Cyberpunk 2077 has spawned enough surrounding work that the ordering question comes up constantly.

Short answer

Treat it as supplementary. Enjoyable on its own, and richer if you have played first.

Official art books contain material that never appears in the game itself. Release order and chronological order are different, and both have their advocates. If you are coming to this after a long break, the terminology has probably moved on.

Where to find it legitimately

Canon status is decided by the developers rather than by the adaptation's writers. Assets circulated online are often ripped rather than released, which affects what you can legally do with them. If your result differs from what is described here, note what is different first rather than starting over. Fan work is frequently better than official work and is not the same thing.

Licensed soundtracks are the most likely part to be missing from a re-release. Where something depends on your platform or region, that is called out rather than glossed over. Adaptations take liberties, and the interesting ones take them deliberately.

What exists officially

Where two approaches both work, the one with fewer moving parts is the one to keep. There is no hidden trick here that the game is keeping from you. There is usually a fast way and a reliable way, and it is worth knowing which one you are choosing.

  • Expect licensed music to be missing from re-releases.
  • Look for an official assets page before downloading anything.
  • Prefer the in-game option over an external tool when both exist.
  • Buy from the publisher's own store where one exists.

What is fan-made

The developers have changed their mind about this at least once, which explains the older advice. None of this needs a paid tool, a third-party launcher or an account on a site you have never heard of. A single check up front replaces a lot of guessing later. What follows assumes you are on a current install and have not modified it.

The community wisdom on this is roughly half right, and the half that is wrong costs the most time. The awkward part is rarely the step itself, it is knowing which step comes first. Anything that behaves differently on console than on PC is flagged where it matters.

Whether it is worth your time

If a step reads as obvious, do it anyway — the obvious ones are the ones people skip and then wonder about. Screenshots age faster than text, which is why this describes rather than shows. Most of the disagreement you will find online is two people describing different builds.

The short version is near the top on purpose; the reasoning is there if you want to know why. Patch notes move numbers around constantly; the shape of the answer holds even when a specific value shifts. Nothing here assumes a particular playstyle beyond wanting the thing to work.

Where it fits with the game

It helps to understand why a step exists, because then you can adapt it when your situation is slightly different. Half the pages on this topic were written for a build that no longer exists, which is why they stop matching what you see. Do the cheap check before the expensive one — that ordering alone saves most of the frustration.

Where people go wrong

  • Copying a setup wholesale from a streamer without understanding what each part does.
  • Assuming a guide from an older season still describes the current version.
  • Grinding a method that was patched months ago because a thread still ranks well.
  • Ignoring the platform-specific note and then wondering why the steps do not line up.

Cyberpunk FAQ

Do I need it to understand the game?

No. It adds background rather than filling gaps the game leaves open.

How long does this take?

Minutes if it goes cleanly, an evening if you hit the edge case in the caveats list. Neither is unusual.

Is this still accurate after the latest Cyberpunk 2077 update?

The method is; individual numbers may not be. If a value on your screen differs, trust the screen and keep the sequence.

Is it canon?

Where the developers have said so, yes. Adaptations produced under licence are frequently their own continuity.

Anything that shifts with the next Cyberpunk 2077 update will show up as a changed number, not a changed approach.