Cyberpunk 2077: How to complete the Only Pain quest

Cyberpunk 2077‘s Night City is bursting with secrets that lie off the beaten path, from Iconic weapons shoved in dumpsters to—as with the Only Pain side job—entire quests hiding in plain sight.

Only Pain may be a fairly short quest, but it’s also a surprisingly branching one with a number of different outcomes.

What’s the best choice for Only Pain in Cyberpunk 2077?

Like so many Night City capers, Only Pain starts in a dark, seedy alley. The quest begins in the pictured location in Heywood, only a stone’s throw from the glitz and glamour of Corpo Plaza. It seems that one of Corpo Plaza’s denizens, the unfortunate Nigel, has gotten a little lost, and is in the process of being beaten and likely killed by an NCPD squad by the time you stumble across him. If you take notice and ask what’s going on, the cops will rather bluntly tell you to leave so they can return to their somewhat unorthodox team-building exercise.

At this point, you can choose to either intervene on Nigel’s behalf or turn a blind eye and walk away. While walking away won’t net you any rewards, it’s a good roleplaying choice nonetheless, as a Streetkid or Nomad V likely wouldn’t be willing to tangle with the cops just to save some corpo-rat’s skin.

Whether you’re playing as an ousted corpo who sees something of themselves in Nigel—or just a decent person—taking the latter option and fighting the cops will allow you to proceed with the quest. Although there are three of them, they’re not particularly difficult opponents—especially if you’re equipped with a Sandevistan—and flatlining them won’t get you a wanted level. With the threat dispatched, it’s time to wake up Nigel and decide what to do with him.

Nigel will recognize you as his savior and then, in typical Night City fashion, ask what you want in exchange. The default option is to tell him that you don’t want anything, but if your V is less altruistic, you can put points into Reflexes to demand the reason behind the attack—or Cool, which allows you to essentially pick up where the cops left off and threaten him for a sum of roughly 2000 Eurodollars. You can pick this option even after the Reflexes option, so the two aren’t mutually exclusive.

With enough points in Body, you can then shake him down for even more, netting yourself an additional 4500—a decent chunk of change, all told, from someone who can probably afford to lose it. Not bad for a few minutes out of your day.