Cyberpunk 2077: Should you keep or return Skippy the gun?

Skippy is a peculiar weapon in Cyberpunk 2077, and one that comes with a distinct choice—either return it to its owner, or keep it for yourself.

In the world of Cyberpunk 2077, Iconic weapons seem to be falling out of every trash bin and dark alley—literally, in the case of Skippy, a seemingly abandoned smart pistol with a slightly strange onboard AI. As you continue to investigate Skippy’s origin and use it in the field, you’ll eventually have a choice set before you: Return the gun to Regina Jones, a local fixer and Skippy’s rightful owner, or keep it for yourself.

Because this is a CD Projekt RED game, the choice and its consequences aren’t as clear-cut as they’re initially presented, but there is an optimal answer to this high-caliber conundrum all the same.

What should you do with Skippy in Cyberpunk 2077?

The question is far more complicated than it seems on the surface, as is a trend in Night City, but V should do the right thing and return Skippy to Regina. Although it might seem like a net loss, it’s a little deeper than that. After racking up 50 kills with Skippy and waiting a couple in-game weeks, the onboard AI will announce that he’s finally managed to dig up some data on his previous owner, and will immediately demand to be brought back to her, thus starting the Machine Gun sidequest.

Machine Gun tasks you with bringing Skippy back to Regina, and won’t disappear from your quest log until you do this. As if that wasn’t irritating enough, Skippy’s dialogue will be replaced entirely with screams of protest and repetitious accusations of “bad user,” even when you have him on the wall of your stash instead of your actual inventory. Still, if you’re a hardcore fan of Skippy’s self-firing capabilities, these annoyances might be worth the continued use of your favorite gun—or at least it would be before the massive 2.0 patch overhauled the entire game.

As of 2.0, Regina will return Skippy after the completion of Machine Gun, albeit with the AI module removed, which disables his voice lines. No longer will you have to choose between a clean quest log and a completed stash wall—sometimes you really can have it all.

The question of what firing mode you should put Skippy in is an entirely separate affair, however, and brings with it its own set of unintended consequences. Given how complicated it can be to use Skippy, you might be better off reaching for one of the many other Iconic weapons to tame the mean streets of Night City if you have a low tolerance for AI-powered shenanigans.