it's fine until act 2. first act is just about two retards trying to make cash, nothing special, no ideals, no big plans, they could be playing lottery as well and it doesn't matter what background u choose. they just want money, status, cars, women and maybe hookers, whatever simple men want from life. there is an interesting conversation between the protagonist and jackie in the hotel room before the shit hits the fan. it goes something like this:
Jackie: Why do you think this guy (Yorinobu) abandonded all his wealth and position if he got everything a man could want and need?
V: He probably was just bored.
at this point my thoughts were: "okay, the game is building something up there, it makes clear that those two have no idea that there might be something more impotant in life than possessions and social standing." disappointingly, there doesn't seem to be any point during the mainstory about that. the first ending i got (when choosing to let johnny attack arasaka tower with rogue) ended with V deciding that getting a nice flat, becoming a "legendary mercenary" and new boss of afterlife is a great way to spend his last 6 months. tells u all about that u need to know. don't know what kind of deal he has with Blue Eyes but it seems like he ended up where he started, not developing at all, the same retard he was when the story began with the more serious problem of certain death. running in circles.
from my point of view the only satisfying conclusion u get is if u decide u involve the nomads and panam. V leaves the town to search for answers and a purpose outside of night city, finding a family and beginning a new life. the game is clearly biased towards that ending because all the others are dumb shit with V ending up lonely.
the antagonists, if anyone in this game deserves this word, are bad and uninteresting. u do not interact with yurinobo at all, u don't know anything about his ambitions, motivations and u only get a very short and unsatisfying conversation if u decide to rely on arasaka. during midgame i thought there would be a revelation why yurinobo decided to the steal and sell the relic, why it's so important and why it's silverhand's data on the chip. but those answers are banal nonsense (it's silverhand because it was a prototype - so the Cd just wanted to add keanu reeves - and the relic is there to ensure his father can continue his business), like most of the sideqeusts in the game (the most insulting being regina's cyberpsychos when she just tells u that she still doesn't know anything in the end). smasher is a nobody, really no one cares about him except johnny.
the corporation theme isn't presented in any believable way, instead what u see in town are gangs senselessly killing eachother and civilians like animals. maybe it would be a good idea if the corpos clean up on the streets.
the "data vs soul/consciousness" was much better explored in Soma for example. cyberpunk has nothing to add to that except more banalities.
ultimately the game seems to be about nothing but superficialities with no essence in between and even the protagonists main goal, survival, is counteracted by the revelation that u just bought yourself a couple of months no matter what decision u make. and the writing is pretty bad at some points.