Suicide
The quickest way to end the game, you can just use the gun you are given by Vic. It's the only ending, except the secret one, where nobody else dies. This is also the subject of the conversation between V and Johnny, where Johnny - surprisingly - has no issues with agreeing to the plan.
I guess this scene is one of the main reasons why we got the underpants patch. Most of the scene is a full frontal view of the sitting, stripped V. As usual, I didn't notice he was naked until the scene had started.
Of course, the game drives it home in the epilog that suicide is always a shitty option for the friends who get left behind. The reactions cover the spectrum from deeply sad to outright vicious. This doesn't make much sense in the case of Vic and Misty, given they provided the gun for exactly this purpose. It's understandable when it comes to the romantic interests, as they weren't involved in the decision at all. It's a touching, well done scene, nevertheless. And no, this option didn't really win the trophy for most soul-crushingly depressing ending for me.
The Devil
The game isn't really very subtle in its warnings, so I guess it becomes clear at some point that you made a mistake. At the latest, this would be during Yorinobu's final words, which is also a very well done scene. You got abused to settle a family power struggle. I guess Takemura is there to somehow soften the impact of Johnny's or Misty's warnings, but I guess he is a good example that personal sympathy isn't always the best base for decisions. If the "becoming personal property of the company" part didn't deter you, the "Press F to surrender" is also a bit overdone. V's amulet, his promise to himself, is used in all endings to express his feelings, and here it is defiance. He puts the amulet on to tell himself that he will get to that one day in the future. Still, there's the terror in his look when he slowly gets erased.
I think this straight look into the camera is a good way to get the player on a guilt trip. The epilog makes it clear that V just disappears. There doesn't seem to be a way to contact his copy in any form.
You can also reject the contract, which means you wil take a shuttle home to Earth. After a short triumph and a middle finger toward that obnoxious physician, V realizes that he completely betrayed his dreams.
This is the only ending where V gets a message from Hanako Arasaka. Totally biz, of course.
Temperance
Here it comes, the most depressing ending. Here, V leaves his body to Johnny. I tried it from both quests, Panam's and Rogue's. In Panam's quest, it's V in the driver seat, in Rogue's , it's Johnny. The dialog uptions in cyberspace differ in both cases, as V is obviously much more concerned than Johnny. If Johnny doesn't cross the bridge in cyberspace, he basically destroys all bridges he has in Night City. Johnny already said it earlier in the game that, after all that time, he really has only two people who are actually willing to interact with him left in town, which are Rogue and Kerry, and while he knows V's friends, they see him as the construct that destroys V. He's left in Night City without anyone in the end. If you do Panam's quest, Rogue despises him and makes it clear that he should never return to Night City. Panam vows she will hunt him down. He avoids contacting Kerry or anyone else who knew V. If you do Rogue's quest, Rogue is also dead, so he is completely alone. Furthermore, V was Kerry's boyfriend in that version of my game, so contacting Kerry was even less of a good idea here (hey< I took your bf's body, but it's not available for you anymore, ha ha).
Johnny here rather literally buries V's dreams by giving his amulet a space in the Columbarium, subtly labeled "V, Dreamer", in case you didn't get what that means. If Rogue is dead, he also gets her a space. I guess the story with the talented kid whom he buys a guitar is meant to soften the blow somewhat. There will be at least one person in Night City who has a positive memory of him. Yay.
You may see a changed Johnny Silverhand as a good thing, but in the end, he came over as a broken man. Well, I guess he has many years in front of him to get over it, but it's a start from zero in a different town.
The Sun
I really like this one. Johnny does his quest with Rogue, who doesn't survive. V decides to go back into his body to live out his last days. Rogue's quest was pretty epic, the interlude in Night City (I had Kerry as romantic interest for V here) was a nice change of pace (their last exchange was well done, with Kerry having his own "There, I finally said it" moment), and the end in space is of course also epic, even if the end isn't completely clear. Except that V will die in some spectacular manner or succeed and die shortly after. Which is very "Cyberpunky".
Very nice.
The Star
Panam's quest, where Saul conveniently dies. Plus some extras. Not sure how it plays in other constellations, but I had Panam as V's romantic interest here. Missions are okay, although the end wins the medal for most pointless driving scene. You can also see here when symbolism wins over setting considerations. No idea why the tunnel they used to flee in the end even exists when the corpos already know about it. Anyway, instead of the bridge to the light, we have the tunnel as a symbol of rebirth here. The amulet, as a symbol of V's old dreams, gets blown away by the wind in favor of his new life, which isn't alone. I guess that, even without Panam, he has lots of friends in this ending, so the imagery ends in a very positive light. Star light, of course, given the title.
Of course, even here, the last you hear is V having pain when the screen fades to black. So far for "happy ending".