Content Type: Gaming Guides
“It was about fifty years ago — around 2020 — when this subculture first hit the streets and sparked a totally new style, philosophy, and rebel movement. … The cyberpunk ideology also hit Night City with a huge impact that shattered at least one of its towers into ruins. That’s right, I’m talking about the destruction of Arasaka Towers by one of the most notorious cyberpunks of that era, Johnny Silverhand.” (The World of Cyberpunk 2077).
Legendary rockerboy. Hero to some, terrorist to others. V’s unwilling co-protagonist. Johnny Silverhand is many things, and for your first playthrough he might be a rather tense mystery. When your body and mind are at stake, your opponent is time and an aggressive anti-corporate rebel, and you are constantly out of answers, what do you do?
Johnny Silverhand’s quests in Cyberpunk 2077 are:
- Playing For Time (Flashback Sequence)
- Transmission (Flashback Sequence)
- Tapeworm (Side Quest)
- Chippin’ In (Side Quest)
- Blistering Love (Side Quest)
- Holdin’ On (Side Quest)
(In this guide will also cover Johnny Silverhand’s Point-Of-No-Return quests like For Whom the Bell Tolls and Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door. We will also discuss how Johnny is featured in the other epilogues.)
Note: This guide is still in progress as we work hard to update it!
To help you navigate this guide right away:
- In this guide we will discuss Johnny Silverhand’s significant plot points and flashbacks in section “1 – Johnny Silverhand’s Story and Flashbacks” to make sure you have a solid grasp on Johnny’s history and personality as it appears in the game’s main storyline and know which choices are available to you.
- We will walk you through Tapeworm and series of quests that follow right after, in the section “2 – Johnny Silverhand’s Side Quests”, along with how Johnny affects the epilogue quests and endings: this is where your friendship with Johnny will get a chance to truly develop and you will get some extra options for the game’s ending.
- In section “3 – More Interactions with Johnny” we will discuss all of the other bonus material in the game which involves Johnny to make sure you don’t miss out on anything interesting!
If you are just getting started, proceed to our section “Johnny Silverhand Ultimate Checklist”!
Johnny is somewhat of a co-protagonist in Cyberpunk 2077 and following along with him will get you through an interesting line of side quests in the game. How you deal with Johnny will also have a major effect on the ending of your main storyline. In other words, unless you absolutely despise Johnny and don’t care to follow along with his character growth, there are many reasons for you to hear him out and work with him.
Let’s get started!
Quick Note About Spoilers:
Watch out for SPOILER WARNINGS in this guide.
We will preface each section with a summary that is mostly spoiler-free that should guide you in the right direction but save you the fun of discovering of what happens by yourself. Only catch is, try not to read the Minimum Spoilers Summary sections before you catch up to the quests being discussed for the best experience. Feel free to follow along with this guide as you progress through the game at your own pace!
Recommended use of the guide:
- Read the Minimum Spoilers Summary and complete the quests mentioned in the section on your own (for full experience).
- (Optional) Review the “Read More” section if you feel confused while completing the quests.
- Read the “Read More” section after you complete the quests to make sure you did not miss any important information.
Johnny Silverhand Ultimate Checklist
(Start here unless you are looking for a specific section!)
Johnny Silverhand Checklist:
This section is a Minimum Spoilers Summary of the rest of the guide.
- Pay attention to the story told by Johnny Silverhand’s flashbacks during Playing For Time and Transmission.
- Dialogue choices you make will not affect the outcomes.
- Pay attention to dialogues with Johnny at the end of some of your main jobs.
- You should only worry about accepting and going through with Johnny’s request towards the end.
- Play through Chippin’ In, Blistering Love, and Holdin’ On — Johnny’s side quests.
- These are optional, but will bring a few hours of story-rich fun and allow you to get to know Johnny more intimately. These will also unlock a new epilogue path that you can try out.
- Make conscious (but fairly self-explanatory) dialogue choices to become friends with Johnny during Chippin’ In in order to unlock Blistering Love and get the full Johnny Silverhand experience.
- There are a few more secrets in the game which involve Johnny in various degrees. Explore around the city to find them or check out the last section of our guide for help.
⫸ 1 – Johnny Silverhand’s Story and Flashbacks
Before Johnny’s sidequests come into play, you will be dealing with Johnny’s flashbacks as a part of your main questline.
There are two major flashbacks that you should understand to get a grasp of Johnny’s history and his relationship with Arasaka: they will come up during Playing For Time and Transmission quests.
In this section we will cover major points of these flashbacks that will come into play later in your main quest, in case if the irregular timeline or high-paced action got you a little confused or if you worry about how your choices during these flashbacks will affect your playthrough.
First, we will quickly cover the question of when you will meet Johnny in the first place.
When Will V Meet Johnny Silverhand? The Heist Quest
Let’s start at the very beginning before we jump into Johnny’s flashbacks — at what point will V meet Johnny?
Minimum Spoilers Summary:
- You will meet Johnny Silverhand in the game once the job you do for Dexter DeShawn with Jackie goes wrong.
- Johnny will stay with you for the rest of the game and be a major part of your main quest.
(Do not read the rest of this section to avoid story spoilers as we expand on the bullet points above. You can re-visit this section after you complete the quest yourself.
We recommend you read “What Happens During Playing For Time Flashback?” summary, since the two quests are tied together.)
What Happens During Playing For Time Flashback?
Minimum Spoilers Summary:
- You will get a chance to experience Johnny’s memories from 2020 as flashbacks.
- The choices you make during flashbacks will not affect any of the outcomes.
(Do not read the rest of this section to avoid story spoilers as we expand on the bullet points above. You can re-visit this section after you complete the quest yourself.
Proceed to “What Happens During Transmission Flashback?” after you are done.)
What Happens During Transmission Flashback?
Minimum Spoilers Summary:
- You will play through Johnny’s memories that precede the events of the Playing For Time flashback.
- The choices you make during flashbacks will not affect any of the outcomes.
(Do not read the rest of this section to avoid story spoilers as we expand on the bullet points above. You can re-visit this section after you complete the quest yourself.
Proceed to “Johnny Silverhand’s Side Quests” after you are done.)
⫸ 2 – Johnny Silverhand’s Side Quests
As you complete Automatic Love and other main quests you will already be making progress towards Johnny’s future questline through a series of dedicated dialogues. However, aside from the first of the dialogues, you will not get fully involved until after you go through the events of Playing For Time and Transmission. See the section above for what details you should be paying attention to.
This section is the one you can follow starting at the end of Transmission and onward, making choices to acquire Johnny’s questline and complete it.
Johnny’s sidequests will be titled Chippin’ In, Blistering Love, and Holdin’ On and will affect some of your endings, but will mostly provide you with some exciting story-rich content surrounding Johnny Silverhand.
They are optional, but we highly recommend that you complete all three at least once.
First, let’s discuss what you should be paying attention to in order to begin Johnny’s questline.
From Tapeworm to Chippin’ In
Tapeworm will be tracked as a Side Job, but its format a little unusual: it will be featured as four involved dialogues you have with Johnny as you progress through the main storyline, prior to unlocking Chippin’ In.
Minimum Spoilers Summary:
- When the chip starts making you feel sick at the end of some of the main quests, pay attention to what Johnny is talking about (look at the first bullet-point list under “Read More” if you are lost, but you should experience all of these dialogues as a part of the main story).
- Don’t worry too much about your choices.
- Agree to go along with Johnny’s plan concerning Rogue.
(Do not read the rest of this section to avoid story spoilers as we expand on the bullet points above. You can re-visit this section after you complete the quest yourself.
Proceed to “Johnny Silverhand’s Questline: Chippin In, Blistering Love, Holdin’ On” after you are done.)
Johnny Silverhand’s Questline: Chippin’ In, Blistering Love, Holdin’ On
Minimum Spoilers Summary:
- Once Johnny starts talking about himself with you at the end of Chippin’ In, pick friendly dialogue lines to acquire the Blistering Love quest.
- If you are really interested in acquiring a secret ending with Johnny, (Don’t Fear) the Reaper, we suggest that you read the first section of Read More below.
- When making decisions about sparing characters in Chippin’ In, be merciful to acquire an iconic reward.
- Your dialogue choices during Blistering Love and Holdin’ On do not affect your main questline.
- Completing Blistering Love will unlock an additional ending for you.
(Do not read the rest of this section to avoid story spoilers as we expand on the bullet points above. You can re-visit this section after you complete the quest yourself.
Proceed to “Johnny In Point-Of-No-Return Quests and the Epilogue” after you are done.)
Johnny In Point-Of-No-Return Quests and the Epilogue
Minimum Spoilers Summary:
- You will get a chance to play through all of the available Epilogues, provided you can meet their unique requirements (if you aimed for completion during your playthrough, the secret ending will likely be the only one to give you any trouble.)
- This means that there isn’t a “wrong decision” in regards to these endings and you don’t have to worry about your choices.
- However, some endings have different implications for your relationship with Johnny than others. Allow yourself to get truly immersed in the various complex situations you end up facing to get the best experience.
(Do not read the rest of this section to avoid story spoilers as we discuss different endings, especially the ones that deal with Johnny more directly. Re-visit this section after you complete as many endings as you can by yourself.
Remember to check out “More Interactions with Johnny” after you are done.)
⫸ 3 – More Interactions with Johnny
Aside from the main questline and Johnny’s side quests, there are plenty of personal (or just amusing) interactions you can experience with Johnny throughout the city. Why not take Johnny for a rollercoaster ride in Pacifica or see how he reacts to you adopting a stray cat?
We will tell you which secrets, side quests, and gigs to look out for to get more Johnny interactions in the “Read More” below.
However, beware that this is not a complete list — Johnny drops little comments here and there throughout your exploration of Night City, and we simply chose the ones that seem to be extra interesting or involved.
There aren’t that as many spoilers revealed in the section below (and we won’t show you the best moments), but if you really want to discover these by yourself, here is a Minimum Spoilers Summary:
Try to locate quests where Johnny:
- Reacts to you adopting a stray cat.
- Shares a rollercoaster ride with you.
- Shares false SAMURAI trivia with you, making you look like an idiot.
- Narrates your pursuit of a target, as if in a detective movie.
- Gives you two middle fingers with a grin on his face.
- Is enjoying a hacked fortuneteller AI.
- Watches you wake up after you have been kidnapped.
Note: of course, to get these interactions you would need to meet Johnny in your main questline following The Heist.
If you would like to learn how to acquire these quests, continue reading below!