With the arrival of Version 2.0, Cyberpunk 2077 has introduced many new features that incentivize players to revisit Night City. One very notable addition is the new Cyberpunk 2077 Trauma Drama minigame which you can play in arcades.
I personally welcome the addition of games within games, it helps to add more layers that can elevate a good game to even greater heights. The Yakuza series is quite well known for this, and you have subtle nods in many other series too, like being able to play Street Fighter 2 in Street Fighter 6’s lobbies.
What is Trauma Drama?
Trauma Drama is an arcade game that players can play in Cyberpunk 2077 to experience something different from the otherwise dangerous life of Night City.
Players who’ve been around since gaming’s infancy ought to have fond memories of a classic by the name of ‘Contra.’ I personally had my first taste of the game as part of a collection cartridge on the Game Boy Advance SP, and it would be part of my frequent rotation alongside other classics like Megaman 1 & 2, Castlevania and many more nostalgic titles.
Back to the point, the Trauma Drama minigame in Cyberpunk 2077 draws heavy inspiration from Contra in its run-and-gun style of gameplay. You can shoot straight, vertically above, diagonally up and down, jump while shooting etc. all very reminiscent features of its inspiration.
Playing Trauma Drama in Cyberpunk 2077
You can find Trauma Drama at pretty much any arcade in Night City. If the arcade machine doesn’t show the game, rest for 24 hours and check again. I was able to find and play the Trauma Drama minigame in Cyberpunk 2077 at the Netrunner shop in the Kabuki market area.
The goal in Trauma Drama is relatively straightforward. Progress through the levels and defeat hostiles on the way, while rescuing citizens you come across, these being the NPCs who just stand in place. Simply walk past them and a Trauma Team AV will spawn in and pick them up, while also leaving a reward for you, usually in the form of upgraded ammo to improve your combat capabilities.
Of course, powerups aren’t only limited to rescuing citizens. Some mobs also tend to drop some nifty powerups such as this one drone-type enemy that can drop a shield powerup that temporarily nullifies damage to you, or med kits that you can pick up to replenish health.
The User Interface is also quite simplistic. On the top left corner of the screen, you have several icons indicating your health, depleting each time you take a hit. A number above them which indicates your current score, and ammunition type under them.
You can swap between two different ammo types at will, with each one bringing a different type of utility to an encounter.
With all that said, to claim some neat rewards for playing this game, you need to beat the high score. You can peep these from the title screen before starting the game, and you will notice the top score hovers around the 440,000 range.
Avoiding death as much as you can is one crucial aspect to this, and the rest is simply precise play with no wasted motions. However, there is a somewhat boring but reliable way to get this high score which is relatively easy.
As you progress through Trauma Drama minigame in Cyberpunk 2077, at Westbrook Stage 1-3, enemy helicopter mobs will start spawning. The neat thing about these is that if you let these mobs live, they will keep spawning enemies one at a time, making it easy to farm them to get your points up.
Progress the stage till you reach a point where two of these helicopters spawn. Clear all the regular mobs but leave these two and keep farming the mobs that spawn from these helicopters to beat the top score in no time.
Also, note that you don’t have to play the game to completion for this new high score to count. Simply beat the high score and wait for the timer to run out and that will still count as having retained the top score.
Cyberpunk 2077 Trauma Drama rewards
Once you get a high score in Trauma Drama arcade game, you will receive a text congratulating your achievement and recommending you apply to become part of The Trauma Team. To do that, go to your apartment, preferably one that has net access to Trauma Team’s website. If it doesn’t then there are a few apartments that you can seek out as alternatives. The Glen Apartment is one with a terminal that can access the Trauma Team website.
Once plugged in, apply to their website and shortly after your request goes through, the website will redirect you to a sorry message, indicating you aren’t fit to join the team. It’s not all doom and gloom since you can travel to Metro: Med Center, move forward up the stairs then hug the left along the building side, moving forward till you reach two Trauma Team employees near a crate.
Have your hand scanned and you can grab two unique rewards for playing Trauma Drama arcade game in Cyberpunk 2077; Trauma Team uniform, as well as a cool Mini Trauma Team AV decoration for your apartment. It doesn’t just sit around catching dust though, being able to fly around the apartment and rendered quite accurate to the actual vehicle it’s based on, really adding some flare to your apartment.
