Alright, chooms, let's talk about something that's been itching in my netrunner deck ever since I finished my last run through the neon-soaked hellscape of Night City. We all know the NCPD is about as effective as a water pistol against a Militech mech. Gangs run entire districts, corpo black-ops happen in broad daylight, and what does our finest do? They either sit back and let V do their dirty work, or they unleash MaxTac when things get really out of hand. It's a system held together by duct tape and desperation. But here's the kicker: after spending hundreds of hours playing as a merc, a streetkid, a nomad, or a corpo rat, I can't help but feel we're missing a huge piece of the puzzle. What's it like to actually be one of those badges, drowning in the chaos instead of just surfing it for eddies?
Think about it. In Cyberpunk 2077, our interactions with the NCPD are... limited, to say the least. It's basically a binary:
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Ignore them: Do your gigs, get your eddies, pretend they don't exist.
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Annoy them: Accidentally graze a civilian with your car and suddenly you've got a two-star wanted level faster than you can say "Delta City."
And let's be real, the police response is more of a minor nuisance than a real threat. You can lose them by ducking into an alley or hopping a fence. It never really escalates to that feeling of overwhelming, systemic power chasing you down. The framework for being a vigilante is there with all those Scanner Hustles—Assault in Progress, Reported Crime—but you're always an outsider, a merc playing cop for a quick buck. You never get the badge's-eye view.
That's where Project Orion, the sequel, has a golden opportunity. The three Lifepaths in 2077 were cool flavor, but let's be honest, they didn't radically change the game. A few exclusive dialogue lines, a different 20-minute prologue, and then you're back to being V the Mercenary. An NCPD Lifepath wouldn't just be new flavor; it would be a fundamental shift in perspective.
Imagine starting the game as a fresh-faced rookie or a jaded detective. Your prologue isn't about a heist gone wrong or getting fired from Arasaka. It's about your first day on the beat, responding to a domestic disturbance in Kabuki that turns into a full-blown Maelstrom cyber-psycho incident. Your initial contacts aren't fixers like Wakako or Padre, but other badges. You'd have relationships with characters like River Ward from the ground up, not just as a potential romance option you meet later.
The potential for storytelling is insane. Here are just a few ideas that get my chrome tingling:
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The Internal Struggle: Are you a true blue, by-the-book cop trying to hold a line in a city that has none? Or are you a dirty badge, on the take from a gang or corp, using your position for personal gain? The moral ambiguity would be off the charts.
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The Cold Case: Your Lifepath could center around a case that haunts you—a missing kid from Pacifica, a serial killer targeting netrunners in Japantown. This isn't just a side gig; it's your drive. It could weave into the main narrative in ways a mercenary's motivation simply can't.
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Systemic Hell: Instead of just seeing the NCPD as faceless enemies when your wanted level ticks up, you'd experience the bureaucratic nightmare from the inside. Limited resources, corrupt superiors, impossible quotas. You'd understand why they resort to asking civilians to do their jobs via those Scanner Hustles.
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A Different Kind of Power: As a merc, power comes from your cyberware, your guns, and your rep. As a cop, power comes from your badge, your jurisdiction (however limited), and your access to police databases and protocols. Imagine investigations that require actual police work—scanning crime scenes, interrogating perps with the threat of holding them, navigating legal red tape.
Of course, it would have to be done right. This couldn't be a "lawful good" power fantasy. This is Night City. Being a cop here would be one of the most morally compromising, psychologically damaging jobs imaginable. It would be a story about trying to find justice in a place where the very concept is a commodity sold to the highest bidder.
🚨 The Big Question: Could it work in gameplay? Absolutely. Missions could range from routine patrols that suddenly go sideways, to undercover ops infiltrating gangs, to high-stakes negotiations backed by MaxTac. Your "fixers" could be your lieutenants and captains, handing down orders from the top. And the conflict between your duty and the reality of the city would create role-playing moments far more intense than choosing whether to betray a corpo.
The pieces are already on the table. We've seen the NCPD's desperation. We've worked alongside one of their few good apples in River. We've felt the looming presence of MaxTac. Now, in 2026, as we look ahead to Project Orion, it's time to step into those worn-out boots and see if we can survive a shift in the world's most doomed police department. Because sometimes, to truly understand how broken a city is, you need to try and be one of the people supposedly holding it together. Now that would be cyberpunk. 🚔💀