Keanu Reeves is thrilled that modders are including his character in Cyberpunk 2077 as a romance option. Reeves provided the voice and likeness of Johnny Silverhand, a rebellious rocker who drives the plot of Cyberpunk 2077. However, while CD Projekt Red’s futuristic RPG allowed players to date a wide range of characters, those seeking to pursue a virtual relationship with Johnny were out of luck. Because the real Johhny Silverhand is long dead at the start of Cyberpunk 2077, falling in love with his neural engram avatar is impossible in the game’s scenario because he only exists in the mind of the main protagonist V.
That’s where the Cyberpunk 2077 modding community came in. Some modders have patched in the ability to engage in a romantic (and sexual) relationship with Johnny Silverhand by having him a stand-in for one of the many “JoyToys” that V can encounter in Night City, in addition to adding several features that remain absent in the standard version of Cyberpunk 2077 (such as being able to change V’s hairstyle after the initial character creation screen) and addressing persistent issues like the game’s annoying mini-map. However, CDPR eventually prohibited this mod owing to fears that it would offend or disturb Keanu Reeves. Keanu is cool with fans romancing him in Cyberpunk 2077; it turns out. In an interview with The Verge (via Forbes) following his special guest appearance at The Game Awards 2021 broadcast earlier this week, Reeves was asked about modders replacing JoyToys with Johnny Silverhand. Keanu’s reaction was to pump his fists and exclaim, “Yes!” Keanu stated that he was flattered that gaming fans would want to romance him in the virtual world, even going so far as to describe how players could have further encounters with his digital self using a VR headset in the Metaverse – complete with talk of arousal metrics – as his The Matrix Resurrections co-star Carrie-Ann Moss looked on with playful exasperation.
While sexual connections with Johnny Silverhand remain out of the question, CD Projekt Red has been working to resolve the numerous technical faults that have plagued Cyberpunk 2077 since its controversial launch last winter. Players have warmed up to Cyberpunk 2077 in the year after its rocky start, with the game seeing an uptick in positive Steam reviews during the Steam Autumn Sale last month. CD Projekt Red recently stated that Cyberpunk 2077’s long-awaited upgrade for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X would finally be released sometime early next year, after both it and a comparable update for The Witcher 3 were postponed from their intended October 2021 release.
Keanu Reeves has always been known for being polite and gracious to his admirers, and it appears that same friendly nature extends to those who want to romance him in cyberspace. While neither Cyberpunk 2077 nor the recently released The Matrix Awakens Unreal Engine 5 tech demo allows players to romance Keanu Reeves, modders are currently working on adding VR compatibility to Cyberpunk 2077, which means Reeves’s musings about players engaging with Johnny Silverhand in the Metaverse may come true sooner than expected.
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