The Blackwall: the AI Firewall Holding Back Cyberpunk's Rogue AIs
The Blackwall is the barrier NetWatch built to wall off the rogue AIs that took over the old Net after the DataKrash. Here is what it is, who built it, what lives behind it, and how Phantom Liberty and the 2.0 update made it part of the game.
The Blackwall is the barrier NetWatch put up inside the Net to keep rogue AIs out of the part of cyberspace humans still use. It went up in the years after the DataKrash wrecked the old Net, and by 2077 it is the only thing standing between the corporate world and the AIs on the other side. (Cyberpunk 2077; Cyberpunk RED)
Why NetWatch built the Blackwall#
The Blackwall exists because NetWatch lost the old Net. Rache Bartmoss's R.A.B.I.D.S. viruses spread through the network after his death in 2022, corrupting data and turning military-grade AIs loose. The AIs went feral and started attacking the corporations that had built them. NetWatch tried to rebuild and failed. (Cyberpunk 2077; Cyberpunk RED)
So it cut its losses. Cyberpunk RED says NetWatch began work on "the Black Wall" in secret in 2044, to seal off the old access points and keep a safe slice of cyberspace for people. The same book says it had help: from AIs and from the digital ghosts of soulkilled people, which is still only a rumour in the world itself. (Cyberpunk RED)
The 2077 database adds a darker detail. The Blackwall came down with no warning, and any netrunner stuck on the far side had no way to jack out. NetWatch got rid of the AIs and a lot of troublesome hackers at the same time. The price was giving up everything self-aware AIs could have done for people. (Cyberpunk 2077)
What the Blackwall is#
Most people in Night City think of the Blackwall as a firewall, and NetWatch's propaganda sells it as humanity's last line of defence. The truth, which few people know, is that it's an AI posing as ICE. Its job is to spot rogue AIs and keep them out of the Net that people use. (Cyberpunk 2077)
That changes how safe it is. An AI can fail or go rogue like any other. The NetWatch agent Bryce Mosley tells V that people imagine a great border wall, when it's closer to a torn bin bag taped over a broken window. The database says the same thing more politely: mysterious raids show the wall isn't as strong as it looks. (Cyberpunk 2077)
The Blackwall also splits old systems in half. Machines that were wired into the old Net can end up with part of their data on each side, which is where Night City's stories of haunted data come from. (Cyberpunk RED; Cyberpunk 2077)
Who wants to break the Blackwall#
The Voodoo Boys of Pacifica believe the AIs will get out sooner or later, and want to be on their side when it happens. They spend the main story trying to reach beyond the wall, and they need V to make contact with Alt Cunningham, who lives out there. NetWatch is hunting them for it, and Mosley asks V to help take them down. Whether V does is the player's choice. (Cyberpunk 2077)
Corporations and governments want to use the Blackwall instead of tearing it down. Militech wanted to revive Project Cynosure, an old attempt to capture rogue AIs, to get an edge on Arasaka. The New United States sent its netrunner Songbird through the wall again and again to gain an advantage over its rivals, in breach of the laws governing cyberspace. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)
Gangs have their own contact. Members of Maelstrom summon a rogue AI they call Lilith in a ritual. (Cyberpunk 2077)
The Blackwall in Phantom Liberty#
Phantom Liberty makes the Blackwall a main part of the plot. Every trip through it cost Songbird a little more of her body and mind, until she was mostly machine and the AIs were inside her head. By 2077 she's dying, and the cure she's chasing in Dogtown is tied to an AI from beyond the wall, kept in a neural matrix in a Militech bunker. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)
Songbird uses the Blackwall as a weapon in the expansion. When she taps it to escape, she falls into cyberpsychosis and MaxTac takes her. On the path where V sides with Solomon Reed, she then hides in the abandoned Cynosure facility beneath Dogtown, where the AIs are slowly eating her. V reaches the core while what is left of her holds them back. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)
The expansion and the 2.0 update that came out with it put the Blackwall in V's hands as well. The Militech Canto Mk.6 cyberdeck and the Erebus SMG are Cynosure prototypes, both found in that facility. The Erebus has an AI in it that talks to its user, and the Canto carries the Blackwall Gateway quickhack, which opens a gate through the wall and spreads lethal damage between enemies. (Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty)
Going beyond the Blackwall#
Alt explains in 2077 that the trick to lasting beyond the Blackwall is to hold on to a human shape. Without one, a mind breaks down into raw data and starts acting on instinct like the other AIs. She has kept the image of the woman she was for half a century for that reason. (Cyberpunk 2077)
The ending depends on player choice. Meeting Alt in Mikoshi at the end of the story, either V or Johnny Silverhand can agree to follow her beyond the wall, merging with her along with the other engrams she took from Mikoshi. The endings guide covers which choice leads where. (Cyberpunk 2077)
Frequently asked questions
- What is the Blackwall in Cyberpunk?
- A barrier in the Net built by NetWatch after the DataKrash. It keeps the rogue AIs that took over most of the old Net away from the part people still use.
- Is the Blackwall an AI?
- Yes. Cyberpunk 2077 reveals it is an AI dressed up as ICE, built to recognise rogue AIs and keep them out. That is why some people in the game call it a patch that could fail.
- What is behind the Blackwall?
- Rogue AIs, many of them military AIs that broke loose when Rache Bartmoss's viruses wrecked the old Net, plus the ruins of the old Net itself. Alt Cunningham lives out there too.
- Who created the Blackwall?
- NetWatch. Cyberpunk RED dates the start of the project to 2044, and rumours in the setting say NetWatch had help from AIs and digital ghosts.
- Can you go beyond the Blackwall in Cyberpunk 2077?
- In some endings, yes. Either V or Johnny can follow Alt Cunningham beyond the Blackwall from Mikoshi, depending on the player's choices.
Sources
- GameCyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt Red, 2020
- GameCyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, CD Projekt Red, 2023
- BookCyberpunk RED, R. Talsorian Games, 2020
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
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