The Pickup is a main quest in Cyberpunk 2077 that sees you dealing with the deadly Maelstrom gang.
This article will walk you through the mission with a brief guide. Warning: Spoilers to follow.
What is The Pickup quest in Cyberpunk 2077?
The Pickup is a quest in Cyberpunk 2077 that you can unlock after you complete the similarly named mission “The Ride.” Though it starts in the same way for everyone, there’s a surprising amount of choices you can make to determine the outcome.
The goal of this quest is to head into a Maelstrom gang stronghold in an All Foods and grab a mysterious weapon known as The Flathead for Dax and his gang.
Your first official goal in this quest is to meet up with your contact Jackie, but you can call up and meet with the Militech agent, Meredith Stout before this if you want. This will open up two extra options for the end of the mission and a potential one-night romance with Meredith Stout.
Diverging paths in The Pickup in Cyberpunk 2077
Meeting with Meredith in The Pickup: Cyberpunk 2077
Upon meeting Meredith, she doesn’t trust you and even has her henchman hold you up at gunpoint. After talking your way out of the situation, she’ll throw another layer into this mission by handing you a credchip to give to the Maelstrom boss as payment for the weapon. With a high enough skill check, you can tell that this chip is infected and will help take the Maelstrom boss down.
No matter which of the below options you take, we recommend calling up Meredith Stout, as her shard gives you more options for completing the quest as you like.
Going straight to the All Foods in The Pickup quest in Cyberpunk 2077
Going straight to the All Foods is your other option in for this quest. This is all we can really say about this option—you just don’t get to see the above cutscene and don’t have the choices to hand over a credchip below.
Infiltrating the All Foods in The Pickup in Cyberpunk 2077
Most of the quest is infiltrating the All Foods that the Maelstrom gang is inside. If you don’t choose to go in guns blazing, you can simply walk through the first floor and take the elevator up and meet with a contact in the gang named Dum Dum. Since you’re dealing directly and Dex sent you, the gang has no reason to distrust you.
At first, Dum Dum won’t want you to talk to Royce directly, which will anger your partner in this quest, Jackie. If you don’t want this to erupt into an all out gun-fight leaving you only one option, be sure you calm Jackie down here.
Finally, you’ll get to meet Royce after this, and engage in the majority of the quest.
Decisions to make after meeting Royce in The Pickup in Cyberpunk 2077
After you meet up with Royce, things will sour quickly. Though Royce is ready to make the handoff with you, when you let him know that Brick was paid off under the belief that he was the boss, Royce draws a gun on you and lets you know he’s the new boss, and demands payment.
From here, you’ll have to make your choice.
Paying Royce in The Pickup: Cyberpunk 2077
If you want to make nice with the Maelstrom gang, you can pay Royce out of pocket. The biggest disadvantage of this is that you lose money and a bit of dignity for paying on a job you took in order to get paid.
Right after this, Militech pulls up. This leads to an ending where you fight against Militech.
Paying Royce with the decrypted bankchip in The Pickup: Cyberpunk 2077
If at any point you opted to decrypt the credchip, you can pay for the device and make nice with the Militech agents without paying out of pocket.
After this, you’ll need to take out MIlitech with Malestrom fighting by your side. Meredith Stout is killed in this ending, and you lose options to romance and interact with her in the future.
Killing Royce in negotiations in The Pickup: Cyberpunk 2077
If you don’t like Royce waving a gun in your face and don’t want to negotiate with him, you can kill him and take The Flathead by force. This sets you up to side with Militech, who bursts in to fight the Maelstrom gang alongside you. This gives you the option to romance Meredith, and is an easier option than what comes below.
Any option that sides you with Militech ends with you talking to Meredith, with her expressing her gratitude to you and even flirting with you, which you can convert to a romance.
Failing to decrypt the chip in The Pickup: Cyberpunk 2077
If you simply trust Meridith and present the chip to Royce without decrypting it, he’ll go and run it and learn that it was infected. Then he’ll come back with his full gear on and fight you, turning it into a much more difficult boss fight.
Taking the nuclear option in The Pickup: Cyberpunk 2077
If you want, you don’t need to negotiate with anyone at all; you can ignore meeting up with Meredith and go in guns blazing. This is the simplest but most difficult option for the quest, as it essentially takes what was a covert spying operation and turns it into an all-out war. Royce will also be waiting for you in his gear to fight as a boss in the end.
Though you miss out on the opportunity to roleplay the transaction, we have to admit the dumb brute force of this choice is kind of hilarious. You have so many options to double-cross and really the mission just boils down to completing a transaction, and you’re choosing to absolutely blow it all up. On a second play through, go for it.
