What’s actually slowing this PC down?

Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

iTechGuides is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Learn more

David Martinez dies in the Arasaka Tower assault. Using the cyber-skeleton, he holds Adam Smasher back long enough for Falco to get Lucy away. Rebecca is killed by Smasher during the escape. Lucy survives and later reaches the Moon alone, turning the dream she shared with David into a memorial rather than a happy ending.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is an official, standalone 10-episode story in the same universe as Cyberpunk 2077. The game connection is deliberate rather than a hidden continuation: the Edgerunners Update adds David’s yellow jacket, Rebecca’s shotgun Guts, an anime braindance clip and a quest that ties those pieces to Night City’s playable world.

What happens during the Edgerunners finale

The final assault on Arasaka Tower is the point at which David’s personal story, the crew’s criminal operation and the series’ warning about unchecked augmentation collide. David has already gone far beyond the level of chrome that his body can safely tolerate. The cyber-skeleton gives him overwhelming strength, but it also leaves him close to psychological and physical collapse.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

David uses the cyber-skeleton for one last mission

David’s objective is not to win a conventional fight or seize a corporate empire. He wants to rescue Lucy and give her a chance to leave Night City’s cycle. The cyber-skeleton lets him move and fight at a scale ordinary mercenaries cannot match, but each use pushes him further toward cyberpsychosis and makes him a more useful disposable asset to the corporations manipulating the conflict.

#1 Best Overall
Elebase USB to USB C Adapter for iPhone 18 Pro Max,USBC Car Charger Adapter | 4Pack Type C Female to A Male Cable Converter for Apple Duo 17 16 15 14 Plus,iWatch Watch 12 11 10,iPad 9 8 Air,Airpods 5 4
  • Read Before You Buy — No Video Output: These adapters support charging and USB 2.0 data transfer, but cannot transmit video signals. Except for standard USB webcams (which use USB data only), they are not compatible with HDMI/DisplayPort cables, video-capable USB-C hubs, or docking stations with video output.
  • Convert USB-A Ports to USB-C: Designed to connect USB-C earphones, cables, flash drives, card readers, and other USB-C accessories to standard USB-A ports. Plug-and-play with no drivers or software required.
  • Aluminum Alloy Housing: Built with a sturdy aluminum alloy shell that aids in heat dissipation and protects against daily wear and scratches. Designed to maintain a stable and secure connection.
  • Compact & Travel-Friendly: The ultra-compact design allows the adapter to stay plugged into your device without blocking adjacent ports or adding bulk, reducing wear and tear on your original USB ports.
  • 12-Month Warranty: Backed by a 12-month manufacturer warranty for peace of mind. Designed to meet strict quality control standards for reliable everyday performance.

Rebecca is killed during the escape

Rebecca stays in the fight while the survivors try to get clear. Adam Smasher catches her in the chaos and crushes her. Her death is abrupt by design: the crew does not receive a clean victory, and even the people who remain loyal to David cannot all be protected by his final stand.

Falco gets Lucy away

Falco’s driving and extraction work are what allow Lucy to escape the immediate battle. David’s strength is therefore spent on a specific purpose: keeping Smasher occupied while Falco moves Lucy out of danger. David is not secretly evacuated with them, and no scene shows a recovery operation after the fight.

Adam Smasher kills David

Once Lucy is safe, David faces Smasher directly. The Arasaka enforcer kills him after David has exhausted the cyber-skeleton and his remaining physical reserves. The finale records a completed sacrifice, not a cliff-hanger that leaves David’s fate unresolved.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

Lucy reaches the Moon alone

The final image places Lucy on the Moon, the destination she and David imagined together. She gets the physical experience he wanted for her, but he is absent. The scene gives Lucy a future and closes David’s arc at the same time; it is an emotional epilogue, not evidence that David is still alive somewhere off-screen.

Why David’s death is the story’s answer

CD PROJEKT RED describes the series as asking “just how far you can go to overcome your physical and emotional limits” and what “the pursuit of fame within a city ruled by greed and disrespect for human life can lead to.” David’s progression supplies the answer. Every upgrade appears to solve an immediate problem: it helps him protect the crew, earn status and compete with people who have more money or more hardware. The same upgrades steadily remove his ability to choose where the escalation stops.

David is not destroyed by one bad decision alone. He is shaped by a city that rewards spectacular violence, by clients who treat mercenaries as replaceable equipment and by his own desire to become powerful enough to keep the people he loves alive. The cyber-skeleton is the most visible expression of that pressure. It turns his body into corporate-grade machinery while leaving him responsible for consequences that the corporations never have to bear.

Rank #2
Anker USB-C Hub, 5-in-1 USB Hub for Laptops, 4K HDMI Multiport Adapter | USB C Dongle with 90W Max Power Delivery, 3×5Gbps USB A Data Ports, for MacBook, Dell, and More (Charger Not Included)
  • 5-in-1 USB-C Hub: Experience comprehensive connectivity featuring a Power Delivery input, two USB-A 2.0 ports, a USB-A 3.0 port, and an HDMI port. (Note: The USB-C power delivery input port is only for connecting an external wall charger to power your laptop and cannot power peripheral devices.)
  • 90W Pass-Through Charging: Achieve optimal charging with 90W pass-through power to your laptop, supported by a total input of 100W, with the hub reserving 10W for operational efficiency. (Note: Wall charger not included.)
  • Quick Data Transfers: Accelerate your productivity with rapid data transfers using a high-speed 5Gbps USB 3.0 port and two 480Mbps USB 2.0 ports.
  • 4K HDMI Display: Enhance your visual experience with a hub capable of delivering 4K resolution at 30Hz in both mirror and extend modes. Please note that this hub is compatible with MacBook (macOS 12 and newer), Windows 10 and 11, ChromeOS, and laptops equipped with DP Alt Mode and Power Delivery. Note: This device is not compatible with Linux.
  • What You Get: Anker USB-C Hub (5-in-1, 4K HDMI), welcome guide, 18-month warranty, and our friendly customer service.

His last choice is humane even though it cannot save him. David stops trying to preserve his own life and spends his remaining strength buying Lucy’s freedom. That decision distinguishes the sacrifice from his earlier pursuit of reputation. Fame and power promised that he could become exceptional; the final stand matters because he uses the exceptional power he has left for another person’s future.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

What the Moon scene means for Lucy

Lucy’s Moon dream begins as an invitation to imagine a place outside Night City. David gradually adopts it as a shared promise, so the destination acquires a meaning beyond tourism. When Lucy finally stands there, the promise has been fulfilled in the most painful possible form.

The scene does not show Lucy forgetting David or receiving a supernatural message from him. It shows a survivor confronting the gap between a plan made by two people and the life that only one of them can live. Her solitude is the point: the Moon is real, but the future they pictured together is gone.

The series leaves Lucy’s later life open. She may carry on, grieve, work or form new relationships, but the ending does not provide an official account of what happens next. That openness is different from a survival reveal. Nothing in the ending confirms that David’s mind was stored as an engram, transferred into a construct or preserved in another body.

Is David really dead?

Yes. Adam Smasher kills David after David gets Lucy to safety. The finale does not establish a backup consciousness, a hidden body or a post-credit rescue. Fans can discuss those possibilities as theories, but they should not be presented as canon based on the official ending.

Free tools Windows power users keep installed

One-click scans. No signup required.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

This distinction matters in the wider Cyberpunk setting, where engrams and digital personality copies are real technologies. The existence of that technology in the universe does not prove that it was used on David. No cited official material confirms that Arasaka, Falco or Lucy preserved him.

Rank #3
Sale
Anker USB C Hub, 7in1 Multi-Port USB Adapter, 4K@60Hz USBC to HDMI Splitter | 85W Max PD, 2 USB 3.0 & 1 USBC Data Ports, SD/TF Card Reader, for Laptops/Mac and Other Type C Devices (Charger Not Included)
  • Sleek 7-in-1 USB-C Hub: Features an HDMI port, two USB-A 3.0 ports, and a USB-C data port, each providing 5Gbps transfer speeds. It also includes a USB-C PD input port for charging up to 100W and dual SD and TF card slots, all in a compact design.
  • Flawless 4K@60Hz Video with HDMI: Delivers exceptional clarity and smoothness with its 4K@60Hz HDMI port, making it ideal for high-definition presentations and entertainment. (Note: Only the HDMI port supports video projection; the USB-C port is for data transfer only.)
  • Double Up on Efficiency: The two USB-A 3.0 ports and a USB-C port support a fast 5Gbps data rate, significantly boosting your transfer speeds and improving productivity.
  • Fast and Reliable 85W Charging: Offers high-capacity, speedy charging for laptops up to 85W, so you spend less time tethered to an outlet and more time being productive.
  • What You Get: Anker USB-C Hub (7-in-1), welcome guide, 18-month warranty, and our friendly customer service.

How Edgerunners connects to Cyberpunk 2077

One universe, different protagonists

CD PROJEKT RED announced Edgerunners as a “standalone, 10-episode story” set in “the same universe” as Cyberpunk 2077. Netflix uses the same standalone framing and presents Night City as a city obsessed with technology and body modification. The anime therefore expands the setting without replacing the game’s main campaign.

David is the anime’s protagonist. V remains the player character in Cyberpunk 2077. Their stories occupy the same fictional world but are not the same adventure, and completing one does not turn the other into a continuation starring the same character.

The chronology is earlier than V’s 2077-era campaign

Edgerunners is an official tie-in set before the player’s main 2077-era story. It establishes how one crew experiences Night City’s mercenary economy and corporate violence; the game later lets you explore the same city through V’s choices. Shared locations, institutions and technology create continuity without requiring the anime’s ending to be rewritten.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

Adam Smasher is the clearest character bridge

Adam Smasher is the same Arasaka enforcer in both works. In the anime he kills David in the Tower assault. In the game he appears as a major antagonist. His presence is more than a visual cameo: it confirms that the event viewers watched belongs to the same history that the game references.

What the Edgerunners Update adds to the game

The Edgerunners Update makes the connection playable rather than leaving it at the level of lore references. An official PlayStation and CD PROJEKT RED article documents four deliberate links.

  • David’s jacket: His bright yellow jacket, inherited from Gloria, is added as a legendary wardrobe item.
  • Rebecca’s Guts shotgun: Rebecca’s distinctive weapon can be discovered and used in the game.
  • A dedicated quest: A new quest leads to David’s jacket and incorporates a braindance clip from the anime.
  • Contextual writing: Item descriptions, dialogue and quest placement are written to connect the game material to the show rather than treating the items as unrelated cosmetics.

The update gives players tactile reminders of the anime while preserving the separation between David’s tragedy and V’s campaign. Finding the jacket does not resurrect David, alter the finale or make V a member of David’s crew. It is a deliberate piece of world-building and remembrance.

Rank #4
Sale
UGREEN USB to USB C Adapter Combo 4-Pack, 10Gbps USB C Converter Space Gray | Data transfer & Fast charging for MacBook, iPhone 17/16/15, iPad, Samsung Galaxy, Apple Watch
  • Dual Converters, Infinite Potential:Includes 2× USB C male to USB A female adapters and 2× USB A male to USB C female adapters. Perfect for a wide range of uses—tablets with Bluetooth keyboards, expand USB ports on macbook, and more. Two different converters for all your daily needs
  • Next-Level 10Gbps & 3A Charging: No more slow 480Mbps, this usb to usb c adapter has a transfer speed of up to 10Gbps, allowing you to do more transferring in less time. This usb adapter fits both USB A and USB C charger, supporting up to 3A fast charging
  • Upgraded Exquisite Craftsmanship: With an aluminum alloy housing and metal connector, the usbc to usb adapter is extremely durable and sturdy. Rigorously tested to withstand more than 10,000 times of plugging and unplugging, ensuring long-lasting performance
  • Broad Compatible: The usb c to usb adapter widely supports all USB C/ USB A devices like laptops, tablets, cellphones, car chargers, and phone chargers. Such as compatible with MacBook Pro/Air 2023/2022, Thunderbolt 4/3 Devices,Apple MagSafe Watch 9/8/7/SE/Ultra, iPad Pro 2022/2021, Samsung Galaxy S23/S20/S10, and iPhone 17/16/15 Pro. Plug and play
  • Please Note: To reach 10Gbps speed, keep the cable under 3.3 ft. For USB A Male to USB C adapters, try flipping the USB C connector. USB C Male to USB A adapters support bidirectional 10Gbps transfer within 3.3 ft

Where to find David’s jacket

David’s jacket is obtained through the Edgerunners Update quest content documented by CD PROJEKT RED and PlayStation. Follow that connecting quest to its braindance-related lead and reward sequence; the jacket is the legendary wardrobe item tied to David and Gloria. The exact availability can depend on having the relevant game update installed, so a version that predates the Edgerunners Update will not contain the quest or reward.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

Where Rebecca’s Guts fits

Guts is a discoverable shotgun, not a mandatory replacement for the game’s other weapons. Its value is primarily narrative and collectible: the weapon lets players carry a recognizable piece of Rebecca’s story into V’s separate campaign. The item’s presence confirms that the update is drawing from specific events and characters rather than merely borrowing the anime’s color palette.

Anime and game: what is shared and what is different?

Aspect Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Cyberpunk 2077
Protagonist David Martinez, a street kid who joins a mercenary crew V, the player-created mercenary
Format Linear, 10-episode animated tragedy Interactive role-playing game with player-directed choices
Setting use Night City is experienced through David’s crew, Lucy’s secrets and the Arasaka conflict Night City is explored through V’s missions, alliances and endings
Cyberpsychosis and chrome David’s escalating implants show how protection and status can become self-destruction V’s build and missions let the player experiment with cyberware without reproducing David’s exact arc
Corporate power Arasaka’s extraction of value from mercenaries drives the final assault Arasaka remains a major force in V’s wider conflict
Direct crossover Adam Smasher and the Night City lore establish continuity The Edgerunners Update adds David’s jacket, Guts, anime braindance material and a connecting quest

The comparison shows why the anime can be emotionally complete while the game remains open-ended. A linear story can make David’s final decision inevitable in retrospect; an interactive campaign must leave room for V’s player-controlled route through the city.

Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Support on Ko-Fi

Canon boundaries and common overclaims

David does not return in the game’s main story

The shared universe does not mean that David becomes a hidden game companion or alternate player character. The official material identified here supports a historical and material connection, not a playable resurrection.

An engram theory is not confirmed

Cyberpunk fiction makes digital personality copies plausible, which is why the theory persists. Plausibility is not confirmation. No official source cited for this ending states that David’s consciousness survives as an engram, appears in another body or speaks through a hidden device.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

The Moon is not a coded survival signal

Lucy on the Moon is the emotional conclusion to their shared dream. Reading it as proof that David is alive changes the scene’s function and goes beyond what the finale shows.

Best Value
Sale
Anker USB C Hub, 5-in-1 USBC to HDMI Splitter with 4K Display | 85W Max PD, 1 Powered USB-C 5Gbps & 2 Powered USB-A 3.0 5Gbps Data Ports, for MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Dell and More (Black)
  • 5-in-1 Connectivity: Equipped with a 4K HDMI port, a 5 Gbps USB-C data port, two 5 Gbps USB-A ports, and a USB C 100W PD-IN port. Note: The USB C 100W PD-IN port supports only charging and does not support data transfer devices such as headphones or speakers.
  • Powerful Pass-Through Charging: Supports up to 85W pass-through charging so you can power up your laptop while you use the hub. Note: Pass-through charging requires a charger (not included). Note: To achieve full power for iPad, we recommend using a 45W wall charger.
  • Transfer Files in Seconds: Move files to and from your laptop at speeds of up to 5 Gbps via the USB-C and USB-A data ports. Note: The USB C 5Gbps Data port does not support video output.
  • HD Display: Connect to the HDMI port to stream or mirror content to an external monitor in resolutions of up to 4K@30Hz. Note: The USB-C ports do not support video output.
  • What You Get: Anker 332 USB-C Hub (5-in-1), welcome guide, our worry-free 18-month warranty, and friendly customer service.

Related official material

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners MADNESS is an official companion manga focused on Rebecca and Pilar before David’s crew. It expands their earlier history, but it does not undo the anime’s final episode or provide a different outcome for David and Lucy.

For viewers who want the cleanest continuity, watch the 10-episode anime as its own story, then treat the Edgerunners Update as an interactive epilogue to Night City’s setting rather than as a playable remake of the finale. The game items reward recognition and exploration; the anime remains the authoritative source for David’s last stand.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is David really dead?

Yes. Adam Smasher kills David after David gets Lucy to safety. No official source cited for the ending confirms an engram or another form of survival.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

Does Lucy make it to the Moon?

Yes. She reaches the Moon alone after David’s death, fulfilling their shared destination as a memorial rather than a shared future.

How is Edgerunners connected to Cyberpunk 2077?

It is a standalone 10-episode story in the same universe. The Edgerunners Update adds David’s jacket, Rebecca’s Guts shotgun, an anime braindance clip and a dedicated connecting quest.

What happened to Rebecca?

Adam Smasher crushes Rebecca during the Arasaka Tower escape.

Where do I find David’s jacket?

It is obtained through the Edgerunners Update quest content documented by CD PROJEKT RED and PlayStation; the quest leads to the legendary jacket reward.

Special offer. See more information about Outbyte and uninstall instructions. Please review EULA and Privacy policy.

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.