Your first hours in Cyberpunk 2077 have a correct order, and it is simple: finish your lifepath intro, follow the main story until Night City opens up, visit a ripperdoc, and only then start taking side gigs. Players who invert that order, grinding gigs before the main story unlocks the systems, spend their first hours weaker and more confused than they need to be. This walkthrough follows the correct order step by step, without spoiling the story beats you have not reached yet.
Quick answers
Lifepath changes only the intro mission and some dialogue. Do not restart over it.
The main story is your unlock path. Follow it until the city opens before you grind gigs.
Visit a ripperdoc early. Cyberware is permanent power; early guns are temporary.
Sell junk and keep crafting parts. A clean inventory is a faster game.
Save manually before big choices. Autosaves exist, but a manual save is your undo button.
At a glance
Start: pick a lifepath (Nomad, Street Kid, or Corpo)
Route: lifepath intro, then main story until the city opens, then gigs
First upgrade stop: a ripperdoc
Current version: Update 2.5 (October 22, 2026)
Last verified: October 31, 2026
1. Hour zero: pick a lifepath and mean it
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| Lifepath | Your intro | Good for |
|---|---|---|
Nomad | A smuggling run across the border with Jackie Welles, arriving in Night City as an outsider | Players who want the outsider-arrives story |
Street Kid | Heywood, around the El Coyote Cojo bar, with a debt and a car-theft deal | First-timers who want the easiest intro to follow |
Corpo | Arasaka Tower, on a task for Jenkins, ending fired with your cyberware disabled | Players who want the fall-from-the-top opening |
All three intros teach the same basics (movement, dialogue, shooting, driving) in different wrappers, and all three converge on the same V and the same main story. The intro mission plus the opening stretch is the prologue; we deliberately do not give it an hour count, because play speed varies and a fake number would mislead. Play the intro at your own pace, learn the controls, and do not worry about optimizing anything yet: there is nothing in the intro that can permanently ruin a character.
2. The prologue: follow the story, learn the city
After the intro, the main story takes you through Watson, introduces you to the fixer and ripperdoc networks, and puts you in an apartment that becomes your base. Treat this stretch as a tutorial with a story attached: every job here unlocks something (a contact, a system, a district) that the open city then assumes you know. The single biggest prologue mistake is leaving the story to chase icons on the map. The icons will still be there when the story releases you; the story context will not be as clear if you arrive at it over-levelled and under-informed.
3. Your first Night City day: the checklist
Finish the lifepath intro and the opening main jobs. Do not skip dialogue; it teaches you who to trust.
Visit a ripperdoc and install your first cyberware upgrades before you spend big money on weapons.
Take your first gigs only after the main story opens the city. Start with low-risk gigs near your apartment.
Sell junk at vendors, keep crafting parts, and break down weapons you will never use.
Learn the fast-travel terminals early. Walking everywhere is romantic once and a waste of time after that.
Save manually before every major choice and every fight that looks hard. Then keep playing.
4. Money rules for the first day
Money in the early game comes from gigs, selling loot, and finishing jobs, not from grinding one spot. The rule that saves new players the most money is simple: do not buy a weapon in the first hours unless your current one genuinely cannot kill anything, because a better one will drop within the next job or two. Spend on cyberware instead, which stays with you, and on healing items, which keep you alive long enough to loot the next fight. If you find yourself broke, take another gig rather than selling a weapon you actually use.
5. Combat basics that carry the whole game
Three habits carry you further than any single weapon. First, use cover: Night City gunfights punish standing in the open, and crouching behind a car or a wall is a real mechanic, not cowardice. Second, learn one quickhack or grenade early, even on a combat build, because a distracted enemy is a dead enemy. Third, retreat is a valid move: if a fight is clearly above your level, leave, do a gig, come back stronger. Nothing in the first hours requires you to win a fight you cannot win.
FAQ
Which lifepath should I pick first?
Any of them; they change only the intro mission and some dialogue, with no starting-stat differences. Street Kid is the easiest to follow.
Should I do side gigs before the main story?
No. Follow the main story until the city opens, because the early main jobs unlock the systems the open city assumes you know.
What should I spend my first money on?
Cyberware at a ripperdoc, then healing items. Do not buy early weapons unless your current one cannot kill anything.
Can I mess up my character in the first hours?
Almost no. Attribute points are permanent, but nothing in the intro or opening stretch forces a bad spend, and perk points can be reset with Tabula E-Rasa, at a cost.
When does the game open up?
After the lifepath intro and the opening main jobs, when the story releases you into the open city with gigs, vendors, and ripperdocs available. Follow the main jobs and you will feel it happen.