MaxTac: Night City's Cyberpsycho Squad in Cyberpunk 2077 and Edgerunners

MaxTac is the Night City Police Department's special unit for hunting cyberpsychos, people whose implants have pushed them into violent breakdown. Its officers carry the best weapons and cyberware the city can buy, and when MaxTac arrives, the target almost never leaves alive. Some of its own members are former cyberpsychos. (Cyberpunk 2077)

Where MaxTac came from#

MaxTac is older than the video game. In the tabletop Cyberpunk 2020, cyberpsychosis is common enough that regular police cannot cope with an armoured, cyber-boosted killer, so American cities set up specialist squads to hunt them. The rulebook's names for them include C-SWAT, Psyche-Div and Max-Tac. (Cyberpunk 2020)

The sourcebook Protect and Serve gives Night City's version real detail. Its officers work in small assault teams, carry heavy weapons and heavy cyberware, and are often close to the edge themselves. The idea is to fight fire with fire, and the book does not pretend they are nice people. (Protect and Serve)

The Night City sourcebook adds the squad's most famous early leader, Ares, a cyberpsycho captured alive in 2010 after a bloody fight. The city reconditioned him and gave him command of the unit, over loud protests from police and public alike. (Night City sourcebook)

MaxTac after the Corporate War#

The Fourth Corporate War left Night City's police shattered. Cyberpunk RED says Commander Max Hammerman held what was left of the force together, most of it MaxTac, and took the unit out from under the NCPD. (Cyberpunk RED)

By 2045 MaxTac is an independent outfit that sells its services across Night City, handling hostage situations, terrorists, military-grade weapons and cyberpsychos. RED describes a simple rule on the street: when MaxTac shows up, everyone drops their guns, or MaxTac shoots them too. (Cyberpunk RED)

At some point before 2077 the unit went back into the NCPD. The game does not explain when. (Cyberpunk 2077)

MaxTac in Cyberpunk 2077#

MaxTac is in the game's first big mission. During The Rescue, Jackie Welles points them out to V and calls them the NCPD's apex predators. (Cyberpunk 2077)

The Phantom Liberty database entry fills in the picture. MaxTac gets its pick of weapons, cyberware and prototype gear and a free hand on operations, and other NCPD divisions keep their distance. Cyberpsychos it does not kill are sent to Los Padres, a prison built to hold them, and there are rumours that the rare survivors are reprogrammed and recruited. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)

The rumours are true at least once. In the side quest Bullets, V survives a cyberpsycho attack in a Downtown shop and meets Lieutenant Melissa Rory, who carries an old model of mantis blades. She was once a cyberpsycho herself, taken alive and reconditioned, and she tries to recruit V. Rory first appeared in the game's 2013 teaser trailer. (Cyberpunk 2077; Cyberpunk 2077 teaser trailer)

MaxTac in the 2.0 update and Phantom Liberty#

The 2.0 update rebuilt Night City's police and made MaxTac the final level of the wanted system. Reach five stars and MaxTac squads drop in by AV, heavily chromed officers who can include blade fighters running a Sandevistan and netrunners. (Cyberpunk 2077)

They are also the one police unit allowed into Dogtown. Barghest keeps the rest of the NCPD out, but MaxTac is still allowed to operate there. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)

Hunting cyberpsychos is also a side activity. Regina Jones, a fixer, asks V to take down cyberpsychos across the city without killing them, so they can be treated rather than left for MaxTac. (Cyberpunk 2077)

MaxTac in Edgerunners#

The anime opens with MaxTac at work. A heavily augmented NUSA officer goes cyberpsycho in Night City and tears through the police with a military Sandevistan until MaxTac hacks his systems and brings him down. That Sandevistan is the implant that ends up in David Martinez's spine. (Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, "Let You Down")

MaxTac returns at the turning point of the series. When Maine's crew is caught after a job against an Arasaka executive, Maine slips into cyberpsychosis, and MaxTac closes in. Rather than be taken, he goes out on his own terms with a huge explosion, and David barely escapes. The Edgerunners explained page covers what follows. (Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, "Girl on Fire")