Keanu Reeves is flattered that modders are adding his character as a romance option in Cyberpunk 2077. Reeves provided the voice and likeness of Johnny Silverhand, a rebellious rockstar who serves as a driving force behind Cyberpunk 2077’s narrative. However, while CD Projekt Red allowed players to romance a wide variety of characters in its futuristic RPG, those looking to pursue a virtual relationship with Johnny were out of luck. Since the real Johhny Silverhand is long dead at the start of Cyberpunk 2077, striking up a romance with his neural engram avatar is impossible in the game’s story due to him only existing in the mind of main protagonist V.
That is where Cyberpunk 2077’s modding community stepped in. In addition to adding several features that continue to be absent in the standard version of Cyberpunk 2077 (such as getting to change V’s hairstyle after the initial character creation screen) and addressing persisting issues like the game’s annoying mini-map, some modders have patched in the ability to engage in a romantic (and sexual) relationship with Johnny Silverhand by having him stand in for one of the many “JoyToys” that V can encounter in Night City. However, CDPR ultimately ordered this mod to be banned due to concerns that it might offend or disturb Keanu Reeves.
As it turns out, Keanu is perfectly fine with fans romancing him in Cyberpunk 2077. In an interview following his special guest appearance at The Game Awards 2021 livestream earlier this week with The Verge (via Forbes), Reeves was asked for his thoughts regarding modders replacing JoyToys with Johnny Silverhand. Keanu’s response was to pump his fists and let out an excited “Yes!” As his The Matrix Resurrections co-star Carrie-Ann Moss looked on with playful exasperation, Keanu stated that he was flattered that gaming fans would want to romance him in the virtual world, even going as 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.
See the interview on YouTube here.
While sexual relationships with Johnny Silverhand are still out of the question, CD Projekt Red has been working to address the many technical issues that have been plaguing Cyberpunk 2077 since its infamous launch last winter. In the year since this rough beginning, players have started to warm up to Cyberpunk 2077, so much so that the game saw an increase in positive Steam reviews during the Steam Autumn Sale last month. CD Projekt Red has recently announced that Cyberpunk 2077’s long-awaited update on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X is finally going to release sometime early next year - after both it and a similar update of The Witcher 3 were delayed from their planned 2021 launch in October.
Keanu Reeves has always been well-regarded as being friendly and gracious with his fans, and it seems this jovial demeanor extends to those who want to romance him in the virtual space. While players don’t have the option to romance Keanu Reeves in either Cyberpunk 2077 or the recently released The Matrix Awakens Unreal Engine 5 tech demo, modders are currently working on adding VR compatibility to Cyberpunk 2077 - meaning that Reeves’s musings about players engaging with Johnny Silverhand in the Metaverse might come true sooner than expected.
Source: The Verge/YouTube (via Forbes)