The Side Jobs You Should Not Skip in Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077 is packed with side content, and not all of it deserves your time. That matters because this is one of those games that can quietly eat whole weeks if you let it. You boot it up planning to do one mission, then you end up clearing scanner hustles in Santo Domingo at midnight and wondering what actually moved the story forward.

If you’re a busy player, the goal is not to do everything. The goal is to do the side jobs that give you the best writing, the strongest character arcs, and the most memorable set pieces without getting buried under filler. A handful of side jobs are essential. A lot of gigs are good in small doses. Most NCPD scanner hustles are pure cut material unless you just want cash or crafting parts.

So if you’re trying to get the best version of Cyberpunk 2077 without turning it into a second job, here are the side jobs you should not skip, what you can safely ignore, and how to pace the whole thing so it stays fun.

Why this matters if your gaming time is limited

Cyberpunk has a real pacing problem if you play it like a checklist. The main story is urgent and personal. V is dying. Johnny is in your head. The tone says move. But the open world keeps throwing icons at you like none of that matters.

If you chase every marker, the game loses momentum fast. You’ll spend hours on decent but forgettable jobs between major story beats, and the emotional core gets diluted. Worse, the best side questlines are mixed in with a lot of content that is only okay.

The good news is that the stuff worth doing is very worth doing. Cyberpunk’s best side jobs are not just filler with extra dialogue. They’re where some of the game’s strongest writing lives. Panam’s whole arc. Judy’s best missions. River’s detective storyline. Kerry’s late-game chaos. Sinnerman, if you’re in the mood for something uncomfortable and memorable. These are the jobs that make Night City feel like more than a backdrop.

Pick the right ones and the game feels rich. Pick everything and it starts to feel bloated.

The questlines that are actually worth your time

Panam Palmer’s side jobs are the easiest recommendation in the whole game

If you only do one major side quest chain, make it Panam’s. It starts with Riders on the Storm after the early jobs with Rogue and Panam, then keeps going through With a Little Help from My Friends and Queen of the Highway.

This arc is worth your time for three reasons. First, the missions are varied. You’re not just talking in apartments or sneaking through another warehouse. You get rescues, convoy action, Basilisk tank nonsense, and a strong sense of being folded into the Aldecaldos instead of just doing errands for them. Second, Panam is one of the few characters in the game whose storyline consistently feels like it’s building toward something. Third, this questline opens up one of the best endings.

That last point matters. If you want the strongest payoff for V as a character, especially if you’re looking for a more hopeful route, Panam’s content is not optional. It’s premium Cyberpunk. Do it.

Judy Alvarez has one of the best emotional payoffs

Judy’s side jobs are another must-do, especially if the early Braindance and Evelyn Parker plotline grabbed you. The key missions here include Both Sides, Now, Ex-Factor, Talkin’ ‘Bout a Revolution, Pisces, and Pyramid Song.

This chain is less action-heavy than Panam’s, but the writing lands. It gives real follow-through to the Evelyn story, digs deeper into Clouds and the Mox-adjacent world, and has one of the few quiet missions in the game that actually earns its slower pace. Pyramid Song is the standout. It’s reflective, personal, and memorable in a way a lot of open-world side content isn’t.

There is a tradeoff here. Parts of Judy’s questline can feel like they stall because of the wait time between calls, and one or two of the middle missions are more about conversation than momentum. Still worth it. If you care about character-driven content at all, don’t skip Judy.

River Ward’s detective arc is short, strong, and easy to fit into a busy schedule

River gets overlooked because he shows up later and his questline is shorter, but I Fought the Law and The Hunt are absolutely worth doing.

I Fought the Law starts as a political investigation and gives you a nice break from gang shootouts and merc work. Then The Hunt turns into one of the creepiest, most focused missions in the game. It feels different from almost everything else in Cyberpunk. Smaller scale, more tension, less noise.

This is a good example of side content respecting your time. It doesn’t drag. It doesn’t send you across Night City ten times for no reason. It gives you a distinct tone, a couple of strong scenes, and gets out. For busy players, that matters a lot.

Kerry Eurodyne is worth it if you want the best Johnny-related side content

Kerry’s questline comes later, and a lot of people miss it because you need to follow Johnny’s thread long enough to get there. But if you like Johnny Silverhand even a little, do Kerry’s missions. That includes Holdin’ On, Second Conflict, A Like Supreme, Rebel! Rebel!, and the later yacht-side chaos in Boat Drinks.

This chain starts a little uneven. The Samurai reunion material is cool if you’re invested in the old band history, but it can feel niche if you’re not. Then it picks up. Once Kerry becomes the focus instead of just Johnny nostalgia, the whole thing gets sharper and funnier.

This is one of those questlines that’s worth doing under a specific condition. If you enjoy Johnny as a character and want more of the game’s music scene, absolutely do it. If you find Johnny exhausting and just want practical rewards, you can deprioritize it. For me, the back half is strong enough to recommend anyway.

Sinnerman is messy, uncomfortable, and memorable

Sinnerman, and the follow-up jobs There Is a Light That Never Goes Out and They Won’t Go When I Go, are not fun in the usual sense. They are slow, talky, and deliberately uncomfortable.

They’re also some of the most distinct side content in the game.

This questline is worth doing because it shows Cyberpunk at its most willing to be weird, ugly, and morally awkward. It is not a power fantasy. It is not efficient loot farming. It is a long, tense detour about faith, exploitation, media, and whether Night City can turn literally anything into content.

I would not call it essential for everyone. I would call it essential if you want to see what the game can do beyond combat. If your mood is right, don’t skip it.

Heroes is short and absolutely worth the stop

Heroes, Jackie’s memorial ofrenda, is one of the easiest recommendations here. It’s not flashy. It’s not long. It just matters.

If Jackie meant anything to you in the opening hours, this mission gives that relationship more weight than the main story does on its own. It also grounds the world. You spend so much of Cyberpunk dealing with fixers, corps, relic tech, and gunfights that a simple memorial can hit harder than another action set piece.

Do this one early when it appears. It’s a good reminder of what the game is trying to say underneath all the chrome.

What you can skip without missing much

Let’s save you some time.

You can skip most NCPD scanner hustles. They are useful for money, crafting components, and a little combat practice. They are not where the best storytelling is. If you enjoy the gunplay and want to zone out for 15 minutes, fine. But don’t treat them like must-see content.

You can also be selective with fixer gigs. After the 2.0 update and Phantom Liberty era improvements, gigs are better presented and often more distinct than they used to be. Regina, Wakako, Padre, Dino, and El Capitan all have some solid jobs. But as a category, gigs are still inconsistent. A few are great little stealth or infiltration sandboxes. A lot are just decent merc work.

My rule is simple. Do gigs when you need cash, street cred, or want to test a build. Don’t do them because you think they all hide major story beats. Most don’t.

The Beat on the Brat boxing questline is also easy to deprioritize unless you specifically enjoy melee builds or fistfighting systems. It has some funny flavor, but the actual fights can be annoying if your character is not built for them. This is classic open-world trap content. It looks like a substantial chain, but for many players it turns into repeated reloads and irritation.

Delamain is more mixed. Epistrophy starts funny, and the rogue cabs have personality, but collecting them all can feel like busywork if you’re trying to keep momentum. The finale, Don’t Lose Your Mind, is interesting enough that I wouldn’t ignore Delamain completely. But I also wouldn’t tell a busy player to drop everything and finish every cab recovery the moment it appears.

And no, you do not need to clear every map icon before the ending. Please don’t do that to yourself.

How to play this efficiently without ruining the pacing

The best way to approach Cyberpunk is to treat it like a TV season, not a chore list.

Do a main mission or two. Then do one meaningful side quest chain step. Then maybe one gig if you want money or a quick combat hit. That’s the rhythm.

More specifically, focus on side jobs tied to major characters first. Panam, Judy, River, Kerry, Johnny-adjacent missions, and one-off standouts like Sinnerman or Heroes. These are the jobs that add real context to the endings and make V feel connected to Night City.

Use gigs and scanner hustles as filler, not the main meal. They’re best when you have 10 or 15 minutes and don’t want to commit to a heavy story beat.

Also, don’t ignore the game’s call timing. A lot of side jobs unlock after waiting, sleeping, fast traveling, or finishing another mission. If you’re trying to force one character’s entire questline in a single sitting, the game will fight you. Better to rotate naturally. Finish a Panam mission, do a main quest, sell gear, maybe clear a gig, then the next call usually comes in.

If you’re playing a stealth or netrunner build, gigs become more worthwhile because the sandbox design gives you room to use your tools. If you’re a straight combat build, you’ll burn through many gigs quickly, but they can blur together. That’s another reason to prioritize the authored side jobs above them.

How handheld play fits Cyberpunk 2077 side jobs

Cyberpunk on handhelds or portable PCs can actually work well for side-job-focused play, with one big caveat. Story-heavy missions are great in portable sessions. Open-world cleanup is less great.

Panam, Judy, River, and Kerry missions usually have clear start and stop points, strong dialogue scenes, and enough structure that you can make progress in 20 to 40 minutes. That’s ideal for Steam Deck-style play if performance is acceptable to you.

Where handheld play gets messy is traversal and map clutter. Night City is dense, and if you’re bouncing between vendors, stash management, crafting, scanner hustles, and random police events on a smaller screen, the friction becomes obvious fast. Menus feel slower. Loot sorting feels slower. Driving can feel worse depending on your setup.

So if you’re playing portable, lean into curated side jobs. Queue up a Panam mission, a River investigation, or a Judy follow-up. Avoid turning a handheld session into icon vacuuming. That’s where the game starts to feel like admin.

If you only have 20 minutes, do this

If you only have a short session, don’t start a giant chain mission unless you know you’re near the end of a step. Cyberpunk loves to turn a simple objective into a 40-minute sequence.

Instead, use short sessions for one of three things.

• Advance a character quest by one step if the journal shows a contained objective like meeting Judy, checking in with River, or heading to a camp with Panam.
• Do one fixer gig in the district you’re already in, especially if you want money or street cred.
• Handle inventory, upgrades, and fast travel setup so your next longer session starts clean.

If you have a full hour, that’s when I’d do major side jobs. That’s enough time for missions like The Hunt, Pyramid Song, or one of the bigger Aldecaldos steps without having to quit halfway through an important scene.

And if you only have 10 hours left in the whole game, here is the blunt version. Do Panam. Do Judy. Do River. Do Heroes. Try Sinnerman if you want something unusual. Everything else is optional.

The practical shortlist

If you want the cleanest possible recommendation list, here it is.

• Must do: Panam’s questline, Judy’s questline, River’s investigation arc, Heroes
• Strongly recommended: Kerry’s questline, Sinnerman and its follow-ups, Don’t Lose Your Mind
• Only if you enjoy the system: fixer gigs, Beat on the Brat, cyberpsycho hunts
• Easy to skip: most NCPD scanner hustles, full map cleanup, any gig chain you’re only doing out of obligation

That’s really the split. Go where the writing and character work are. Skip the icon fatigue.

Don’t let Night City waste your time

Cyberpunk 2077 is much better when you stop trying to consume all of it. The game has enough excellent side content to feel rich, but not enough to justify full completion for most adults with jobs, families, or a normal bedtime.

The side jobs you should not skip are the ones that deepen V’s relationships and give the endings more weight. Panam does that. Judy does that. River does that. Kerry does that if you’re invested in Johnny. Heroes does it in 15 quiet minutes better than a dozen combat encounters.

Everything else should earn its place.

That’s the real filter. If a mission gives you stronger characters, a memorable scenario, or a meaningful new angle on Night City, do it. If it’s just another icon asking for your evening, skip it and move on. Cyberpunk is at its best when it’s personal, not when it’s endless.