Songbird from Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty
Songbird is a mirror image of Cyberpunk 2077’s V. Like the game’s protagonist, she is dealing with a terminal illness, but whereas V’s comes from corporate hubris, hers comes from an employer’s power-hungry apathy. She embodies Phantom Liberty’s exploration of how patriotism rots the mind and body of everyone who blindly follows their country. But it’s not her patriotism that has done this to her, it’s Idris Elba’s Solomon Reed. Songbird has been raised by Reed’s ideals, and her life is nearly forfeited until she decides to fight back. Cyberpunk 2077 has always asserted that, no matter how depraved and dehumanizing they are, systems can’t change: People can merely escape them. Songbird’s bold declarations of her own personhood capture the desperation and hope we all feel to simply be. She is the best parts of Cyberpunk 2077 personified. — Kenneth Shepard
