Why Does Nobody Ever Talk About Cyberpunk 2077's Best Character?

thegamer.com:

Earlier this week, I wrote about Detroit: Become Human, and why Connor was not only its best character, but the only redeeming quality in a game that seemed determined to get in its own way at every turn. That, naturally, got me thinking about Cyberpunk 2077 - another game whose worst flaws are internal, another game with greatness inside of it that is unable to get out. No patches can fix Cyberpunk 2077 at this stage, it’s too lacking in overall design, too narrow in its view of the future, too interested in style to bother with substance. Still, I have put in over 125 hours, so there must be something keeping me coming back to it, right? One of those things is the supporting cast, especially Brendan.

I did not enjoy Cyberpunk 2077 at all in my first, 25 hour or so playthrough. The second time, I spent over 100 hours mainly enjoying the photo mode and using the game as a fashion shoot simulator, subverting the violence and carnage the game so clearly wants. When you do this though, you see the inherent contradictions within the game. It’s set in the future, but its attitudes are dated. It pushes its ‘transgender character creator’, yet offers a very binary world. It prickles with a punk edge, then asks you to help out the cops. I’ve written of these contradictions before. There’s also the fact that for a game so violent, its best missions don’t require a single bullet (especially Sinnerman), and the fact none of its great characters have anything that Cyberpunk about them. Wrapped up in all of these contradictions is Brendan.

Related: Microsoft’s Metaverse Is A Lie

Much like Connor in Detroit, Brendan is played by Bryan Dechart, and he’s a machine that teeters on the edge of sentience. He’s a vending machine, and if you