River Ward is one of the most lovable (and romanceable) characters in Cyberpunk 2077, a tough NCPD detective who is a softie at heart. Unlike Judy and Panam, he does not have a long list of story quests but still has a heart-wrenching storyline that will make anyone feel respect for him.
To romance River, you will need to go out of your way to find the related side jobs to know his story. Besides his story quests, there is not much that you will see or hear from him. The new Phantom Liberty expansion, though, does feature a small cameo at the very end of one of the missions.
Do note that regardless of whether you choose to start a relationship with River or not, completing his storyline will unlock the “To Protect and Serve” achievement.
So to enjoy the time you have with him and to make sure you successfully romance River Ward, we have prepared a guide. We will go over all the interactions you have with him and what dialogues you need to choose to seduce him.
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How to romance River Ward in Cyberpunk 2077
To romance River in Cyberpunk 2077, you will need to have a female body type with a female voice. These romance requirements can only be met at the start of the game when you customize your character.
If you have chosen the male V, things can be altered using mods and console cheats but let’s talk about it later.
Romancing River spans over a few quests only and choosing the right dialogue will get you the desirable end of your story. He is involved in mainly side jobs, so you won’t have many opportunities to woo him but thankfully, things are easier than you might think.
Below are the romance dialogue choices for all of River’s missions.
I Fought the Law
Your romance with River in Cyberpunk 2077 starts with your first encounter with him during the I Fought The Law side quest given by Elizabeth Peralez. You can only access this quest after completing the Life During Wartime main story mission, with second-tier Street Cred in other Districts.
During the mission, you will be investing a Braindance for the Peralez that will take you to the Mayor of the city. You will meet River Ward here, an NCPD Detective who was serving as the Mayor’s bodyguard.
After you will meet up with him and investigate the Lucius Rhyne case together. The next dialogue options do not have much effect on your romance with River but we recommend answering as honestly as you can to earn his trust.
The Hunt
24 in-game hours after the I Fought The Law mission, you will get the phone call starting The Hunt mission. There are a few things that you need to get right for your romance with River in Cyberpunk 2077 to progress.
You will be rescuing his nephew from a kidnapper who uses kids on his farm and treats them as test subjects. The tensions are high and the right decisions will be surefire to land a position beside him, just remain supportive and involve yourself in situations where he will depend on you.
You will be investing a Braindance with River during the mission where you need to search for clues. He will help guide you through the process to get the right farm location where Randy could be.
If you miss a few clues, you will have to guess the right option at the end to progress your romance. The right farm that you need to go to is the Edgewood farm.
Before the mission ends, River will ask you whether he should seek out his revenge and you will need to choose either of the two dialogue choices to advance your romantic relationship.
- “Don’t do it, River”
- “We both will”
Following the River
Following The River is the last mission in River’s storyline where he will invite you to his family picnic to spend some time together. After the dinner, you will be taken to a secluded spot to look at the city views.
While sharing some funny past stories on top of the Water Tower, one moment will lead to another and you will have the chance to kiss him.
If you reject the kiss, it will end your relationship with River with no way of going back.
Choosing the Kiss prompt will lead to an intimate scene and you will wake up in the morning next to him. To further progress your story, choose “[Kiss] I feel good around you.”
With this, you will have successfully romanced River in Cyberpunk 2077. Unfortunately, there is not much content related to River in the game and this is all the story you can get from him.
After Phantom Liberty
After Phantom Liberty DLC, River is not involved in any of the missions but you will see him in the epilogue of an ending.
The Tower ending, achieved after completing the Things Done Changed, will give you the opportunity to contact River. He will tell you that he opted to sell policy secrets in order to pay for Randy’s treatments. He is the only one to outright refuse to meet you since he can’t look you in the eyes and then drops the call.
How to romance River as a male V
There are two ways to romance Rivers as Male V in Cyberpunk 2077, use console commands or a mod instead.
For the mod, the River Male V Romance Mod works great. It allows you to continue the romance mission as male V and also continue the intimate part of the quest as well. Just be careful that it is compatible with other mods and does not interfere with your game files
If mods are not your thing, you can also use console command cheats to romance River as male V. Just install the Cyber Engine Tweaks from Nexusmods and use the console command Game.SetDebugFact(“river_romanceable”,1)
You should use this command after the first mission is over and before The Hunt side mission. This will be before River calls you about his nephew getting grabbed.
