Cyberpunk 2077 Story Choices & Consequences

The story of Cyberpunk 2077 has a lot of twists and turns that present you with some very difficult choices to make. A small choice in one mission can completely change the outcome of another.

You will need to know the effect of your choices in the main story and how they will impact the ending of your story in Night City.

To help you make the right decisions, we have compiled all the major story choices and their consequences in Cyberpunk 2077.

Cyberpunk 2077’s main story choices and effects

There are three acts of the main story, each having a lot of choices you need to make sure you don’t end your story badly.

To make the right decisions, we have listed all the major choices and consequences that will impact the outcome of the main story in Cyberpunk 2077.

The Ride: Should you visit Maelstrom or Evelyn Parker?

Choices: At the end of The Ride story mission, you can choose to either visit Maelstrom’s gang or Evelyn Parker in Cyberpunk 2077.

Effects: You will end up visiting both of them anyway but will unlock the associated quest of the person you meet first.

Visiting Maelstroms will unlock The Pickup and meeting Evelyn will give you access to The Information mission.

You will get both the missions anyway so the order does not matter.

The Pickup: Should you use Meredith’s Credchip or your own money?

Choices: Meredith Strout will offer you a Credchip that you can use to close the deal with the Maelstrom gang or pay for the ordeal out of your pocket during The Pickup mission.

Effects: If you take the Credchip and decrypt it before the deal, you will end up fighting the Militech.

If you use the Credchip without decrypting it, the deal will fall apart since Royce will find malware on it and the Maelstroms will attack you.

Paying with your own money will not turn any of the factions against you but will close off future interactions with Meredith.

The Pickup: Should you free or leave Brick?

Choices: If you haven’t taken the peaceful route, you can free the former Maelstrom’s leader, Brick. He is imprisoned in one of the rooms of the All Foods Plant.

Effects: Freeing Brick will make him indebted to you and he will help you out during the Second Conflict side mission, later in the game.

Ignoring or Killing him will replace the interaction with another person during the future quest.

Depending on your choice, you will also get a unique dialogue with Dex after the mission.

The Pickup: Should you calm down Jackie or not?

Choices: During your meeting with the Maelstroms, Jackie will start to get agitated with the hostile conversation playing out. You will get an option to calm him down or not do anything at all.

Effects: If you calm Jackie down, he will sit back and the rest of the deal with the Maelstroms will run smoothly.

If you don’t do anything, a fight will break out ending with a mini-boss fight with Royce in a mech.

The Heist: Where to send Jackie’s body?

Choices: After Jackie’s passing, you can send Jackie’s body to the Ripperdoc Viktor, back to his family, or leave it in the car.

Effects: Sending Jackie’s body back to his family will unlock the Heroes mission where you will be invited to his memorial and get his Arch bike.

Taking him to Viktor will give you access to a short version of the Heroes mission.

Leaving him in the car will not get you anything.

Automatic Love: Should you kill Woodman or make a deal?

Choices: You can either kill Woodman for information or strike up a deal with him instead at the end of Automatic Love.

Effects: Making a deal with Woodman will result in a peaceful resolution of the conflict. You will have fewer issues with Maiko during the Ex-Factor side mission later and still have the opportunity to take him out later.

Killing him will still allow you to complete the Automatic Love quest but also end any chance of conversing with Maiko.

Ghost Town: Should you help Panam kill Nash or not?

Choices: During the Ghost Town story mission, you will be asked by Panam to help her take care of Nash which you can reject or accept in Cyberpunk 2077.

Effects: If you accept Panam’s offer, you will have to fight Nash and his men and this will contribute towards your chances of romancing Panam if you are playing as male V.

If you reject her, you will still complete the quest and play her future side quests but will lose any chances of getting into a romantic relationship with her.

Gimme Danger: Should you join Takemura or not?

Choices: During the Gimme Danger mission, Takemura will offer you to join him for recon.

Effects: If you take up Takemura on the offer, it will lead to a separate side section of the quest that you can’t access otherwise. During this, you will plan your warehouse infiltration and also find entry points and escape routes through the Arasaka Industrial Park.

Rejecting him will skip the whole section and you will miss out on the escape routes and some key story elements.

Search and Destroy: Should you save Takemura or leave?

Choices: During the mission, you will be surrounded by Arasaka’s people and will have to decide Takemura’s fate.

Effects: If you save Takemura, you will open the route to the Devil Ending of Cyberpunk 2077. If you leave him to die instead, it will complete the mission regardless.

I Walk the Line: Should you deal with the NetWatch Agent or not?

Choices: During the quest you will get the chance to make a deal with the NetWatch agent to get rid of the virus uploaded from the Voodoo Boys.

Effects: If you agree to the deal from the NetWatch agent, they will enter the Voodoo Boys subnet and kill many of its members.

If you reject the deal, you can punch Placide in the face while the Voodoo Boys kill other agents and reach the end of the I Walk The Line mission alive.

Nocturne OP55N1: Which allies should you choose?

Choices: You will have to pick the allies you will take with you on the Total Immortal quest.

Effects: Depending on who you call during the Nocturne OP55N1 mission, it will unlock a unique quest that will impact the ending of Cyberpunk 2077.

Calling Hanako will unlock the Last Caress mission and you need to infiltrate Arasaka to bring her down to the AV downstairs.

Calling Panam will lead to the We Gotta Live Together quest and you will end up joining Adecaldos camp and leaving with Panam.

Calling Rogue will get you the For Whom The Bell Tolls mission where you have to take down Arasaka once and for all.

If you don’t call anybody and wait for 5 minutes, Johnny will make you an offer leading to the Don’t Fear The Reaper mission, unlocking a secret ending of Cyberpunk 2077.

Where Is My Mind?: Should you sign the contract or not?

Choices: At the end of the story mission, you will be offered a contract by Arasaka to either join them for a potential cure or return home instead in Cyberpunk 2077.

Effects: If you sign the contract, you end up surrendering the rights to your engram to Arasaka where they store your mind for future use while your body perishes.

If you don’t sign the contract, you can return to Night City and live your remaining life there as a free man.

Phantom Liberty’s story choices and effects

The Phantom Liberty DLC introduced new content to the main storyline that includes many major decisions on your end. These choices will impact how you end the story and the wrong one can lead to some undesirable outcomes so choose wisely.

Firestarter: Should you help Songbird or Reed?

Choices: You will get the option to help Songbird get the Neural Matrix or betray her and hand her over to Solomon Reed during the Firestarter mission.

Effects: Helping Songbird leads to the Killing Moon quest where she can rid herself of the Blackwall corruption by using the cure and going to the Moon.

If you help her throughout but betray her at the end, it will unlock the Tower ending where V is cured.

If you capture Songbird instead to help Reed, you will unlock the Somewhat Damaged mission where you will decide Songbird’s fate. Depending on your choice, the rewards during the Leave In Silence mission from the FIA and NUSA will differ.

The Killing Moon: Should you rescue or capture Songbird?

Choice: While riding the train at the end of the mission, you can either rescue Songbird by taking her to the rocket or surrender her to Reed for capture.

Effect: Rescuing Songbird will unlock the King Of Wands ending where she uses the only Neural Matrix to cure herself. You will be rewarded with the Quantum Tuner cyberdeck during the From Her To Eternity epilogue mission.

By letting Reed capture her, you will unlock the King Of Swords ending where you are given the cure instead while Songbird is taken back to FIA. It also leads to The Tower extended ending where V is completely cured of the Relic.

The Killing Moon: Should you kill Reed or negotiate?

Choices: During the mission, you will be confronted by Reed who will try to negotiate with you a deal about the cure.

Effects: If you strike a deal with Reed and hand over Songbird, you will get The Tower ending.

You can also kill Reed which will lead to the King Of Wands ending where Songbird lives and you can get Reed’s pistol, Pariah along with Songbird’s Quantum Tuner cyberdeck during the epilogue mission, From Her To Eternity.

You can also ignore Reed here which will lead to him flatlining you, cutting the mission short.

Somewhat Damaged: Should you kill or spare Songbird?

Choices: Songbird will ask you to kill her since she does not want to return to the FIA where you can either wait for Reed to reach the core or oblige her and kill the Songbird.

Effects: Killing Songbird will unlock the King of Cups ending where you surrender to NUSA and Myers disapproves your decision. You will only receive 5000 Eddies as compensation.

If you wait for Reed, you will unlock King Of Pentacles ending where you surrender to NUSA but Myers will let you keep the cure. It also leads to The Tower extended ending where you wake up cured.

Best ending choices

Though Cyberpunk 2077 does not have a perfectly happy ending even with the Phantom Liberty DLC, there are still a few outcomes that have better circumstances than the others.

You can either not involve any of your friends in your fight, spend your last days with a friend, or start your life again, cured.

These are our picks for the best endings in Cyberpunk 2077 which are better than signing your life away to the very corporation that you swore to take down.

The secret ending

This is where you take the fight to Arasaka without anybody, just you and Johnny alone. It is also one of the most difficult ones to get because there are no second chances here.

If you die, the credits will roll. However, if you don’t die you still have to choose between V and Johnny but all your friends will live.

Choices you need to make:

• Complete side missions Tapeworm, Chippin’ In, and Blistering Love.
• Have a good relationship with Johnny that is over 70%.
• Do not call anybody at the rooftop during Nocturne OP55N1 and wait for Johnny to suggest you take on Arasaka alone.
• Complete the Don’t Fear The Reaper mission without dying.

Return Home With Aldecaldos

This is one of the better endings where you do not have to spend your last days alone. Even if V is not cured, they still can be surrounded by friends and family. During this, Panam will promise to help you in any way she can while the Aldecaldos take V in as their own.

Choices you need to make:

• Complete side jobs Life During Wartime, Riders on the Storm, With a Little Help From My Friends, Queen of the Highway.
• Complete main jobs We Gotta Live Forever, Forward To Death, and Belly Of The Beast.
• Call Panam for help at the rooftop during Nocturne OP55N1 mission.
• Return to V’s body during All Along The Watchtower.

The Tower Ending

The Tower Ending is part of extended endings added in The Phantom Liberty DLC. It is a bittersweet take on how V finally gets cured after making some hard decisions and the drastic impact it has on their life after.

Choices you need to make:

• Betray Songbird at the end of the Killing Moon quest by calling Reed and making the deal with him on the train after she reveals the truth about the cure.
• Refuse to kill Songbird during the Somewhat Damaged mission and let Reed reach the core.