Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is based on the best-selling, award-winning RPG Cyberpunk 2077, developed by Poland-based studio CD Projekt Red and adapted from the TTRPG by Mike Pondsmith. The anime collaboration with Japanese animators Studio Trigger has been a major success for the Polish developer's expansion into multimedia. The first season was released to praise from critics and fans alike, even reviving play counts on the aging game, never a guarantee given its nature as a single-player and story-driven experience. It just goes to show how much good stories and characters are beloved by Cyberpunk's community, despite its disastrous launch.
This review contains spoilers for the first season of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners was infamous, in a good way, for its depressing and harsh ending, killing all major characters, including David Martinez, the protagonist, except for Lucy, his love interest and reason for wanting to achieve the impossible. Our favorite characters like Maine, Rebecca, Dorio, Kiwi, and Pilar suffer horrible deaths, swallowed by the city of dreams they fought and exploited all their street-pushing lives. The core theme that the city, corporations, and cyberpsychosis always win was unignorable.
I still find fan art of alternate endings, mostly wishing David and Rebecca lived. And like salt on the wound, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2's teaser trailer blatantly reminds us that David is dead and he's never coming back. Okay, I accept it! It still hurts. Additionally, VP of franchise at CD Projekt Red and producer and writer ofEdgerunners, Bartosz Sztybor, touted that the second season would be even sadder. His words struck fear in the hearts of fans (in a fun way) anticipating the second season. Look under any trailer for Edgerunners 2, and you'll find people joking about how they expect only the worst and that Night City has no happy endings for anybody. In a way, they're right.
Safe to say, Edgerunners 2 had a ton of expectations after a great game, an excellent story DLC, and a stellar anime. Does it make itself worthy of a drink in the Afterlife, or does it collapse under too much ambition like a washed-up solo?
New people, same Night City
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 follows Roman (Valeria Rodriguez), D (Nazeeh Tarsha), Weak Kingsley (Clancy Brown), and Talia (Kimoy Lee), including a mystery digital-entity character, Capri. While season 1 focused on an entire team of combat-capable solos, techies, and netrunners, Roman is a young boy who just wants to preserve the art of filmmaking, similar to the media role from the original Cyberpunk TTRPG. In this dark future, everyone's drowning in braindances, or BDs—virtual reality where you simply experience someone's memories. No story direction, no technique, and no soul, despite you living someone's life. Having a character like Roman focused on recording and preserving what's human is a refreshing change of pace from David Martinez.
When Roman meets D, who's on a path of revenge against select corpos and Maelstromers, Roman sees it as an opportunity to capture great content that'll pay. However, as they build a bond, Roman wants to capture D's true happy self, unburdened by his grief. Roman also has an interesting contrast with Talia, who's nearly all chromed out. When caught recording her stunts, she questions why Roman is "mostly 'ganic." Why choose to be weak? And it must be weird seeing a camera when a cybernetic Koroshi optic could capture everything you see in 8k UHD. Roman didn't have a good answer in the moment, but he's stated before that he prefers film over BDs because the screen creates a barrier, distance—a layer of interpretation for the viewer.
Talia comes around to realize this as she plays with the camera on her own, capturing moments through the lens as she explores the city. Thus, her fascination with Roman grows, and she wants to hang out with him more, but when he's tied up with plans about D (and his revenge quest), she switches up her attitude toward him, almost two-faced. When Talia and Roman first met, she was genuinely intimidating, but on their second meeting, she's bubbly, and when things don't go her way, she's extremely bitter. Her emotions were in constant flux, which, to me, was a dead giveaway of some underlying cyberpsychosis. Or maybe it's just the teenager trope in full swing.
And finally, there's Weak Kingsley, who probably has the weakest connection to Roman, but for the few minutes they share onscreen together, managed to be profoundly impactful. Weak is very much the "dad" of the group. Despite being a hard-boiled edgerunner, he has a lot of common sense and is surprisingly good with younger people. However, I use "group" loosely as they all rarely share time on screen together, but they're no less interconnected with their unique wants and problems.
Flesh is not sacred in the dark future of Cyberpunk
It's disturbing to think about how people can throw away pieces of themselves as if they're just getting a tattoo. Once you chop off some meat and replace it with chrome, you can't get your flesh back. You can't erase the metal like ink. Imagine watching your child slowly replace themselves with metal, becoming someone you struggle to recognize. This is what Avida goes through, seeing her daughter, Talia. Even her jaw isn't organic anymore.
Weak barely escapes the maddening grasp of cyberpsychosis, and he's had his chrome stripped from him and replaced with low-level prosthetics. The size of them doesn't match his massive frame, and he struggles to use the massive hand cannon he once wielded with ease. Couldn't even train muscle if he wanted to. No muscle left. However, instead of lying around broken and worthless, he still uses his street smarts and social skills to progress his quest. You can take the chrome out of the edgerunner, but you can't take the man out of the edgerunner.
While D is seemingly at risk of cyberpsychosis, he suffers a much more complex problem. He's willingly invited a digital-entity, Capri, into his system. He only still has control over his body because the installation failed, but he has full access to Capri's insane powers, which look like wizardry. Instant hacking, technopathy, and even zapping people with red-lightning. Capri is like a mischievous demon, only wanting to see what fun could be done with her power, and D embraced the possession, despite the dangers.
While I adore Edgerunners' first season, there were some choppy pacing issues in the last few episodes. I'm glad to say that problem has improved here. While the progressive moral decay and violence speed up, it still feels gradual enough for you to see all the signs. The scene economy was well done.
Night City's detachment to violence
Edgerunners 2 dives into the absurdity of violence much more than its previous season. Night City is the place where citizens will see a hacked broadcast of a video about a masked vigilante threatening to murder corpos, and everyone goes on about their day. Not a care in the world.
You hit someone's car? Well, they're packing, and they're swinging their iron at you ready to shoot. Accidentally stepped into a Maelstromer hideout? Get ready to be carved up like turkey. And don't be unlucky enough to end up on a mega-corp's bad side. They're always looking for test subjects to kidnap, the kind of people no one will remember or come looking for if they vanished.
Edgerunners 2 makes Night City a threatening place. A cancer with cancer, tumors eating each other for survival. It's all maximized by Studio Trigger's striking art style. The bold, deep blacks, rough pencil edges, and angular bodies come out in the right moments to make the viewer feel the weight of hopeless dread in a city that would rather see you dead or siphoned of everything you're worth. My favorite scene was of D leading a riot, and it looked like Hell on Earth emerged on the streets, covering everything in soot, blood, and fire in the night. It's an image I'll never get out of my head, nor the fantastic music choice. I would like wallpapers and the full soundtrack on vinyl.
I appreciate how a kid like Roman, who grew up in this city, and even a tired old man like Weak Kingsley can detest the pointless violence in Night City. D's bloody revenge path is ruthlessly criticized by another character (name omitted), but when violent acts in a city that hates you back are celebrated, it can almost start to make you feel like the crazy one for caring.
An ending you'll remember
The whole series is as sad as you'd expect. It builds on the themes the first season introduced us to, and twists our heartstrings in new ways. Nightmares of dead loved ones, struggling with a body that's against you, and watching the ones you love lose themselves. It's all there, cranked to eleven. However, it wasn't as painful as season 1. Maybe it's because I've grown numb, but the sadness in season 2, while intense, doesn't seem unfair. It's very digestible. It's like everything is as it's meant to be, and the narrative helps you understand that.
The ending, especially, drives this home. I was satisfied, even if it was more sweet than bitter, which is surprising for a Cyberpunk story, but welcome. Some fans might be disappointed if they had preconceived expectations of what the ending would be like compared to season 1's. Still, I would have liked to see the ending hit me harder, and there were a few character motivations that weren't tied up nicely. Capri was mysterious, but some of her actions could have been unpacked a little more, and her relationship with D explored.
Conclusion
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 is an electrifying thrill ride and a somber return to Night City. It's Studio Trigger at their best artistically, and CD Projekt Red's cynical yet heartfelt storytelling bleeds in for a perfect mix between the two studios. When the darkness is intensified, the light shines even stronger. You'll remember the quiet moments in the dark alleys and abandoned theaters as much as the loud shootouts between two borged-out death machines. Make sure to tune into this one!
Verdict: 9/10
All eight episodes of Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 are out now on Netflix.
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