How romance works in Cyberpunk 2077

How will Cyberpunk 2077 romance work? Night City is a huge bustling area filled with lots of people, and just like a real city that means there are lots of folks looking for love. While taking on missions, driving fancy cars, and fighting with other gangs are just a few ways to spend your stay, you can also build relationships with some characters.

Whether you're looking for a long-term commitment, or a one night stand, the Cyberpunk 2077 romance options system is much deeper than that of the Witcher 3. In fact, it sounds pretty close to how you'd make friends and come to realise your love interests in real life. Here's everything we know about how romance works in Cyberpunk 2077 so far, including the characters whose hearts you can win over.

Cyberpunk 2077 romance options: What we know

Similar to building relationships in real life, the more time and effort you put into befriending characters in Cyberpunk 2077, the more likely they are to reciprocate. Remember, this isn't The Sims, though. There aren't any bars to indicate whether the character you're chatting up feels the same way. As you'd expect, the dialogue options you choose play a huge part in how quickly your relationships blossom. So, if you're a jerk to someone during a mission, don't expect them to be up for a cuddle the next time you see them.

From what I've seen so far, it looks as though characters that can be romanced may have their own side quests, which should make keeping track of all your lovers a bit easier. In GameSpot's Cyberpunk 2077 romance overview video, they outline that some of Cyberpunk's characters will contact V throughout the game to ask for help with specific jobs, but they'll also check in just to chat from time to time. If you're particularly interested in pursuing a special someone, seize every opportunity to talk to them as this could let you get a bit closer to them.

A 2018 Eurogamer interview with senior quest designer Patrick Mills previously revealed that romances vary depending on your character. When asked whether romances change based on whether V is male or female, Mills outlined that "While many of the characters you can romance in our game are bisexual, not all of them are. They have preferences as well. We want them to feel like living people with histories." While this was before it was announced that the character creator had dropped male and female options in favor of body type, the characters you're interested in romancing will still have their own preferences. 

In a more recent IGN interview we learned a bit more from lead quest designer Paweł Sasko. Sasko outlines that characters are built to have a friendly or romantic relationship with V, but it's not guaranteed that they'll always fall for your character. So you won't automatically be everyone's cup of tea simply because you fancy them, but one thing's for sure, the choices you make as V and the personality you create for your character will play a huge part in developing your relationships with others.

Formed in 2076 after the death of Elizabeth “Lizzie” Borden, a strip club owner & ex-prostitute who treated her workers fairly and defended them from violent clients, The Mox refer to themselves as “those who protect working girls and guys” from violence and abuse. #Cyberpunk2077 pic.twitter.com/X1Ie8JjPYoApril 8, 2020

How sex works

There are multiple reasons why Cyberpunk 2077 has a Mature rating sticker slapped on its box, and a couple of them cover its strong sexual content and nudity. In a city set in the not too distant future, adults are still very much doing adult things, so sex does feature in Cyberpunk 2077.

If you're able to seduce a character then you'll see a short cutscene, most likely fading out to signify that some time has passed before you can carry on playing. If working at a long-term relationship is just not a priority for you right now, we also know that there are sex workers in the game. There's actually a faction called The Moxes which actively protects sex workers from abuse and violence. 

All the Cyberpunk 2077 romances we know about so far

It's early days, so we don't have a complete list of all the characters you can build relationships with just yet. Here are all the characters we've heard may be looking for love in Cyberpunk 2077 so far:

Meredith Stout
Meredith Stout is a Senior Operations Manager at Militech. So far, we know that you have to have chosen the Corpo Cyberpunk 2077 lifepath in order to be in with a chance of catching Meredith's attention.

Judy Alvarez
Judy Alvarez is a member of the Moxes gang. As the Braindance technician, you can find her at Lizzie's Bar.