10 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ (Update 2.5 Edition)

This is my fifth version of this article at this point, one that remains relevant as Cyberpunk 2077 continues to be discovered and/or replayed by gamers. That’s especially true this past week, when due to a new TV show season, a sale and a big update, players have flooded to the game, putting up its highest numbers since 2023’s Phantom Liberty expansion release. So, back to the advice-giving from someone with 400 hours and five different Vs, one of which I just made this week in order to do a full dual pistol build.

Here are 10 things I wish I knew when I started Cyberpunk 2077:

1) Get the Phantom Liberty Bundle, Save It For Last

There’s no other way to say it: Phantom Liberty is an absolutely essential part of Cyberpunk 2077 and its best content. It doubles the cost of some bundles during these sales, but it is mandatory to play. However, A) do not skip straight to it if you have never played, which is an option at the start, and B) I would not play it until the very end of the game, right before “Meet Hanako at Embers,” which saves the best for last.

2) Consider Starting on Hard

Personal preference, of course, but I do think that Normal is too easy in Cyberpunk for most players, and this is true of really all builds past perhaps the very start of the game where your gear is minimal. As you get more powerful, you may even want to push it to Very Hard. I wouldn’t say that about most games, but I’d consider it here.

3) Don’t Neglect Armor

If you are looking for survivability, which is almost any build, you can’t overlook armor, a system that did not exist at launch, but is key now, stacking cyberware that inherently gives armor, but some pieces give you a lot extra. If you fall behind on buying cyberware, really any cyberware, it will hurt. And upgrade rarity in time for existing pieces, as that alone increases armor as well.

4) Get Leg Cyberware ASAP

I think I’ve given this advice across all five of these guides. Cyberpunk movement is pretty bad until you get some sort of leg cyberware. I would recommend double jump more than anything, though charge jump is okay too. I know that there are things like stealth legs, but even for stealth or hacking builds, I think you’re still going to want a high jump for many, many reasons, including exploration out of combat.

5) Grab Every Weapon and Sell 98% of Them

There are roughly ten million things to buy in Cyberpunk 2077, and they will drain your cash pretty quickly. Yes, do side jobs and gigs to get money, for sure, but the main way you will earn cash across the entire game is killing enemies and taking their guns. Sell nearly all of them unless you find ones that are top-notch for your specific build (never sell uniques). This will get you hundreds of thousands of dollars across the course of the game.

6) Cars and Apartments are Cool a Waste of Money at the Start

Cyberpunk has added a bunch of new apartments and cars to the game over time, but if your priority is getting stronger, these are kind of a waste of money if you’re prioritizing them over more practical purchases like cyberware or weapons. Apartments are purely for cosmetic vibes, which are cool, but it’s also easier to teleport to your original house for house-related things like the vault, sleeping or changing your appearance. Cars? You can pretty much play this entire game with Jackie’s Arch bike, and you can get a bunch of free cars from missions or in hidden locations. Again, this is purely for collection building, and I’d save this for when you simply have way more cash than you know what to do with at the end of the game.

7) Clothing Means Nothing Now Except Style Points

Cyberpunk used to assign stats to individual clothing items, which at launch meant you were wearing something impossibly stupid-looking. Now, this has changed on multiple fronts. A) stats are no longer tied to clothing but rather the skill tree and cyberware, B) you can now create outfits that use transmog to paper over whatever you’re wearing (you really don’t have to be wearing anything for this to work, and you can sell all the clothes you get, as the system will save the fact that you registered them). C) You can now preview clothing items in shops before you buy them, which took way too long to get into the game, but it’s a godsend.

8) Don’t Stress About Perk Points, Barely Stress About Stat Points

In its current form, buildcrafting is not as strict as it used to be. It is now easier and cheaper to respect perk points, the things that go into your individual trees, than it was previously. What is not as flexible is the distribution of Stat points for sections like Cool, Body, Tech and so on. You get I believe one re-do, but you are locked in otherwise. That said, there are 60 levels now, so you can max out three different categories and get partway up another. That’s a lot of flexibility.

9) Plan Your Romances From Character Creation

I have never liked how rigid Cyberpunk is with its romance options based on gender and sexuality that lock you into exactly two choices per game, but you work with what you’ve got. Picking male, or a male voice, means you can romance Panam or Kerry. Picking female, or a female voice, means you can romance Judy or River. If you try to cross-romance you will be friendzoned. It won’t ruin those relationships or anything, but yeah, your options are limited. This has dismayed my female Vs greatly after they are always rejected by Panam.

10) You Can Change Almost Your Entire Appearance Post-Character Creation Now

For a Cyberpunk game, there was essentially no ability to modify your character’s cosmetic appearance at launch after character creation. Now that is 95% different. You can change your hairstyle, makeup, and some other cosmetic features at any time in your mirror at home. You can change that stuff and more at Ripperdocs now, like cyberware or tattoos. Now, with this new update, you can also customize your arm cyberware with different colors and corporation brands. There are still some things you cannot change, like your gender, but it’s way, way more than it used to be.