In the same way pure hearted good guys can be a fresh of breath air after dozens of anti heroes, sometimes straight forward evil people can be relieving after so many "the ends justify the means" people.
this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2025
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Is he even evil? Hes just a crazy strong brutal bodyguard, I don't know that him working for arasaka automatically makes him evil.
Adam Smasher is actually evil, yes. Anon is ignoring large swaths of backstory for this greentext, lol.
I haven't played the game much so I don't know.
Just got off the phone with my son who told me he bought Cyberpunk 2077 and this is literally the next Lemmy post I see.
And this is not some Baader Meinhof bullshit. It is the actual faith speaking to you and your son to finally play the game.
Wait, I have to play as well?
For some reason I don't particularly like cyberpunk stuff.
Not true; the wannabe NC legend is a core theme of the game. Smasher got there by being absolutely ruthless and navigating Arasaka by the same ethos (i.e none).
I think I read somewhere about a theory that it's not the real Adam Smasher that V meets, it's a clone because the original Adam Smasher could handle the insane amount of cyberware.
I guess it's possible the real Adam Smasher was soulkilled, and then took over a clone of himself? Surely before Saburo Arasaka uses it someone else would've had to been a test subject after all.
I like it. This is at least someway for them to get out of the situation when the strongest and the most horrifying entitity in their universe got smashed by a random goon from the street.
+ They can cover it up by how mastermindly Arasaka was in that story by sending the fake Adam Smasher.
Got addicted to swapping meat for chrome. Went cyberpsycho yet remained "high functioning". Silverhand could also be considered a high functioning cyberpsycho.
I don't know about Silverhand (not enough chrome, really, he's just a natural asshole), but most Vs, definitely.
Silverhand is explicitly a high functioning cyberpsycho in the tabletop RPG books. His "breaks" manifest as his hand talking to him. It's one of his notable character tics. In the books it's a big part of why he thought he could pull off the Arasaka bombing.
More info than anyone needs:
Mike Pondsmith, the creator of the setting, has said that cyberpsychosis shouldn't be treated like a pure numbers game set of RPG rules. It's intentionally modeled after real world drug addiciton. Some people will naturally have higher or lower tolerances, and having a strong support system around you like V's usually blunts the effects. It's countered by a stat called humanity, and Pondsmith has stated that a person's own beliefs about how human they are can impact it.
Cyberware was slightly rarer when Johnny was running around, he's an AWOL soldier with untreated PTSD, and he has a pretty shit "support system" mostly due to his own actions. Given the views he already spouts about corporations, people, and the world in general it's not hard to imagine that he's not stable without the arm. He doesn't have a high opinion of his own humanity. The arm then becomes a constant reminder of the humanity he's lost/given up.
Adam Smasher is explicitly a socio/psychopath already, before cyberware, so there's no humanity for him to lose.
V has Johnny in his brain to effectively act as a second "person" to help soak up the negative effects. Plus, videogame. Bend the rules to allow a better power fantasy.
I heard a pretty compelling case for it recently. In the cyberpunk books, Johnny kills several people and blames it on his arm. There were some other points, but I can't recall them right now.
"Deep-seated". Just sayin'.
I would say "taking an RPG projectile to the chest" is surely traumatic and could lead to all sorts of crazyness...