Bird Ciri Is Better Than No Ciri In Cyberpunk 2077

The latest news circulating through the gaming sphere concerning Cyberpunk 2077 has been less than favorable, but this latest bit of information about CD Projekt Red's troubled release is actually more on the positive side. Ever since fans of the publisher/developer heard about Cyberpunk 2077, they've been on the lookout for a particular cameo from the studio's other AAA title. And according to Nintendo Smash, it looks like we may finally have proof of that beloved character's inclusion.

Ciri, who's most known for her role in the Witcher games, pops up in Cyberpunk 2077 in the form of something wholly unexpected. During one of the game's ending cinematics, main character V can be seen relaxing inside a car. All of a sudden, a small bird pops up near the car's passenger-side window and sits there for a few seconds. What ties that mysterious bird to Ciri is the fact that it's a barn swallow. Within the mythical world of The Witcher, the "Swallow" bird is linked to the Elvish-English translation of "Zireael." And "Zireael" just so happens to be a term that Ciri's name is derived from. (Plus it's also the name of the silver sword she's gifted by Geralt in The Witcher 3).

What makes this Ciri cameo even more intriguing is the element of Cyberpunk 2077's Night City bird population. An interesting bit of narrative from one of the game's shards (the game's version of text logs), titled "Avian Extermination Act," alludes to that development. It says the following: "In the face of increasingly frequent and deadly zoonotic disease outbreaks, the City council has decided that the most effective method for reducing the risk of infection among residents is via the extermination of all avian life within 18 miles of city limits."

Seeing as how that rare bird pops up within Cyberpunk 2077's city limits, it seems like that out-of-nowhere appearance may have been put into the game as a nod to Ciri fans. A line that the character uttered in The Witcher 3 pushed fans to search for her whereabouts in Cyberpunk 2077: "People there had metal in their heads, waged war from a distance, using things similar to megascopes. And there were no horses, everyone had their own flying ships instead."

The one definitive cameo from Ciri in Cyberpunk 2077 was actually discovered before this one. The only problem is the fact that she was only located on the cover of an in-game retro magazine, which was brought up on The Witcher 3's subreddit.