V is the main playable mercenary character in Cyberpunk 2077.
The player controls V, a mercenary operating in Night City. At the beginning, players choose V’s appearance, voice, body type and one of three lifepaths: Nomad, Streetkid or Corpo. These choices affect the opening sequence and provide some distinctive dialogue, but all paths lead into the central storyline.
V is not the same person as Johnny Silverhand. Johnny is a rockerboy whose engram becomes embedded in V’s mind through the Relic. Jackie Welles is V’s close friend and partner during the early part of the story, while David Martinez is the protagonist of the anime Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.