When exploring the world of Night City in Cyberpunk 2077, players have a wide array of different activities and missions to check out and complete. Not only are there the main story missions of the game, but players can also do side missions for the NCPD or many of the different NPCs in the world. By completing these quests they will receive things like street cred, gear, and experience points.
One of the most important resources to gain from missions though is cold hard cash. Players will be able to take any money that they earn during their travels and buy new weapons, gear, and armor to make themselves much more capable. While there are many different ways to collect cash throughout Cyberpunk 2077, the side gigs are some of the simplest and fastest ways to do so. This guide shows players the best side gigs for making money.
Cyberpunk 2077 - What Are Side Gigs?
There are a lot of side gigs throughout Cyberpunk 2077 and each type of mission will require different skills to complete, and will in turn give players differing rewards for their trouble. These missions are entirely optional and players will find them in every single region. Side gigs are marked by a question mark on the map, and the Fixer associated with the mission will call the player when they are approached. This will give players the details of said mission before allowing them to choose whether or not to take it. There are 69 side gigs spread throughout Night City and each one fits into six different categories:
- SOS: Merc Needed - A person has been reported kidnapped, so the Fixer needs you to located this person and rescue them in order to complete the gig.
- Search and Recover - Someone wants a specific item located and brought to them, and the player will have to track down said item.
- Thievery - Players will need to steal a specific item for their client.
- Gun For Hire - This is just a straight-up hit, so the player will need to locate the target and assassinate them to complete the gig.
- Agent Saboteur - Either an object will need to be sabotaged by the player or a bug will need to be planted on the target to complete these missions.
- Special Delivery - An item or person will need to be transported to a specific location.
When players first begin Cyberpunk 2077 they will have access to a limited number of side gigs. Each gig is associated with a street cred level, so if players want to unlock more gigs they will need to work at raising their cred level as high as possible to unlock more tiers. The higher tiers of gigs will give players higher rewards as well, so in order to earn more money, they will need to boost their street cred as well. Players will need to keep in mind that some regions will require higher street cred levels to unlock the next tier of gigs, whereas some will require a much smaller level.
Cyberpunk 2077 - Best Ways to Earn Money from Gigs
Deciding which side gigs to complete can be a fairly tough decision for players because each one prioritizes different skills sets. Depending on if the player goes for more a guns blazing kind of style or a more subtle sneaky approach will determine which kinds of gigs they will be more proficient in.
Guns Blazing - SOS: Merc Needed and Guns For Hire missions were built with the loud approach in mind. Players will most likely have to dispatch a few waves of deadly enemies in order to rescue kidnapped citizens or fight a fairly strong person during the Guns For Hire missions. This isn't to say that stealthier players can't do these missions, but they may have a little bit of a harder time. Altogether there are about 29 of these missions, so it is a perfect amount for players to earn a little bit of cash for themselves. Search and Recover and Special Delivery missions are fairly easy for both types of playstyles, so those should be done as well.
Sneaky Approach - For those players who would much rather sneak in and out of an area without being spotted by any enemies or kill everyone around them without being caught, the Thievery and Agent Saboteur missions are perfect. These different missions will almost completely require the player to sneak around without being spotted to finish them. Louder players can still take a crack at them, but it will be much harder to pocket an item or put a tracker on something when they've got several angry gang members trying to murder them. There are 29 of these mission types as well, so stealthy players won't miss out by only focusing on these. They will also be able to complete the other 11 Search and Recover and Special Delivery missions.
Once players have decided which side gigs they are best suited for, there are also several ways to maximize the amount of cash being earned during the course of these missions. While the standard reward amounts for each side gig are decent, the last thing the player wants is to work through all the gigs and still find themselves falling short of being able to purchase that shiny new sniper rifle at the store. Here are a few ways to make more money during these missions 0r earn money more efficiently.
Work Certain Regions First - As mentioned earlier, the only way to unlock new tiers of side gigs is to earn street cred. The downside though is that certain regions in the game will unlock additional tiers sooner than others, and there are some regions that won't unlock new tiers until late in the game. The best thing for players to do is focus on both Watson and the Badlands areas first. They both unlock their second tiers at street cred levels four and five and their third tier at eight and eleven respectively. This means that their third tiers open up before most other regions even unlock their second tier. Work through these missions first to build up cred and earn cash quickly.
Look Out For Bounties - If players have been paying attention they will notice that when scanning some enemies a bounty will appear. This can be a great way to earn cash, especially when some of the higher up gang members give out rewards of $10,000 or more. While playing through a gig players should keep an eye out for nearby enemies that have bounties on their head. Killing them will earn some extra cash, even if they are a part of the side gig mission already.
Access Points - Players should also just make it a habit to be on the lookout for Access Points whenever they are roaming the city. Every time the player taps into an Access Point and hack it they will be able to earn a little bit of money for their trouble. Look for them while completing side gigs to maximize the amount of money that can be earned.
Cyberpunk 2077 can be played on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, Xbox Series X, and PlayStation 5.