10 Shocking Video Game Deaths That Came Out Of Nowhere

5. Jackie Welles - Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077 - Jackie Welles
CD Projekt

Let’s talk about a character we definitely expected to stick around far longer than they did. V’s relationship with Jackie Welles, and indeed the two’s entire backstories, are different depending on the lifepath you’ve chosen in Cyberpunk 2077.

In any case, you guys are buds, and Jackie is a reliable and loyal dude. Moreover, given Jackie was super present in Cyberpunk’s pre-release gameplay footage it was a safe assumption he’d be a fixture through the game.

Spoiler alert: He is not.

During the Heist job in Act 2 where Jackie and V are tasked with infiltrating Konpeki Plaza to steal an experimental biochip, Jackie becomes fatally injured in your efforts to escape. This is doubly shocking as up until this point Jackie has been the one penning your journal entries, so the beginning of the final entry reads, “So that's how it ends... at least for me.” You’ll then get the choice of where to send his remains.

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Jess has been a journalist and content creator in the games industry for over 15 years and has been WhatCulture's resident Australian import and sorry cop since 2020, upping the quotient of swearing and apologising in WhatCulture Gaming's annual blooper videos considerably. She previously worked at GameSpot for 10 years, most notably hosting GameSpot News in addition to E3 live shows, and PAX panels. She regularly livestreams a variety of games on her 'jessmcdonell' YouTube and Twitch channels and hosts the 'Do It On The Day' podcast. She has won awards for her news and feature work in gaming as well as an accolade for her comedic writing (likely an admin error). She can be found on X at @jessmcdonell and Instagram at @jessicamcdonell sharing her current videogame fixations, industry insights, and videos of her cat, Karma.