Mikoshi: Arasaka's Soul Prison in Cyberpunk 2077
Mikoshi is the Arasaka data fortress where soulkilled minds are kept, and the place where Cyberpunk 2077 ends. Here is what it holds, how you get in, and what the bridge and the well mean in the final choice.
Mikoshi is an Arasaka data fortress in cyberspace where the company keeps engrams, the digital copies of human minds. It holds the clients of Arasaka's Secure Your Soul programme and the victims of Soulkiller, and it's where Cyberpunk 2077's final choice happens. (Cyberpunk 2077)
What Mikoshi holds#
Mikoshi stores minds. When Arasaka copies someone with Soulkiller, through Secure Your Soul or as an enemy, the resulting engram goes into this fortress. The game's database calls it one of the most heavily guarded data fortresses Arasaka has. (Cyberpunk 2077)
Johnny Silverhand spent decades there. In the video game's version of the 2023 attack on Arasaka Tower, Arasaka captured and soulkilled him (the tabletop books have Adam Smasher simply kill him), and his engram was in Mikoshi until Anders Hellman loaded it onto the Relic prototype. Saburo Arasaka's own engram is in Arasaka's keeping as well, and in the Arasaka ending Hanako Arasaka plans to put it into Yorinobu Arasaka's body. (Cyberpunk 2077)
Netrunners who have breached Arasaka believe Mikoshi is a soul prison. The rumour is that Arasaka puts the minds of captured netrunners to work as data collectors. The database says nobody has confirmed it. (Cyberpunk 2077)
Arasaka's own shards are bleak enough. They treat every engram in the programme as company property that can be kept, copied or destroyed. (Cyberpunk 2077)
Where Mikoshi is#
Mikoshi lives in a part of cyberspace Arasaka controls, and its servers sit on orbital stations around Earth. Arasaka refuses any request for the locations of its access points or for technical details. (Cyberpunk 2077)
What is known is that every major Arasaka headquarters has an access point. The one in Night City, under Arasaka Tower, is called Izanagi. An employee needs a "Kisen" clearance level and a registered, approved session to use it, plus a grant or permit number from Arasaka's head of research for research work. Every session is recorded. (Cyberpunk 2077)
Mikoshi in the endings of Cyberpunk 2077#
In every main ending except Arasaka's, V or Johnny storms Arasaka Tower to reach Mikoshi, with Rogue Amendiares, with Panam Palmer and the Aldecaldos, or alone. Alt Cunningham rides along as an AI and uses the connection to get into Mikoshi too. Which ally V picks is the player's choice. (Cyberpunk 2077)
Inside Mikoshi, Alt sets out the facts. The Relic has damaged V's body past repair, and anyone who goes back to it has about six months. Mikoshi itself lets engrams talk the way people do, which is how V and Johnny can sit and argue face to face. (Cyberpunk 2077)
The choice is shown as a bridge and a well. Crossing the bridge means leaving with Alt beyond the Blackwall, merging with her and the engrams she takes from Mikoshi. Entering the well means going back to the body:
- If V goes back, V enters the well and Johnny crosses the bridge with Alt. This leads to The Star if Panam came along, or The Sun if V went with Rogue or alone. (Cyberpunk 2077)
- If V crosses the bridge, V goes with Alt and gives the body to Johnny, who leaves Night City in the Temperance ending. This is offered on the Rogue and Panam paths. (Cyberpunk 2077)
The endings guide covers how to reach each one. (Cyberpunk 2077)
Mikoshi in the Arasaka ending#
The Arasaka ending, The Devil, doesn't go through Mikoshi the same way. V helps Hanako take back the company, and Arasaka removes the Relic but can't stop the damage. V is then offered a contract: have their mind copied with Soulkiller and stored in Mikoshi until Arasaka finds a body for it, or refuse and go back to Earth to live out the time left. (Cyberpunk 2077)
Phantom Liberty adds a way to skip Mikoshi altogether. In The Tower ending, V accepts the NUSA's cure before the final mission, so the story never reaches Arasaka's vault. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)
Frequently asked questions
- What is Mikoshi in Cyberpunk 2077?
- An Arasaka data fortress in cyberspace that stores the engrams of Secure Your Soul clients and Soulkiller's victims. Johnny Silverhand's engram was kept there before it went on the Relic.
- What does Mikoshi mean?
- A mikoshi is a portable Shinto shrine, carried in Japanese festivals to move a god from place to place. The name fits a vault that carries the dead.
- Where is Mikoshi?
- Its servers are on orbital stations around Earth. There are access points in every major Arasaka headquarters, including one called Izanagi under Arasaka Tower in Night City.
- Should you cross the bridge or enter the well in Mikoshi?
- Crossing the bridge means going beyond the Blackwall with Alt. Entering the well means returning to the body. Which character does it, V or Johnny, decides the ending.
- Do you go to Mikoshi in every ending?
- No. Phantom Liberty's The Tower ending skips it entirely, since V takes the NUSA's cure before the final mission.
Sources
- GameCyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt Red, 2020
- GameCyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, CD Projekt Red, 2023
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
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