Just like in our own world, everything in Cyberpunk 2077‘s Night City has a price. You won’t make it far in this futuristic world without plenty of cash, or in this case, Eurodollars or “eddies,” to spare. The world is big and open enough for you to earn your keep in a wide variety of ways, but if you’re pressed for time — or just have your eye on a new weapon, piece of clothing, car, or anything else that you just can’t live without — you will want to know how you can earn that sweet cash as quick as possible.
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Like plenty of open-world RPGs, including CD Projekt Red’s own Witcher series, you will start out with little to no funds to splash around. If you know how you should be earning a decent wage right off the bat, those early hours when you’re at your most vulnerable will be much easier. In fact, aside from cash allowing you to purchase items and cosmetics, a few missions actually require you to have a surplus of eddies on hand to progress. That’s where our guide on how to make money fast comes into play.
Loot ’em all
This should already be your natural instinct going into an open-world RPG, but the importance of looting needs to be mentioned. The world of Night City is incredibly dense and detailed, meaning there are tons of places to find valuable loot. You’ll obviously want to pick the pockets of any foe you take down. Even if you’re going for a more pacifistic playstyle, looting is still a great source of income early on — look in every searchable box, cabinet, and container you can. Just because an item is classified as junk doesn’t mean it isn’t worth holding on to if you’ve got the space. Everything can be sold in Night City, and the junk you find all has value. Be on the lookout for junk jewelry in particular. These can rack in 750 eddies each if you manage to get your hands on one.
Right along with looting is selling. Junk can all be sold without worry unless you want to break it down for components, but you shouldn’t overlook everything else you can strip and sell too. Guns and clothes can all be pilfered from bodies and sold off for a high price, never mind the bullet holes or bloodstains they probably have on them. Keep in mind that all items you’re stocking up on have a weight value associated with them. Once you get too encumbered, sort through your stash and toss out anything not worth its weight.
Speaking of breaking down junk, those components you are making and gathering can all be crafted into more useful and valuable items as you level up your skills in the crafting skill tree. Most stuff you can make early on won’t be worth a ton but are better than the scraps you’d get for the low-value junk otherwise. It’s not going to get you rolling in the eddies, but it is a worthwhile revenue source if you’re already stocking up on junk and components anyway.
Take on side jobs
Obviously, you will get paid well for doing the main story missions in Cyberpunk 2077, but there are only so many of them, and they won’t exactly line your pockets if you’re a big spender. That’s where the absolutely massive amount of side jobs and activities come in. Fixers are your contacts in Night City for taking on most of the smaller side activities in the game, known as contracts and gigs. There are multiple Fixers to find and meet, so get acquainted with as many as you can to take on more of these side jobs. Pay attention to what you’ll be getting out of each job, though. Not all of them pay out in cold hard eddies. You might be getting an item or, worst of all, nothing at all for your troubles.
One of the early side activities the city offers you is known as NCPD Reported Crimes. You’ll spot these popping up on your map, and they can be completed in almost no time at all, depending on which type of crime is going on. Assaults in progress typically go quickest, with gang activity often being lengthier and more dangerous. This method kills two birds with one stone since you’ll earn cash and XP for completing them. Not to mention, you are always free to loot everyone and everything around you once the job is done.
Gun for Hire is another lucrative gig you should look into if you’re more into the aggressive and combat-focused aspects of life in Night City. As the name suggests, these gigs task you with hunting down a specific target in the city and taking them down, dead or alive. The target will always have backup, though, so be prepared for some resistance. However, all that extra protection just means more bodies for you to loot after the fact.
One of the actual side quests you can access once you reach the game’s second act should be done ASAP if you’re hurting for eddies. Called Epistrophy, this quest involves doing some work for Night City’s AI taxi company known as Delamain. Your job will be to locate and return various taxis scattered all across the city. While the quest is fairly lengthy as a whole, especially if you decide to put everything else aside to complete it, you are paid for each one you recover, so you can leave it if and when you want to move on and still get rewarded.
Hack like a pro
You’re free to build yourself however you want in Cyberpunk 2077. You can go full-on shooter or brawler or be the more sneaky and intelligent type. Whatever path you choose for yourself, investing to at least level five in intelligence and unlocking the Advanced Datamine perk in the Breach Protocol is a must. Not only is hacking super useful all across the game, so even a low level will help you out, but getting this perk increases the amount of cash you earn for every Access Point you hack. Access Points are all over Night City in gang hideouts, so you’ll be running into them often. Leaving them unhacked is just leaving money on the table, but this perk makes the income you get just for hacking them go up by 50%. Plus, if you’re already investing your points in that direction anyway, you can get an even more advanced tier for this perk to fully double the eddies you get per hack.
Sell epic crafting components
One last, super easy way to rack up cash is to sell valuable crafting components. The easiest way to get these valuable components is to unlock two perks: Grease Monkey and Mechanic. The former lets you craft epic items, and the latter gives you more components when breaking down items into components. With these two, you can cash in on any epic items you’re not using, such as grenades, and turn them in to vendors for some fast, easy cash. If you want to spend a little time grinding, you can even craft some of the easy-to-make items and then break them down for the components to sell.
