The Talent Academy gig in Cyberpunk 2077 is part of the Phantom Liberty expansion and gets unlocked after completing The Damned. In Talent Academy, your job will be to steal data from a sports academy that seems to be exploiting young kids for competitions. You will be going undercover as a talent scout Victor/Vicky Wilson, looking for a Wide Receiver for the San Diego Shredders.
How you progress once you are inside the Talent Academy is up to you, but we will help you clear the mission with the optimal outcome.
Get to the Exhibition Hall
Take the elevator at the objective marker to enter the Exhibition Hall. You will have to pass the reception. Whether you talk to the Receptionist here or not is up to you.
Go to the bar and sit down. The bartender will ask you some questions. I will recommend replying with “None of your biz” instead of telling him about San Diego Shredders.
Shortly after your response, like it is typical of bars, some stuff will go down. This is your queue to get up and leave the area quickly so no one notices you. From there, make your way to the lower floor while avoiding guards or distracting them. If you wish to kill these guards, use a stealth weapon instead of going all out.
Find Fiona’s office
As you go down the stairs and pass through a door, the security alarm will start ringing. From this point on, it is impossible to stealth The Talent Academy mission in Cyberpunk 2077. You can either kill every guard you see or just run past them as you look for Fiona’s office.
You will see some isolation chambers, where they probably keep the athletes for testing. In that same area will be a door labeled Dormitory. Enter this door, turn left in the hallway, and then enter the door illuminated with yellow light.
This will take you into some sort of an R&D room with lots of cybernetic skeletons on display. Enter the door on the right, and you will have reached another office.
Talk to Tommie (optional)
You will see a kid going through the desk looking for something. This is Tommie. You can ignore him and progress with Talent Academy or chat up Tommie. I will recommend talking to Tommie so you can get additional context about what happens at this Talent Academy in Cyberpunk 2077.
Empathize and be nice to Tommie to calm him down. Eventually, the conversation will end and he will ask you not to tell Fiona that he was here.
Steal the data
Once Tommie leaves, hack the computer on the desk to start stealing data. Unfortunately, the system security will be too strong, and your attempt will fail. At this point, Fiona enters the room. She will be a bit upset with Tommie, but you can send him away.
Once Tommie leaves, Fiona will ask what you want. You can either take the neutral approach and ask for the terminal’s password or threaten to destroy everything. Fiona will ask you to follow her into her office so you can discuss this further.
She will tell you that if she gives up the data on her clients, the poor kids at the Talent Academy will suffer. No matter how bad you think the place is, they have been doing a lot to help the kids, and that will all change if there is a massive data leak, as no one will want to invest.
At this point, Fiona offers you a choice. Either take all the data you want, or she gives a controlled leak of only some clients that aren’t major players in the business. This way, you both come out on top.
You will get another dialogue option where you can find more about the place and Tommie as well as your response to Fiona. Your reply to her offer can either be
- We’ll do the leak
- Fuck your offer
Talent Academy choice: Should you accept Fiona’s controlled leak or steal the data?
This choice is totally dependent on you and how you feel about the academy. The reward will remain the same whether you steal all the data or accept a controlled leak. Whatever response you choose, Fiona will give you the codes to her computer and you will be able to steal the data without any issue. Once you leave the academy, Mr Hands will close the contract and reward you.
The only thing that changes is if you steal all the data instead of taking the controlled leak, you will have to kill some guards on your way out. If you accept Fiona’s offer in Talent Academy, she will tell the guards to stand down, and you can leave without any trouble.
The best choice in the Talent Academy quest in Cyberpunk 2077 would be to take all the data using Fiona’s codes and shut this corrupt place down. It is doing more harm than good, with kids falling sick due to all the implants. You also get to kill some more bad guys, so that is bonus XP and loot. Whatever you choose, once you leave the area, the Talent Academy gig in Cyberpunk 2077 will end, and you will get 8000 Eddies as a reward.
