Keanu Reeves in Cyberpunk 2077: It Just Makes Sense

Last week it was revealed by CD Projekt Red that Keanu Reeves is starring in Cyberpunk 2077 – Playing as Johnny Silverhand. It was reported in an interview afterwards that he has the most dialogue in the game, bar the main character – Clocking in at 15 days of voice acting being recorded. When watching the reveal, I had mixed feelings about a famous actor being attached to a game for seemingly no reason. However, after some discussion and thoughts I’ve come to realise it’s borderline genius, and here’s why.

My initial thoughts on the reveal were that CD Projekt Red were trying to pull a similar thing to Hideo Kojima’s “Death Stranding” – adding famous actors to their games just because they felt like it, or just trying to make it seem more “legitimate” or appealing to someone who doesn’t typically play videogames. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but to me, it just seemed unneeded. After watching some interviews, and learning about the lore of Cyberpunk I realised how wrong I was.

We learnt that Reeves is playing a character called Johnny Silverhand, who is (basically) a cross between a famous rockstar, and John Wick – but that isn’t why it’s genius. The reason I believe it’s a good design choice is that the connection between the character in the game, and the actor in real life, are the same. Johnny Silverhand and Keanu Reeves are both famous in their respective worlds. Why is this genius though? It solves an issue which plagues “MacGuffins” in films; When playing a game there’s sometimes a “famous” personality that’s introduced that the character you’re playing (among others) make a big deal about – But you, as a player, know nothing about them, so the whole situation comes somewhat disconnected. Grand Theft Auto has done this a few times, and it always feels awkward in my opinion, especially if the character you’re playing knows more about them than you do.

V – The Protagonist

Johnny Silverhand being an established famous figure in the Cyberpunk universe makes picking a well-loved actor like Keanu Reeves make so much sense. Consequently, when you see Johnny in the game, and you (as a player) are making choices around his fame, and your character reacting to him, it will feel less forced and more natural to how you would react in real life. You know this character, and so does everyone else in Night City. I’m eager to see what else CD Projekt Red have to show off as we draw ever closer to the release in April 2020.