There is a Light that Never goes out—named after the legendary song by The Smiths—is a major side job in Cyberpunk 2077 that sees you accompanying a criminal during his last day on death row. At the end of the quest, there’s a tough moral choice to make.
Cyberpunk 2077’s “There is a Light That Never Goes Out” quest explained
Before you decide whether you should accept Rachel’s bribe in There is a Light That never Goes Out in Cyberpunk 2077, it’s important to understand all the twists and turns that brought you to that point. The quest’s backstory has you respond to a simple hit, meeting up with a man named Bill Jablonsky who spent his life savings to take out the man who killed his wife. He’s not even finished explaining his situation when a cop car with the murderer inside drives by, pulling you into hot pursuit.
At a certain point, the cop car will stop and block the road. You’ll have the option to gun down all the people in the car, as well as the criminal Joshua. If you don’t do this, Bill will approach the car armed and instantly be shot dead by the police—your client will be dead right after starting the quest. From here, Joshua, who’s reformed and became a Christian in jail, has a job for you. Johnny encourages you to accept, as he finds it entertaining.
Joshua offers to pay you the same amount of money Bill would have paid to stay with him for his final day and keep him company. Another person in the car, Rachel, is upset about this and asks where the money is coming from. Joshua replies “the studio,” which is mysterious, but Rachel agrees. The car stops by a house, and after you get out, the Sinnerman quest ends and There is a Light That Never Goes Out begins.
Joshua takes you to the house of a woman named Zuleika, the sister of a man he killed years ago. Zuleika wrote to him while he was in prison and got him interested in Christianity and his own salvation. Joshua soon reveals he wants to use his execution to be crucified and have braindance make a film of it—an attempt to teach the dulled, criminal, and teched-out world of Night City about emotion, love, and agony. Zuleika doesn’t like this idea and Joshua tries to get you to support it.
Not long after this conversation starts, the quest throws another wrench in the works: Zuleika’s mother, Gloria, comes home and immediately recognizes Joshua. He tries to apologize to her, expecting forgiveness, but she kicks him out of her house.
Back in the car, Joshua is distressed and contemplative. He wanted forgiveness from Zuleika’s mother and it seems like his plans are shaken due to her reaction. As he asks for your opinion on the situation, you can encourage him to go through with the braindance idea or try to talk him out of it. It becomes apparent throughout the conversation that Rachel, one of the people in the car with you, is a representative of the Braindance experts that wants footage of the execution.
If you’ve been nudging Joshua to not go through with this plan, after the car gets to PieZ, where Joshua will eat his last meal, Rachel will get out of the car and stop you, finally making her offer.
What is Rachel’s offer in Cyberpunk 2077?
Rachel reveals to you her motives: She doesn’t think Joshua is really atoning and instead thinks his religion is a delusion. She says he believes it so much that he has the perfect authenticity of an actor, enough to make her studio a ton of money.
She thinks you’re asking him too many questions and making him doubt his idea of going through with the plan, which would cost her a lot of money. Since she’s getting paid so much anyway, she offers to pay you twice what he’s paying you for you to walk away and leave him alone on his last day.
To make matters more morally complicated, Johnny Silverhand appears behind Rachel and tells you not to accept.
At the end of the day, you can’t actually talk Joshua out of going through with this, so it might not seem like it makes a difference. On the other hand, hindsight is 20-20, and there’s no way Rachel can know this. She’s asking you to leave this man completely alone on his last day on earth—effectively trading your moral compass for cash.
Should you accept or decline Rachel’s offer?
Accept
If you accept the money here, the quest is over. This simplifies a complicated issue, gets you paid a good amount of money, and allows you to walk away.
Though there aren’t any long-lasting consequences to this choice, it might hurt your moral sensibilities to let corporate exploitation like this take place. If you don’t have sympathy for the condemned man, though, take your bag and walk away.
Decline
If you decline, the quest keeps going and you can learn more. You walk into PieZ room and dine with Rachel and Joshua as Joshua eats his last meal. You’ll talk with Rachel and Joshua, and the conversation quickly becomes spiritual in nature. You can chance to tell Rachel off, which makes Joshua appreciate you.
After this, head into the Braindance Studio where Joshua is being executed. Joshua asks you to pray with him, and to not only have you by his side while he’s executed, but to literally nail him to the cross as he’s electrocuted.
This is a heavy, somber ending with similar tones to Dead Man Walking and A Clockwork Orange. If this appeals to you, go right ahead.
Personally, I declined Rachel’s offer. I wanted to see how the quest would play out and where the journey would take me. I found it rewarding to explore just how far this quest would go, and I recommend you do the same.
