Cyberpunk 2077 features a cheeky cameo from a games industry legend as part of its main questline. It's easily missed, so here's how to find it (and what the mystery cameo entails!)
SPOILER WARNING: Easter egg spoilers for Cyberpunk 2077 follow. This is your last chance to turn away.
Early on in Cyberpunk 2077, prior to the title card reveal and the end of Act 1, you'll take part in a mission called 'The Heist' where you infiltrate a swanky hotel. After you suit up and check-in, you'll follow Jackie through the lobby and encounter a gold-plated waitress. This conversation prompts an option for V - they can choose to go up to the room or have a look around. If you choose to look around, Jackie will leave and you can explore the bar. To the right of the bartender there's a booth you can walk up to, and inside the booth is Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding creator Hideo Kojima, who is called 'Oshima' in-game.
Kojima is sat with a group of friends explaining his philosophy on games. He talks about how Cyberpunk 2077's braindances (recorded memories that can be experienced by another user which act as an in-universe stand-in for video games) have "expressive limitations" and rely on genre tropes. He goes on to talk about his research team in Tokyo that is exploring how to better capture emotions in braindances, a reference to his studio, Kojima Productions. "I want my productions to convey real, raw human emotion," Kojima says. "The feeling when you combine happiness and melancholy, or being calm with an underlying sense of anxiety. These complex, realistic feelings and emotions are what I aspire to recreate... woven into much better stories, of course."
If you speak to Oshima after he has finished his speech, he'll say "Yes, what is it," and then "Did you bring a pitch for me?" but there is no further dialogue beyond this point. It's a cool easter egg, and it uses the Kojima model CD Projekt Red tweeted back in July of this year, to celebrate Death Stranding coming to PC. Kojima also appeared in Remedy's Control in 2019, as Dr. Yoshimi Tokui.
Kojima himself is no stranger to using big names from the industry in his own games; Death Stranding features a cameo from Geoff Keighley, who plays 'The Ludens Fan'.
In other Cyberpunk news, you can check out our review of the game here. We scored it a 9, touting its "beautiful, dense cityscape."
Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.
