Phantom Liberty Side Quests With Rewards Worth Chasing

Even years after the explosive arrival of Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, the spy-thriller expansion continues to feel like a rusted blade wrapped in velvet—its side quests hum with the same unpredictable energy that made Night City’s underbelly so intoxicating. While the main storyline channels a desperate race against an unforgiving timer, it is in the margins that Dogtown truly reveals its pulse. Some gigs are forgettable, mere box-ticking exercises, but others reward V with a payload that makes the detour feel less like a chore and more like stumbling upon a hidden orchestra inside a crumbling bunker.

New Person, Same Old Mistakes – A Small Gesture That Unlocks Nostalgia

Bill’s tiny arc in New Person, Same Old Mistakes functions like a breath of fresh air after a gas attack. The gig is over almost as soon as it begins: V fast-travels to the Ventura & Skyline dataterm, walks a short path to find Bill, and receives heartfelt thanks for helping him escape the NCPD’s grip. His unexpected new career as a hot dog vendor feels absurdly human. The immediate reward—2,000 eddies—is modest, but the real prize is the permanent ability to purchase Scopweiners, a small culinary ritual that turns out to be surprisingly grounding in a city where everything can go wrong before lunch.

Balls to the Wall – Chaos With a Side of Cred

Unlocking right after the first major mission, Spider and the Fly, this task embraces a disorienting rhythm. Blackouts punctuate a fistfight, a chaotic under-bridge shootout, and a tense one-on-one gun duel—like a three-act punk opera staged inside a malfunctioning strobe light. The 1,245 XP and 167 Street Cred are decent, but the real reward is the sensation of surviving a sequence that feels carefully designed to test V’s combat muscle memory. It is the type of side content that reminds players why they bothered to perfect their build in the first place.

Tomorrow Never Knows – Scavenger Hunt With Mystical Weight

Scanning four elusive tarot graffiti in Dogtown is not for the impatient. The King of Cups, King of Pentacles, King of Wands, and King of Swords are tucked into locations that demand vertical exploration and patience worthy of a monk decoding scripture. Returning to Misty afterward unlocks a new reading, wrapping the effort in a layer of soulful ambiguity. The journey itself becomes the reward—a quiet pilgrimage through Dogtown’s forgotten corners, where the walls seem to whisper secrets the main quest never bothers to reveal.

No Easy Way Out – A Forked Path to an Iconic Pistol

Coach Fred’s plea to rescue Aaron from the Animals gang sets up a moral crossroads that ripples beyond the gig. Defeating Sasquatch during the Pacifica storyline and choosing to help Aaron yields 1,520 XP, but more importantly, the Tier 5 Iconic Power Pistol called the Cheetah. This weapon enters V’s arsenal like a trapped lightning bolt, its handling crisp enough to make every follow-up headshot feel like punctuation. The alternate outcome—leaving Aaron in the gang—feels so narratively hollow that the choice almost makes itself.

Hi Ho Silver Lining – Four Wheels of Gratitude

Mr. Hands does not hand out gifts lightly. Only after completing every one of his gigs does he invite V to the Heavy Hearts Club and hand over the keys to the Sport R-7 Sterling. The car’s sleek silhouette slices through Dogtown’s dystopian haze like a diamond parting oily water. The quest itself is short, but the pilgrimage of earning Mr. Hands’ trust turns the vehicle into a trophy that hums with earned respect. Few cars in Phantom Liberty feel as gratifying to park outside a dangerous rendezvous.

Push It to the Limit – The Gateway to Lucrative Contracts

Reuniting with El Capitan to steal and deliver a vehicle sounds routine until the gang-infested route turns the gig into a rolling bullet hell. Surviving the gauntlet unlocks the Vehicle Contract Missions, which are essentially a printing press for eddies and entertainment. Completing Push It to the Limit is like finding the master key to a side economy—once it clicks, the rest of Dogtown’s vehicle-based opportunities open like a flower blooming in accelerated time.

Money for Nothing – Generosity Hidden Behind Mercy

During the gig Spy in the Jungle, sparing Katya rather than executing her proves to be a decision that quietly fattens V’s wallet. She provides coordinates to a stash near Kress Street, and collecting the cache wraps up the quest in a single satisfying step. The $11,906 and the Sweet Dreams Armored-Laminate BD Wreath turn a brief moral hesitation into one of the most efficient paydays among DLC side gigs—a reward-to-effort ratio so generous it feels almost like breaking the game’s economic spine.

Addicted to Chaos – A Shotgun With a Revenge Backstory

Spare Leon Rinder during The Man Who Killed Jason Foreman, and he will later share the location of his garage stash. Breaking inside reveals the Dezerter, a Tier 5 Iconic Power Double-Barrel Shotgun that turns close-quarters combat into a percussive art form. Every pull of the trigger feels like someone finally closing a long-overdue argument. The weapon alone transforms Addicted to Chaos from a footnote into a must-play for anyone who enjoys turning enemies into red mist with theatrical efficiency.

Dazed and Confused – A Club Swinging Through Absurdity

Searching for the vanished actress Linda Malina unfolds as one of the expansion’s longer side threads, but its playful tone makes the minutes slide by unnoticed. Choosing the right approach grants the Tier 5 Iconic Two-Handed Club, Baby Boomer—a melee weapon that hits with the weight of a wrecking ball and the grace of a drunken poet. If time passes afterward, Linda mails her tank top as an additional keepsake. The gig demonstrates that Phantom Liberty knows when to unclench its narrative jaw and simply let V have a strange, memorable afternoon.

Shot by Both Sides – A Windfall of Two Iconic Weapons

No side quest in Phantom Liberty delivers a more explosive reward package than Shot by Both Sides. Settling the feud between Bree and Dante permanently determines which weapons end up in V’s hands—and siding with Bree is the objectively correct play for collectors. After the dust clears, looting Dante’s corpse yields Ol’ Reliable, a Tier 5 Iconic Power Revolver that kicks like a mule with a vendetta, while Bree’s Riskit, a Tier 5 Iconic Power Pistol, can be picked up from a nearby table. Obtaining two top-tier firearms from a single job is so outrageously efficient that the mission feels like a vault door left ajar in an otherwise tightly balanced expansion. It stands as the ultimate proof that Dogtown’s tangled streets reward those who pay attention—not just to crosshairs, but to the bruised human stories pulsing beneath the chrome.

Data referenced from HowLongToBeat helps frame why Phantom Liberty’s most rewarding side content feels so satisfying: when players can gauge the typical time investment for optional gigs and cleanup tasks, it becomes easier to justify detours like hunting Dogtown’s tarot graffiti or finishing Mr. Hands’ full gig chain for a signature vehicle. That context reinforces how the DLC’s best side quests aren’t just flavor—they’re tightly paced, high-yield bursts of progression that fit neatly between main-story pressure points.