All endings lead to one route you cannot avoid

[Shotgun Malise]

In every ending there are traces of how V can survive or live after the fact. Small Easter eggs that are given that V will find something or needs to be somewhere. In some cases V is already there or going to it. But there is one given that is always crossed. The black wall and V being entered into the data base.

With that being said, V is living out the rest of time remaining in a decaying body. But if rebooted into another body like Johnny. Akin to the idea that traces of the black wall into living people. Then you got one crazy sequel or DLC.

Everyone is focused that V is dying or has to lose something to live. In my view, the game ends on a cliffhanger of something big is expected in the future. And that future is V not being dead.

[EricHVela]

Unless they pick a canon ending and playthrough, V's story is done, dead or not.

The Tower ending shows what's gonna happen in 2 years with or without V. That's the setting you can expect to continue, a setting where whatever V did doesn't matter.

[Zebedee]

Most endings do leave open a possibility for V to survive (bittersweet etc.) but, yeah, that switch out of first person perspective is as deliberate and final as the gunshot in the ending which closes off any hope. My money remains on V only showing up in the sequel as a passing reference someone or something makes.

There are obvious points where room for DLC has been kept open but some of that predates the game's release and all of it is pretty normal for CDPR's writers whether or not it's something they have any intention of using when they leave it in. Wouldn't personally expect anything substantial to be added now but would be very happy to be wrong about that.

[Balekai]

My view is, much like the OP, is that all/most endings are indeed leading to one narrative outcome, where V can be vaulted into a new crisis concerning AI ("Alpha Centauri," Moon, Space, Mr. Blue Eyes conspiracy arcs). It's just that each ending starts at different "Life Paths" all leading to the same story.

Or at the very least, can be written into life paths for a sequel if that wasn't the intention.

And like Cyberpunk 2077 starting life paths, the endings of Cyberpunk 2077 could essentially allow the player to start the sequel in different ways. Some examples:

- V with Phantom Liberty ending starts as a "normal" (or maybe took the NUSA desk job, but still kept tabs on by NUSA who forces V back into service after he/she heals up from their Implant issues.

- V taken out of "storage" by Arasaka to help deal with the AI issue as an indentured asset (much like PL ending but more "Altered Carbon").

- Other endings where V will die in 6 months, he/she gets the Mr. Blue Eyes offer eventually, which puts you straight into the conspiracy.

- Same with secret ending.

- Same with AI V.

In all cases the main theme would have to be that there's some special reason why V is required. Again likely something to do with his/her personal connections to the players at hand, and blackwall breaches that were made in Cyberpunk 2077.

[r.linder]

There's potential for V to survive in multiple endings, it's left rather open, possibly for a reason.

The Sun -- Mr. Blue Eyes has connections that even Arasaka doesn't have and he promises more than you could possibly imagine for V if they pull off the Crystal Palace heist. It's very likely that he has access to technology that could at the very least extend V's life.

The Star -- There could easily be someone in the NUSA or elsewhere with the technology and know-how to help V, just because Goro claims there's nobody outside of Arasaka that can, doesn't mean it's true. Already proven otherwise with Alt, and Phantom Liberty.

The Devil -- Exists as an engram, just needs someone to pull them out of Mikoshi.

The Tower -- Do I really need to explain?

Temperance -- (Very philosophical but bear with me) V exists in two places at once; the "original" V exists as code assimilated by Alt which could possibly be extracted later, and then there's the "new" V that merely believes they're Johnny SIlverhand, one that isn't even the same one that lived until 2023, that Johnny was permanently changed by his experiences with V and as a result of the Relic malfunction causing the two minds to become entangled. It's suggested and implied more than once that V and Johnny are changing each other and it's not just because they share a body, it's because of the damaged Relic not working as intended. If they weren't dying, they could've potentially reached a point where the two essentially "merge" like you can take all of Delamain's spin-offs and merge them with the original.

Death in Cyberpunk 2077 has more than one meaning, the literal mortal sense being the obvious component, and the other spiritual and philosophical component that's supported by Misty. In tarot, card number 13 is Death, and it doesn't mean death in the literal sense, it signifies transformation, change, and new beginnings. It can be sudden, unexpected, even difficult or traumatic, but it brings with it a new lease on life.