Heads up, this piece covers some spoilers for Cyberpunk 2077.
Even if you’ve chosen to make no friends in Night City, the climax of Cyberpunk 2077’s main narrative still presents you with a couple of possible endings. However, that didn’t stop a creative fan from adding another twist to the story with an hour-long Machinima film starring their takes on V and Johnny Silverhand.
This intriguing project is the brainchild of a dedicated cosplayer and virtual photographer, known in the gaming community as Valerie Silverhand—no surprises about which character they favor! Valerie is well established in the Cyberpunk fandom, and with this film, they even garnered praise from one of CD Projekt’s associate game directors currently working on the sequel.
Their fan film, titled Black Dog, was teased with an impressive trailer late last year and is now fully available on YouTube. The film runs for about an hour and is crafted using Machinima in combination with Cyberpunk assets, brought to life with mods and unique cinematics that help unfold its original storyline.
Interestingly, the film employs some AI-generated voices to bring characters from the game—like Silverhand, Judy, and Viktor Vektor—to life. Valerie Silverhand makes it clear in the video’s disclaimer that this project is purely fan-made and isn’t linked with or endorsed by CD Projekt. The disclaimer stresses that the AI voices were used solely for non-profit purposes, making sure there was no intent to undermine the roles of the original voice actors.
While some may be skeptical about the use of AI voices, the transparency gives viewers the choice to decide for themselves. This approach is arguably less contentious than using AI voices in commercial endeavors, which could impact voice actors’ jobs.
For those pondering whether to dive into this fan film, here’s a little snippet of the plot without spilling too many beans: A year has passed since V stormed the Mikoshi data fortress of Arasaka. After turning down a proposition from the rogue AI, Alt Cunningham, V and Johnny Silverhand decide to leave Mikoshi together in search of another solution. Things heat up with V uncovering the existence of a "secret Arasaka cryo vault" believed to store Saburo Arasaka’s most private collection.
Adding to the buzz, Paweł Sasko, an associate game director on the Cyberpunk sequel, shared his excitement about the project on Twitter, calling it "an incredibly ambitious and complex project" and congratulated Valerie for the achievement.
If you’re on the lookout for more fan-created additions to the Cyberpunk universe, you might be interested in recent news about a modder who crafted a brand new intro sequence and lifepath for the game.
