Cyberpunk 2077 has dozens of side quests for V to complete, and some of the most surprising side gigs don’t even affect the main storyline. The world of Cyberpunk 2077 is full of stories, some uplifting or amusing, and others heartbreaking or terrifying. Some of these stories are hidden within side jobs and gigs that V can pick up from fixers or just from exploring Night City.
With a malfunctioning relic threatening to take over V’s consciousness, it can feel urgent to complete the main quests in Cyberpunk 2077. Rushing through the main story would be a mistake, though, as the side quests provide a lot of context to the events of Cyberpunk 2077 and introduce V to some of the most interesting characters in the game.
Some side gigs help V understand the brutality of Night City and the corporations that run it, while others ask philosophical questions that apply to life in the real world. And despite the dystopian setting, Cyberpunk 2077 shows its whimsical side through side jobs and easter eggs as well. Here are eight of Cyberpunk 2077’s most surprising side gigs, both good and bad.
Cyberpunk Side Job - Backs Against The Wall
Regina Jones contacts V about recovering some stolen medication from a residence in Watson. When V arrives at the location – an abandoned apartment building – they encounter Cpl. William Hare, a combat veteran who stole the medicine. Cpl. Hare needs the medicine to treat his PTSD and the side effects of his combat implants, but he can’t afford it anymore because he lost his job and his corpo healthcare plan. It turns out the meds don’t work anyway, so V is able to talk him into handing them over. After V leaves the room, they hear a gunshot, and if they go back in to investigate, they’ll discover that Cpl. Hare committed suicide.
Cyberpunk Side Job - Cyberpsycho Sighting: Smoke on the Water
One of the cyberpsychos that Regina asks V to neutralize is sighted on the pier in Pacifica. Under the pier, V will find the body of a woman in the back of a van. The woman turns out to be the daughter of Diego Ramirez, the cyberpsycho in question. Out on the pier, Ramirez has taken several hostages, and V needs to take him out quickly before he kills them. After defeating Ramirez, V finds two data shards indicating that Ramirez’s daughter was used as bait to lure him into a trap, one which backfired with deadly consequences for everyone involved.
Cyberpunk Side Job - Epistrophy: The Glen & Rancho Coronado
In the 'Epistrophy' line of side jobs, Delamain asks V to recover several cabs that have been corrupted by a virus. In 'The Glen', the Delamain cab is feeling depressed and suicidal. After convincing V to get in, the cab attempts to drive into the river, and V has to talk him out of committing suicide (and taking V with him!)
In 'Rancho Coronado,' the Delamain cab is driving erratically through lawns. When V gets close enough to chat, the cab reveals that he hates the flamingo ornaments in the lawns and wants V to destroy all of them. This may be one of the most ridiculous (but also the most light-hearted) quests in all of Cyberpunk 2077.
Cyberpunk Side Job - Imagine
V finds a stranger dressed like a monk who’s sitting on a bench by a pagoda near Corpo Plaza. The stranger offers V a braindance with a guided meditation. The braindance itself is just a calming meditation led by the monk, who is actually a Zen master. There are three other meditations that can be completed: ‘Imagine’ is the earth meditation, then there’s the water meditation ‘Stairway to Heaven,' the fire meditation ‘Poem of the Atoms,' and the air meditation ‘Meetings Along the Edge.' In addition to providing some much-needed relaxation in the midst of the chaos of Night City, completing all the meditations will also grant V a decorative altar to place in their apartment.
Cyberpunk Side Job - Killing in the Name
Throughout the game, V will receive cryptic, anti-capitalist text messages from The Bartmoss Collective. Later on, V gets a text telling them to check the Bartmoss Collective site from their apartment’s computer. This leads V to a series of objectives involving scanning for signal sources. Eventually, V discovers the signal is coming from a fortune teller bot in an abandoned amusement park. V can pay one eddie to hear their fortune, then they have to hack the router. V finds that the fortune teller has been hacked to spread anti-establishment messages, including the ones V received on their phone. V can choose to leave the fortune teller alone so it can continue spreading the messages, or V can modify its algorithm.
Cyberpunk Side Job - Cyberpsycho Sighting: Seaside Cafe
V finds this cyberpsycho standing below the balcony of a seaside café amidst two dead bodies. After defeating the cyberpsycho, V loots a series of data shards that tell a harrowing story about two twin sisters and a reality television show gone terribly wrong. The twin sisters were to appear on a reality prank show. One sister “pranked” the other by drugging her and installing scary military implants that make her look uglier. Then she impersonated her twin to trick her sister’s fiancé into marrying her at the seaside café.
The pranked sister was supposed to show up at the wedding and get upset, leading to juicy on-screen drama. However, the military cyberware implants turned her into a cyberpsycho, so when she walked into the café and sees her fiancé marrying her sister, she goes insane and brutally murders everyone.
Cyberpunk Side Job - Violence
V receives a text from an unknown number asking for a meeting at the No-Tell Motel. At the motel, the client is revealed to be Lizzy Wizzy, a famous popstar voiced by the singer Grimes. Lizzy asks V to spy on her boyfriend, who she believes is cheating on her, but who is actually plotting to use the Soulkiller program on her. It turns out that Lizzy has a lot of cyber implants, and they’re affecting her personality to the point that she’s starting to develop cyberpsychosis. Lizzy’s boyfriend wants to use Soulkiller to remove her personality from her current body and implant it in another. V gives Lizzy the news, and Lizzy’s oddly cheerful reaction is a bit unsettling.
A little later, Lizzy texts V again, and when V goes back to the motel Lizzy’s boyfriend is lying dead on the floor. Lizzy claims that her boyfriend attacked her, but if V presses her for more information (or simply scans the body), they’ll find out that Lizzy actually beat her boyfriend to death because she lost control of her emotions. Lizzy seems genuinely upset and says she’s scared of who she’s turning into, and that she can feel her true self slipping away. Then, as if someone flipped a switch, Lizzy is back to her cheerful self, and asks for help disposing of the body. Later, V gets another text from her that’s just a winking emoticon.
Cyberpunk Side Job - I Can See Clearly Now
A pink vending machine in Cyberpunk 2077 named Brendan needs V’s help. There’s a dumpster in front of him that’s blocking customers from seeing him. After completing this task, Brendan will continue to offer new dialogue and side quests that lead V to discover Brendan is actually sentient, and he knows a bit more than he should about V’s situation with Johnny Silverhand.
Cyberpunk 2077’s side quests add depth to Night City and introduce V to some fascinating and unusual characters. Players should thoroughly explore the world to ensure they don’t miss out on any hidden gems.