Regarding video game villains, Yorinobu Arasaka in Cyberpunk 2077 is a bit of an odd case. He’s initially important, the target of the player’s first big heist, and sets up the major conflict of the game by murdering his father at the end of Act One. But beyond that, he’s hardly present at all, only ever seen on TV screens and heard in recordings. Yorinobu’s presence is felt, but he takes the backstage in a major way, only appearing in person again during a certain ending.

[Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Cyberpunk 2077.]

Because of that, many players are quick to dismiss Yorinobu, a side character in Cyberpunk 2077 in the overall story who only serves as a figurehead for a large, villainous corporation. But the character is so much more than that if examined more closely, especially in “The Devil” ending, and his ideals are much less villainous than many may expect. In fact, he shares a lot in common with a certain dead rockerboy of Night City’s past, one who would hate any comparison to the emperor’s son.

Cyberpunk 2077’s Yorinobu Arasaka Is An Overlooked Game Villain

A Sidelined But Seriously Well-Written Character

Yorinobu’s role in the story is fairly straightforward: initially, the black sheep of his powerful family, he murders his father in a moment of rage and takes his place as the head of the Arasaka empire. He spends most of the game in the background, changing Arasaka’s corporate structure and making enemies of powerful figures. He sets V’s story in motion, causing the heist to fail and V to end up with the Relic in their head, but he only really matters for the rest of the plot if players focus on him.

The game can end in several ways as V searches for a cure to their condition, only one of which involves Yorinobu. “The Devil” ending sees players team up with the CEO’s sister, Hanako, to commit a hostile takeover and dethrone Yorinobu. It’s only in this ending that Yorinobu’s true motivations are discovered: he has been sabotaging Arasaka from the inside since he took control, desperately trying to tear down his tyrannical father’s empire.

Yorinobu’s final dialogue in the final moments before his defeat implies he has intentionally decided to fracture the corporation and tank its value.

There are hints in the game’s first act at Yorinobu’s rebellious side, as he at one point left his family to become a nomad leader, then stole the Relic from his father to sell to his Western rivals. However, most characters dismiss him as a poser, from Jackie to Johnny Silverhand. Despite his attempts to rebel, Yorinobu is the heir to the most powerful company in the world, one for whom anything he wants is his for the taking — except for his independence.

Yorinobu Arasaka & Johnny Silverhand Are More Alike Than You Realized

Opposite Sides Of The Same Rebel Coin

When one considers Yorinobu’s actions in the game, however, they seem to mirror those of Johnny Silverhand, the rock star and terrorist who once attempted to blow up Arasaka headquarters with a nuclear bomb. On the surface, these men couldn’t be more different: a disillusioned musician fighting corporate colonialism and a nepotistic baby set to inherit the world.

Yet both men have similar dispositions towards Arasaka: they hate it because it has torn apart people’s identities and robbed them of their independence and futures. Both have destructive tendencies and use destruction to tear down what they see as wrong with the world, albeit in different ways. Most importantly, both men project larger ideals while ultimately being motivated by personal interests: Johnny to avenge and free his lost love, and Yorinobu to escape his father’s shadow and be his person.

Yorinobu Is Cyberpunk’s Secret Rebel

The Hidden Hero Most Players Don’t Know About

Despite how he may appear, Yorinobu is as much a rebel as Johnny Silverhand ever was; if anything, he was more successful, given that he successfully killed Saburo and brought Arasaka down in flames due to his management. As much as his actions harmed V and his friends, Yorinobu was more ideologically aligned with V than even some of the protagonist’s allies, like Takemura. It’s hard to even call Yorinobu a villain in the traditional sense; he’s simply another rogue factor in a world controlled by corporate interests.

In the end, it only serves to make “The Devil,” ending in Cyberpunk 2077, much more tragic, given Yorinobu’s fate. Suppose players help Hanako to take over the company. In that case, she will insert a personality engram of her dead father into Yorinobu’s head, effectively allowing Saburo to take over his son and resume his role as the emperor of Arasaka. It’s the worst possible ending for Yorinobu in Cyberpunk 2077, who fought so hard to be his own person, only to be assimilated in the most literal sense of the word.