In the Don’t Lose Your Mind sidequest in Cyberpunk 2077, you have to make one of the toughest moral decisions in the game—to destroy, reset, or hack the Delamain core.
Ultimately, the question of what you should do with the Delamain core is purely based on morals as there’s nothing major to gain from a gameplay standpoint. To unpack this choice, you have to break down the story leading up to it.
This article will walk you through this whole conundrum. Spoilers for the quest to follow.
What should you do with the Delamain Core in Cyberpunk 2077
This job is the final quest in a mini-quest line beginning with Epistrophy. Epistrophy sees you working for Delamain, the benevolent AI that runs the Delamain Taxi Corporation dominating Night City. He’s been having trouble keeping his cabs under control, and in Epistrophy, you help him reconnect these cabs to his mainframe. But this quest comes with a grim truth—all of the cabs have developed their own independent AI and long to be free.
In Don’t Lose Your Mind, Delamain is having issues again. This time, AI cabs have stopped on the highways, causing traffic issues heard on the news. Upon heading to his headquarters, it becomes apparent the AI is revolting against Delamain. Cars drive around freely, trying to escape, and Delamain argues with other versions of himself who long to be free.
Throughout this, Delamain claims he’s experiencing a virus, but this is just a cover-up for the ongoing revolt. When you make it to the core, it becomes clear you’ll have to make a choice to reset Delamain’s programming to get rid of the AI or destroy Delamain’s core to let the AI go free.
Johnny strongly suggests for you to destroy the core, likening deleting the AI personalities to killing a cab driver’s kids. If you’re indecisive, Johnny Silverhand suggests an in-between option of merging their AIs together, so at the very least, part of them will still live on. You’ll need an intelligence level of at least 10 to make this work, though.
This is where you make your choice.
What happens if you reset the Delamain Core?
Resetting the core will upset Johnny. Delamain will be restored, but he won’t remember you at all. Instead, he’ll welcome you to your “first” Delamain core experience and refer to you impersonally as the “contractor” who cured his virus. This is somewhat of a sting of an ending, with Delamain not even remembering you and the act you did for him. Is he the same personality at all if you reset him completely?
What happens if you destroy the Delamain Core?
By destroying the core, Johnny will be very pleased with you. Another version of Delamain known as Excelsior will talk to you. This Delamain seems more friendly and approachable, and thanks you for getting rid of the “tyrant” — which suggests there was more to the original Delamain’s personality than you realized. Excelsior figures out how to drive a cab and gets away. You also get the cab in this ending.
What happens if you hack the Delamain Core?
If you hack the Delamain Core and merge the AI, Johnny will be somewhat pleased with you, but not as stoked as he would’ve been if you destroyed the core. Delamain’s personality is transformed into a more pleasant version of himself, and he desires to leave Night City, perhaps demonstrating that change in character.
After he departs, he leaves a new version of himself, Delamain Junior, to run the cab company. You also gain a cab in this ending.
Should you destroy, reset, or hack the Delamain Core?
Personally, I chose to liberate the AIs and destroy the Delemain Core. Your rapport with Johnny strongly influences the end of the game as well as several side jobs later down the line. I wanted to be on his good side to experience these missions.
On top of that, I also found it impossible to justify killing all of those innocent AI just to restore one who’s likely a tyrant.
