning out there for  this being the overall best outcome HandsomeTez   actually has a great video arguing why this is  the best and I'd highly recommend giving that a   watch to this is the ending wherein we first side  with Reed attack the maxtac Convoy descend into   cynosure facility spend about an hour hiding from  this terrifying piece of metal and then at the   final moments where So Mi begs for death we being  a merciful merc oblige now at first glance this   easily appears to be the worst ending So Mi dying  removes any hope of her living freely after this   obviously Myers is none too happy with our actions  which shuts us off from getting the NUSA's help   in the ending ending though they do still take  So Mi's body back with them to probe for anything   that could still be useful after all the woman was  still a walking talking super weapon of forbidden   potential possessed by a literal demon who could  wipe entire armies with nothing but a look and I   suppose when you put it that way that I'd argue  is a level of power nobody should have in their   possession not the NUSA not Mr Blue Eyes who will  get to nor anyone else from a story perspective   this ending doesn't guarantee fully shutting off  blackwall Tech after all we ourselves can bring   to blackwall weapons back to the surface though  whilst they are still dangerous the power they   hold is a lot more contained than So Mi demonstrates  herself to be for us the player or V there isn't a   tonne to be gained from this ending definitely less  than King Of Wands or Pentacles though unlike the   killing moon path we do obtain pretty much all  the unique gear available from somewhat damaged   before reaching this choice and this path on the  whole is a lot richer in terms of loot Than The   Killing Moon with extras like the Fang knife  iconic crowbar and of course Erebus and Canto   blackwall weapons again many more details in  the ending Secrets video which I realized I had   to make after starting this one given the sheer  volume of obscure details which wouldn't have fit   in here also there's one thing this ending does  better than any other and after seeing Myer's   impartiality to the massacre at Tycho terminal  in the other timeline it feels pretty freaking   good to deny her her prize and then do this [ __ ]  you Myers done with your [ __ ] let's wrap up this charade all right I can't deny you tried to  help her annoyingly she does maintain that   cool composure and even gives us money which is  belittling but still you can tell underneath the   facade she is very pissed off it's not necessarily  the best ending for defying Myers but it is the   best for facing her down and saying a great  big screw you in everything you stand for and   if we assume that Songbird does remain enslaved  forever every recaptured then this is the second   best ending for her or potentially even the best  depending on what happens when she gets to the   Moon death is not the freedom she'd hoped for  of course but I suppose we could liken it to the   devil ending in our case versus the ones where we  presumably eventually die because worlds changing   consequences aside there it's widely accepted  that V is better off dead and free than having   their soul ensnared by arasaka the person  who benefits most from King of Cups though   is surprisingly Reed who basically has a similar  realization as in the King of Swords ending only   this time it's even stronger and following on  from initially being very cold with us during   leave in silence when we meet at the basketball  court a few days later he straight up says this   I wanted to tell you in person you were right V  I lost Partners friends the trust of my superiors   everything I believed in Built My Life on gone in  seconds all because I believed you'd help me save   So Mi it's a weirdly backhanded sense of gratitude  it doesn't feel genuine in the sense that Reed is   Thanking us by acknowledging we made him fail  and lose everything by placing faith in us he   lost Alex so me and yes the trust of the NUSA  but in a way this kind of draws parallels to the   message we received from Takemura in the Phantom  Liberty ending who also says because of us the   foundations upon which he built his life utterly  collapsed explaining that we were very strong   medicine which whil incredibly bitter woke him up  from the [ __ ] life he was living so in the same   vein by forcing Reed to fail in his mission he's  pretty much fully woken up to the fact that the   ideals upon which he's built his life were a bunch  of complete bullshit I got nothing to lose now   I might be able to gain something for once though  all because of you or thanks to you not sure which   is more fitting so by hitting rock bottom the guy  is finally free to reinvent himself as whoever he   wants to be something that either can't be or  just evidently isn't in any of the other three   paths and remember we let So Mi die Who on multiple  occasions during The Killing Moon path Reed was   prepared to shoot us on sight in order to protect  the amount he cared about her survival is insane   so to then turn around and really genuinely thank  us for what we did after the fact that must have   been one hell of a wakeup call for him and I  have no doubt that the king of cups is the most   hopeful or liberating ending for Solomon Reed but  of course that comes at the price of Alex getting   murdered by Hansen losing outs on her happy  ending and instead getting just a columbarium   plaque reading quote not the retirement you  dreamed of but the kind that fate dealt I hope   you can forgive me and thanks for everything  End quote the entire somewhat damaged path   is obviously the worst choice for Alex fans but  again the brilliant thing about these four endings   is none of them are totally ideal for everybody  same as the ones from the main game I suppose I   for one do reserve a shred of hope that one day  a living So Mi might be capable again to wrestle   free from the NUSA's control but obviously  that's completely off the table after doing   this unless they somehow resurrected her though  to counter that argument by reviewing her memories   seen throughout somewhat damaged she's clearly  been subjected to a lot not just physical pain   but also mental torment and memory loss being  forced by Myers to reach beyond the blackwall on   multiple occasions and suffering a similar Fate  as the various netrunners who worked at Cynosure   who the [ __ ] are you indeed the reason she's  practically full Borg at this point is because   of the synaptic damage inflicted over time by the  blackwall necessitating The Replacement of well   probably everything aside from her brain piece by  piece she's more machine now than woman and I'll   be honest my initial reaction to her request of  death was a strong resounding no I couldn't fathom   how ending somebody's suffering could ever actually  be the better option though I suppose that's me   following the same code of ethics as Reed thinking  myself the hero for simply keeping somebody alive   despite how much they're suffering I didn't want  so's death on my conscience imagining instead   that one day in the future she'll be better and  will thank us for not granting her request but   realistically it's hard to see it going that way  no please you're leaving me to a fate worse than death So Mi   definitely the most overtly tragic ending  this one with no definitive good outcome for   anybody and probably the toughest call that there  is to make In the Heat of the moment but as far   as the story goes there are those strong Arguments  for it being the best choice which again Tez has a   great video on though king of Cups isn't the only  tough one to mull over and whilst King Of Wands   certainly has its fair share of dire consequences  and unsolved riddles it is at the same time the   only hopeful ending for So Mi we of course achieve  it by siding with her in Firestarter and then on   the bridge to the shuttle refusing to surrender  her back and instead making the painful call of   killing Reed song departs for the moon no doubt  to be received by another proxy of Mr Blue Eyes   whose intentions are as of yet still unclear  but looking closely he's been heavily involved   in this whole operation securing So Mi her passage  in the first place as well as appearing not once   but twice watching over events during the mission  even managing to reach the train station with his   umbrella mere moments after we waltzed through  deleting everyone in sight with the power of a   basilisk by which I mean the creature that can  kill you with a look not the tank though that   would have done a fine job too in fact blue  eyes intentions could even be more malevolent   than the planed Myers had after all guy could  be a proxy for a legion of tyrannical AIS that   mean to wipe Songbird psyche entirely and use her  still aware body as a vessel by which to bridge   the gap between physical and digital space hell  he may intend to use her immense power to wrestle   control of the moon's Mass drivers bombarding  the major settlements of Earth to [ __ ] the   global superpowers and bring about a grand unified  World controlled entirely by Night Corp that is   he could do all of that but Mr B's plans have  never been so overt before and indeed it's far   more hiso to operate from the Shadows via the use  of proxies to slowly and subtly take control of   certain key components needed to pull the strings  of society with nobody noticing memory tampering   back alley demonic possession blipping people out  of existence Alpha Centauri agents kidnapped- yeah this guy is   very much a wild card and entrusting So Mi to him  is essentially what we're doing in this ending   forcing Reed to also pay the ultimate price for  the opportunity the man dies with his ideals still   intact and never gets the opportunity to become a  changed man and who knows maybe things are better   that way after all the eye-opening revelations he  experiences in King of Cups sound kind of bitter   sweet and it's unclear in that ending whether he  will go and do a new thing or simply be unable to   leave the system that's been synonymous to his  identity for so long maybe it's just better to   go out now than to live on aware that your ideals  are [ __ ] but still being unable to let them go   personally I certainly don't want him to die  much less administer the killing blow myself   and that is still a huge con of this ending for  me though it does afford us something nice and   different in its place whilst the other three  endings are capped off meeting with Reed this one   instead involves a final chat and a toast with  Alex at her bar where we also get to listen to   a news broadcast further informing the results of  our actions at the Spaceport and space travel and   losses going into billions of Eurodollars these  are the sad results of this senseless act of   aggression familiar this [ __ ] jabber it's War  talk today we talk a wind up old grunt-[__] speaking to us Kenya   where Mr Wawuda did manage to travel one thing sure if  they jump claim to know exactly who responsible   for the recent attack on what is clearly the jewel  in your corporation's Crown yes NightCorp it must   be said to nightcorp the space port in night city  is a symbol of yet another failure in their space   race against orbital air the leader in orbital  technology couldn't be sure you'd show they will destroy   us out of Envy for our success this attack was a  notice that last subtitle before the TV switches   off this dude theorizing that night Corp also had  a hand in the attack as they don't want orbital   air to travel to Alpha centauri now I know that Gary  the prophet speaks in metaphors relating to actual   goings on in the world but man just what if blue  eyes doesn't want any human migration to Alpha   centauri since he genuinely is a techno Necromancer  hiding out there look I'm sure there's a more   accurate Truth for all of this but this is not  the video to get into that anyway turns out Alex   despite now being assigned to assassinate Us after  what we did is actually incredibly chill instead   pouring us a drink and saying she'll wait until  our own body offs us anyway which is nice I guess   though be interesting to see what she'd have done  if we weren't dying or indeed what will happen   should we go with the temperance ending after  this and leave Johnny to wander around in our   body indefinitely another perk to this encounter  is the ability to drink to a range of characters   and I'd say aside from the revelations we get from  Reed in the other endings this chat with Alex but   what it is is the best little aftermath mission  of the four until Johnny reminds us exactly what   we've done in this scenario that is come on got  to find some new peeps you'll befriend grow   to like and then murder and when you put it like  that I suppose we do have more blood on our hands   directly in this ending than the rest of them  the price of sticking to our guns of course was   that we eventually had to use them though in my  humble opinion and admittedly with the benefit of   hindsight if you're going to choose to help song  bird then you may as well you know do that even   once realizing that she has been having us on the  entire time playing literally everyone to the end   of purely staying alive and even though she really  does royally screw us over I think myself and many   of you still feel somewhat empathetic towards  her sure she could have been honest from the start   about the nature of the neural Matrix that it did  only have one use but she needed our help and upon   learning the truth we'd have had every right and  reason to just walk away what with this no longer   being of any benefit to us or indeed we might have  even attempted to steal it for ourself it doesn't   really matter in the end actually we learn in the  king of Pentacles ending that her mind was too far   gone for the neural Matrix to actually work on  her and that does call into question just what's   going to happen to her upon arriving at the Moon  though in my head presumably Mr B has some kind of   resource that can help her given the fact he has  a similar offer for us in the sun ending topping   off Alex's story for this ending though we do get  a post card from Monte Carlo which has got to   be nicer than dogtown and indeed Alex's ending  for King Of Wands may very well be the only one   that is confirmed for any of the characters to be  distinctively happy so for Pure Alex and Songbird   fans this is probably the best ending again we  don't know exactly what happens to Alex in King   of Swords though had a guess it's most likely  the same thing now Myers in this ending stands   to lose the most well other than Reed losing So Mi to probably the whims of nightCorp and also   possibly starting a war for herself which again  could provide her more power but also potentially   result in her deposition if things get out of hand  at a shallow level with this ending to we get the   only silenced Tech pistol in the game Pariah which  I mean silently shooting people through walls is   certainly a powerful way to play and only in this  ending too will we receive the quantum tuner a few   days later by the sofa where we chatted with  songbird with this text appearing to confirm   that she's okay but like that's by no means  entirely clear we just know that her memories   are intact thanks to the way she referred to this  place in the text hell she could have been turned   into a construct to protect her memories and her  body stored away as just another weapon powered   Now by AI again blackwall demonic possession  is not something unfamiliar to night Corp the   bloody ritual cyberpsycho and the fact that that  branch of maelstrom have dealings with nightCorp   does tie that together but anyway the quantum tuner is decent though I'd say the gear from somewhat   damaged is overall still better and I do have or  will soon have videos breaking down reviewing and   ranking each of those various items overall it's a  pretty close call for this one being in second it   is of course the best ending for So Mi probably  best for Alex almost certainly worst for Myers   almost worst for Reed and sort of okayish for us  in the end it's the right thing to do once you've   gone down this path and does at least render the  chaos at the Spaceport not entirely pointless a   lot of people think this is the canon ending as  well thanks to the inclusion of Mr blue eyes and   I agree it would probably be the most interesting  one to get expanded upon maybe with a visit to the   Moon in a sequel though personally I'm holding  out hope that they'll somehow manage to weave in   certain variations between this game and the  next and introduce save ports to account for   our varying big choices like they did Across The  Witcher series but we'll see now I know this at   the top is a controversial choice to be honest  saying any ending is best is controversial but   especially this one so hear me out because yes  remaining Myers little lapdog throughout this   entire process is arguably more spineless than the  two previous choices though firstly successfully   navigating Cynosure facility clearly warrants the  existence of plenty of remaining spine and second   this one provides overall the best gameplay  experience for Phantom Liberty in my opinion   not only does it include the wildly left of field  but nonetheless brilliant alien isolation inspired   somewhat damaged Mission but it's also the only  way to experience the new main ending after that   an addition which itself certainly isn't the  best overall ending ending that's another video   coming soon but it is a totally new experience  and a huge chunk of phantom Liberty that I think   anyone who bought the expansion ought to play  at some point and reaching that ending this way   sticking to our guns and going along with Reed the  entire time it's more honorable I would argue than   pulling a fast 180 on So Mi at the last second  even after the Revelation that you have been   duped at least this way we proceed from the  get-go with the potentially misinformed but   still Noble intentions of trying to do what we  think is best for her as opposed to bringing her   to the cusp of Freedom only to finally choose  to save our own hide story aside though just   if somebody asked me and said they only intend  to play through Phantom Liberty once what path   should they pick then I would say this one for  the most complete experience unless of course   they utterly detest horror games don't forget as  well that choosing The Killing Moon also involves   missing the hansen boss fight maybe again  that's a good thing for some of you but in my   eyes it's a chunk of game you then don't get to  play on a personal level this is also the path   I chose first time around and I'm really glad it  was because it meant I had the most important gear   and experiences logged onto my main save file as  opposed to the branching saves I created for the   other endings which I then hopped off of after  completing both we the player and V then stand   to gain the most from this ending probably  on the whole and it even feels maybe more   self-righteous but less selfish certainly than  King of Swords though of of course for most of   the other characters it is not the best still So Mi does heartbreakingly return to the custody of the   NUSA with Reed even suggesting she may return  to active duty Alex obviously doesn't get out   of this alive and Reed may think this is the  best outcome for him but as we've established   it certainly isn't and for this one Reed just  continues on never ever seeing the flaws in   his ideals in fact the only other character for  whom this is the best ending is Rosalind Myers   who gets exactly what she wants with minimum  minum collateral damage and is so proud of our   work in fact that she'll even award us with an  NUSA distinction which we can immediately give   away to a homeless man if we so choose mirroring  what So Mi did after receiving the same thing one   final question I want to explore with this ending  though is just how much of a threat is the NUSA to   the rest of the world when now in possession  of the blackwall weapon that is Song So Mi is   there actually a dire hidden consequence here  that we have delivered and I'm going to guess   based on how sensible militech got when it came  to dealing with the cynosure facility eventually   and given that milch and the United States  government are practically the same thing   then I'm going to theorize that they're a somewhat  trustworthy Corporation to hold this power still   probably better off not having it for certain  I think netwatch are really the only ones who   can be fully trusted with it though I think on  balance hopefully the NUSA won't use Songbird   to accidentally destroy the world probably  at least no more so than we are already doing   running around with the Canto or Erebus weapons  feeding data back to an AI with intentions to do   that very thing so that's my order based on a  number of varying factors of worst to best for   Phantom Liberties endings but obviously within  what I've said are various arguments to choose   all of them which if you have the time I would  heavily recommend doing and experiencing anyway   so please comment below which you think is the  best Phantom Liberty ending and why because this   is something we could talk about for days and has  been one of my favorite Concepts to explore in a   video again if you want to learn even more about  these endings then check out my hidden secrets   accompaniment to this huge thanks to my patrons  as always for keeping the channel alive go join my   Discord if you want to chat thank you for watching  I'm Sam Bram and I hope you have a great New Year

Channel: Sam Bram

Views: 129,147

Keywords: cyberpunk, cyberpunk 2077, sam bram cyberpunk, cyberpunk phantom liberty, cyberpunk ending best, cyberpunk best ending phantom liberty, phantom liberty ending, phantom liberty ending explained, phantom liberty ending best, phantom liberty ending guide, phantom liberty best ending, phantom liberty all endings, phantom liberty all endings explained, cyberpunk endings phantom liberty

Id: r6ttLnVHpKw

Length: 26min 41sec (1601 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 28 2023