This section of Cyberpunk 2077 punishes improvisation, so it is worth knowing the shape of it before you start.

Short answer

Prepare first, then work through it in the order below. Nothing here rewards rushing the opening.

Difficulty settings change numbers here, not the sequence. Some outcomes are locked behind an earlier conversation rather than behind performance. Patch notes move numbers around constantly; the shape of the answer holds even when a specific value shifts.

The part people get stuck on

A save immediately before the decision point costs nothing and occasionally saves hours. Reading ahead spoils some of it; going in blind costs some of it. Pick which you mind less. Where something depends on your platform or region, that is called out rather than glossed over. A failed attempt usually leaves the world in a state you can still recover from.

The game signals the requirement once, quietly, and never mentions it again. The developers have changed their mind about this at least once, which explains the older advice. Optional preparation is what separates a ten-minute attempt from a two-hour one.

Before you start

There is no hidden trick here that the game is keeping from you. Screenshots age faster than text, which is why this describes rather than shows. The short version is near the top on purpose; the reasoning is there if you want to know why.

  • Complete the optional preparation — it is the actual difficulty setting.
  • Save manually before the first irreversible step.
  • Check the version you are actually running before assuming anything is broken.
  • Note which choice you made, for later sections that reference it.
  • Do not sell anything you picked up here until it is finished.

Choices that matter later

Everything below is framed around the current state of Cyberpunk 2077 rather than a launch-week impression. Nothing here assumes a particular playstyle beyond wanting the thing to work. If your result differs from what is described here, note what is different first rather than starting over. What follows assumes you are on a current install and have not modified it.

It helps to understand why a step exists, because then you can adapt it when your situation is slightly different. The community wisdom on this is roughly half right, and the half that is wrong costs the most time. Treat anything stated without a version number as provisional.

If it goes wrong

Where two approaches both work, the one with fewer moving parts is the one to keep. None of this needs a paid tool, a third-party launcher or an account on a site you have never heard of. Anything that behaves differently on console than on PC is flagged where it matters.

If a step reads as obvious, do it anyway — the obvious ones are the ones people skip and then wonder about. Do the cheap check before the expensive one — that ordering alone saves most of the frustration. Half the pages on this topic were written for a build that no longer exists, which is why they stop matching what you see.

Working through it

Cyberpunk 2077 is not shy about hiding useful information two menus deep, so some of this is simply knowing where to look. A single check up front replaces a lot of guessing later. Most of the disagreement you will find online is two people describing different builds.

Where people go wrong

  • 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.
  • Trusting a video thumbnail that promises a result the video never actually shows.

Cyberpunk FAQ

Does difficulty change the outcome?

It changes the numbers, not the route. The steps described work at every setting.

Does this work the same on console and PC?

The logic is identical. Menu paths and button prompts differ, and any real difference is flagged above.

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.

Can I come back to this later?

Sometimes. Where a section closes permanently, that is flagged above — and it is the single most common way people lose access to content.

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