Players can already expect a huge range of characters in CD Projekt Red’s hotly anticipated Cyberpunk 2077, ranging from the street gangs of Night City to the ruthless executives giving a whole new meaning to the phrase hostile takeover.
Big stars have announced their involvement in Cyberpunk 2077 from Keanu Reeves’ as series mainstay Johnny Silverhand to Grimes’ recently announced Cyberpunk character, suicidal starlet Lizzy Wizzy. The gameplay demo, however, has left some players with a burning question: who is Meredith Stout?
Meredith and Militech
First revealed in Cyberpunk 2077's2018 gameplay demo, Meredith Stout is a Corporate Agent and the Senior Operations Manager for Militech, a weapons manufacturer and military contractor that’s one of the main megacorporations battling for dominance of Night City. The demo highlights describeMeredith as an egomaniac who “lives and breathes corporate” and “despises the common folk.” This may or may not include V, the player character, depending on which origin the player chooses.
One of these origins might give V quite a lot in common with Meredith, with Cyberpunk’s newly revealed ‘Corporate V’ who, like Meredith, is likely to start the game climbing their way up the corporate ladder of a corporation like Militech. Based on what’s been revealed ofMeredith Stout's cut-throat competitive character so far,players hoping to use this commonality to engender sympathy are likely to be disappointed.
Friend or Foe
Meredith first appears in-game during the mission Going Pro, as one potential ally who can help V obtain an experimental Flathead drone that has been stolen from Militech by the Maelstrom gang. In the demo, when approached, the first thing Meredith does is reach out to shake the player’s hand, when suddenly her henchman pistol whips the player and attaches them to a form of lie detector. Needless to say, as with Johnny Silverhand, players can expect V’s relationship with Meredith to be more than a little complicated.
Meredith has also taken another man hostage, Anthony Gilchrist, who she believes could be responsible for the leak that led to the theft of the Flathead. When her lead on Anthony comes up short, she is even willing to give the player a 50,000 eurodollar credit chip to buy a bot they need as long asthey can catch her mole in the process. She states no interest in the fate of the actual thieves, showing how unconcerned with the lives of regular peoplethe almost aristocratic corporate world of Cyberpunk 2077 can be compared to the characters a player might meet living on the other side of Cyberpunk's immense wealth divide, like Judy Alvarez the braindance technician.
As Gilchrist is taken away he implies that siding with Stout may have negative consequences for V even if they side with Militech, claiming that Meredith is “good as dead” and will “take you down with her.” If he’s right, it is possible that Meredith will find herself cast out from Militech, the company she has built her ambition around. If that is the case, she has the potential to be a very interesting character after her and the player’s first meeting, especially with the developers aiming to make Cyberpunk's NPCsextremely reactive to the world around them.
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Cyberpunk's Future and Speculation
It is unclear the extent to which Meredith will play a role in the game’s overarching narrative, but with CD Projekt Red aiming to make every side-quest feel like a complete story, it is likely the game will have many different ways that the player can interact with Meredith, gain her trust, or get on her bad side.
We can also see from Meredith’s design that she has some kind in cybernetic implant herself. There also appears to be a small heart tattoo under her left ear with something written in cursive underneath, perhaps indicating a more sensitive side of Meredith which has yet to be revealed. With 25 new minutes of Cyberpunk gameplay released and demonstratingsome of the chances that have been made since Meredith's reveal, the Meredith players meet in game could be very different to the one they saw in 2018.
It isn’t yet known what interactions with Meredith could be unlocked if the player does not decide to visit the Corporate Agent first as in the demo. If Cyberpunk 2077's V is anything like The Witcher’s Geralt, romance options are also likely, though developers have stated that romances in the game can range from anything from a full relationship to a one-night stand. Meredith doesn’t come across as the romantic type, but with all of the different dialog options and the different versions of V she might meet, much remains to be seen.
Cyberpunk 2077releases on November 19 for PS4, Xbox One and PC, with Stadia, PS5 and Xbox Series X versions to follow.
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