I'll never forget that electric E3 2018 demo when Cyberpunk 2077's original female V strutted through Night City with her signature purple-streaked hair and edgy cyberwear. That character design felt like lightning in a bottle - raw, dangerous, and instantly iconic. But when the game finally launched, she'd undergone a complete transformation. Gone were those razor-sharp features and vibrant highlights, replaced by a softer, more conventional look that left many of us nostalgic fans scrambling to recreate that unforgettable prototype through endless character customization sliders. It felt like losing a digital friend, you know? That original V represented the game's bold early vision before compromises and development realities set in.

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Which makes what Reddit user fried_snickers discovered absolutely spine-tingling. While exploring some grimy alleyway in Pacifica recently, they stumbled upon a corpse with chillingly familiar features: same angular jawline, identical nose structure, and that iconic choppy hairstyle - now darkened by grime and dried blood. The most jarring detail? A perfectly placed bullet hole right between the eyes. My hands actually trembled when I found her in my own playthrough, crouching down to examine this digital ghost of development past. The resemblance is uncanny:

Feature 2018 Demo V Corpse NPC
Hairstyle Purple highlights Darkened version
Facial Structure Sharp angles Nearly identical
Cyberwear Visible implants Completely bare
Condition Vibrant & alive ...well, not alive

This discovery has ignited fiery debates in our community. Some argue it's just another randomly generated Night City casualty. But when I look at her lying there in that dirty alley, I see CD Projekt Red's darkly poetic commentary on creative evolution. That bullet hole feels like a triple metaphor:

  • 💀 A direct parallel to V's own story-opening headshot

  • 🔫 CDPR "killing" their original character vision

  • ⚰️ Burying controversial elements from that overpromised E3 demo

And let's be real - this is exactly CDPR's brand of layered storytelling. Remember how they turned Keanu Reeves' accidental "You're breathtaking!" moment into an actual camera mode pose? They've always spoken to us through these clever winks. Yet part of me wonders if this corpse also serves as a grim reminder of Cyberpunk's painful launch. That spectacular 2018 demo promised features that never materialized, leaving many feeling betrayed. Even now in 2025, I still tense up recalling those early performance issues on last-gen consoles - a cautionary tale about the dangerous gap between cinematic trailers and playable reality.

CDPR seems determined not to repeat history with The Witcher 4, openly warning us their tech demo won't reflect the final product. Smart move, but it makes me wonder - what other creative casualties might we discover in future games? Will studios leave these digital tombstones as Easter eggs for eagle-eyed players? Or should developers preserve abandoned concepts more transparently? As I stand over this pixelated doppelgänger of what could've been, I can't help but mourn all the unseen iterations and bold ideas that die quietly in development purgatory. What stories do your favorite games' cutting-room floors hold?