Cyberpunk 2077's world has weird celebrities and nostalgic band jackets

Cyberpunk 2077 will have a healthy appreciation for future (and slightly less future) music. A new post on the game's official website pulls out two frames from the trailer as high-res screenshots and then breaks down some of their significance to the game: the first introduces star musician Lizzy Wizzy, and the second reveals some of the story behind main character V's rad-as-hell jacket.

Lizzy is the woman with the mohawk who we briefly see stomping the red carpet in the trailer. If that doesn't ring a bell, you may remember her as the one whose skin is entirely covered in/made from chrome. Apparently she's the controversial frontwoman and sole human member of a band called Lizzy Wizzy and the Metadwarves. CD Projekt Red doesn't go into any more detail on that, but I suspect that means her bandmates are virtual characters like Hatsune Miku rather than fantasy dwarves (give Shadowrun a shot if you want dwarves and elves in a cyberpunk world).

Music has long been an essential part of the Cyberpunk world, both as a form of commercial entertainment and as countercultural protest. The Cyberpunk 2020 tabletop role-playing game, which Cyberpunk 2077 is largely based on, featured musicians (therein referred to as Rockerboys) as one of its ten primary classes. While Netrunners were hacking into corporate servers and Solos were gunning down private military goons, Rockerboys were playing music to get everybody riled the hell up. That kind of weird stuff helped 2020 feel not just cyber but punk, and I hope 2077 captures the same spirit.

Speaking of Rockerboys, did you wonder why V's jacket has the word "Samurai" in big letters on its collar and a picture of a freaky robo-oni face on the back? That's a callback to the Samurai band from Cyberpunk 2020: fronted by Johnny Silverhand (who, yes, had a robotic hand), Samurai's music was a rallying cry in the popular resistance against the corporate overlords of Night City.

Will Cyberpunk 2077 fudge the timeline to bring Johnny Silverhand and Samurai five decades into the future, or is V just a big fan of classic rock? Either option would be fine by me, though I'd honestly prefer the latter - I like the idea that your customized character wears the future-equivalent of a ratty old The Doors T-shirt on their high-powered mercenary missions.

Explore more of the grimy future with an in-depth look from our Cyberpunk 2077 E3 2018 preview.