Cyberpunk 2077’s modding scene has taken off in the wake of the 1.6 patch and the spectacular Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime, which dominated Nexusmods back in November. From minor environmental mods to bring Night City’s map more in line with Edgerunners to a total overhaul of Night City’s gangs, modding is helping to bridge the gap between the game we have now and the one we were promised years ago.
Cyberpunk 2077 has undergone some serious changes and improvements over the past 18 months, fixing lots of bugs and adding long-requested features like transmog (opens in new tab) to the RPG. Providing another big boost is Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, the Netflix anime series that's getting people back in the mood to either revisit Night City (opens in new tab) or to try the game for the very first time.
There are now troves of mods to download and install, featuring everything from flying cars to improved motorcycles. Below, you'll find our picks for the best mods for Cyberpunk 2077 as of early 2023.
Getting started
How to install Cyberpunk 2077 mods
To begin modding, you’ll want to download the Vortex mod manager, along with the following script enhancements and plug-ins:
- Cyber Engine Tweaks
- Redscript
- RED4EXT
- ArchiveXL
- TweakXL
Vortex is dirt simple to use—just drag the .rar files from mods you download into the mods folder and make sure they’re enabled.
You’ll then want to launch Cyberpunk 2077 through the Vortex launcher.
Character & stat mods
Lifepath Bonuses and Gang-Corp Traits
Download from: NexusMods
Night City’s gangs feeling copy and paste? Try rmk1234’s identity-based overhaul, a top-to-bottom NPC rebalance that gives the factions of Night City a slew of buffs and debuffs, including custom firewalls that significantly affect how you’ll approach combat.
Everyone from the Tyger Claws to Militech gets their own unique faction bonuses—The Maelstrom gang, for example, is now completely immune to covert hacks, burning, and bleeding, in addition to significant resistance to headshots and assault weapons, turning these early game pushovers into tanky sentries that try to lock you out of stealth. It’s a standout in a series of fantastic gameplay and balance mods by rmk1234. Altogether I found that pairing this with their other mods, especially Toxicity, Level Scaling and Balance, and AI Netrunners Enhanced gave me the thoughtful, tactical combat I found missing from the base game.
Equipment Stats Sync & Auto Scaling Weapons and Armor
Download from: NexusMods
In my experience, Cyberpunk's progression is often undermined by a resource economy that tosses mountains of equipment, consumables, and experience at you, all very slightly better than what you already have.
I recommend enforcing a spending cap on the garbage economy with Captain12’s Auto Scaling Weapons and Armor, cutting down on the time you spend in weapon store menus and letting you save your eddies for the legendary gear that’s really worth your while. If you’re into the idea of having 2077 play out a bit more like the tabletop, I recommend also trying RMK’s Level Scaling with Higher Minimum Levels. Combined, these mods ensure that a good gun will always be good, and keeps your character from steamrolling through early game content you may have missed (if you’re into that).
Silent Protagonist Male / Silent Protagonist Female
Download from: NexusMods
I love the way V talks. Both the male and female voices convey this explosive naiveté, an earnest willingness and enthusiasm to play the role of the fool. Unfortunately, the far-off world of 2077 rarely challenges perceptions of gender and identity beyond the game’s main quest, reinforced by a rigid gender binary that makes roleplaying a non-binary character an uphill immersion battle. Thankfully, V’s booming gendered monologues can be silenced with dirtythekid’s quick and easy Silent Protagonist mods.
Better Housing Buffs
Download from: NexusMods
My V has been awake for weeks on end, hustling and grinding Night City’s seediest underbellies in the hopes of affording a car that doesn’t handle like a wet soap bar. Well, CrazySD has intervened, nefariously incentivizing semi-frequent sleep and grooming by tying them to your EXP gain and health regen rate. It’s a simple mod, but the little things go a long way, and it soon becomes second nature to drive home and catch some shut-eye after a big quest or dramatic story beat.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners mods
Like I said earlier, the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime series on Netflix has done a lot to bring old and new players back to Night City. The modding scene is positively bursting with mods based on the anime, and everything from weapons to haircuts to facial presets are being modded into Cyberpunk 2077. There's even a modded radio station that adds music from the show into the game. Check out our article on some specific Edgerunners mods (opens in new tab) already out there.
Vehicle mods
Vehicle Combat
Download from: NexusMods
There’s been a lot of work done by the modding community on addressing the deficiencies of Cyberpunk 2077’s police system, and out of them all, my favorite has been Nexus user Scissors123454321’s police system rework contained within their Vehicle Combat overhaul. No longer does Night City’s omnipresent police force immediately protect and serve you upon the slightest infraction. C crimes require witnesses, and witnesses have to make calls. Furthermore, Night City’s gangs and corps aren’t embarrassed to call in their friends too.
Stealthy solos will be challenged to find ways to drop their targets without anyone the wiser, and the heavy-handed types will have to keep to a tight schedule to escape unharmed. That’s because the cops here are psycho to the core—they’ll do anything to drop you at two stars or higher. Thankfully, the ability to shoot back from the safety of the driver’s seat levels the playing field. It’s a little janky, and don’t be shocked when something inevitably breaks, but pulling off a gig that went loud and wiping out cars full of cops, corpos, and gangers from your driver side window mid-drift is an iconic trailer moment finally realized.
Let There Be Flight
Download from: Nexusmods (opens in new tab)
We all know the future promised us flying cars, and there actually are some airborne vehicles in a few scenes in Cyberpunk 2077. But when you're playing the game itself, the only cars you can pilot remain firmly on the ground. It doesn't seem fair!
Luckily, modder jackhumbert had the same thought. Finally, you can take your ride to the skies with the Let There Be Flight mod. The mod includes several different control schemes, plus custom sounds and visual effects. At last, Night City really does feel like the future.
Bike Overhaul
Download from: Nexusmods (opens in new tab)
There are some sweet motorcycles in Cyberpunk 2077, but they've never really felt all that great to drive. The Bike Overhaul mod by Suprt132 addresses a lot of the issues with bikes, making them faster and more satisfying to operate. Now when you're speeding around the city, V will lean with the bike when making turns and the top speed of each bike has greatly increased.
Combat mods
Enhanced Police
Download from: Nexusmods (opens in new tab)
CD Projekt has said it's planning a big police overhaul (opens in new tab) in the future, to finally make the cops a bit more realistic when they show up to fight crime. Currently, it's a bit unsatisfying: they just teleport to your location. That feels like cheating.
The Enhanced Police mod by mandruis7 makes the arrival of cops more reasonable. With a one-star warrant level, cops will arrive on foot, but at higher levels they'll show up on bikes and in police cars and actually pursue you. That feels much more appropriate.
Drone Companions
Download from: Nexusmods (opens in new tab)
Cyberpunk 2077 is a singleplayer game, but that doesn't mean you need to take on the world all by yourself. If you want to feel the possibilities of the future, the Drone Companions mod by modder Scissors123454321 lets you craft and customize some robotic buddies. And they're not just around to be your pals, they'll fight alongside you.
The mod adds a new operating system called Techdeck, which lets you build androids, drones, and mechs. Each can be upgraded and customized, and will help you take down any enemies you target. The gangs of Night City won't know what hit 'em.
Arasaka Cyberarms
Download from: Nexusmods (opens in new tab)
There's no question that your cyberarms are cool, but are they cool enough? The Arasaka Cyberarms mod by Aanderz gives you a whole bunch of replacement skins for your arms, an entire library for you to choose from. Your arms can look like Iron Man, you can having glowing Mantis blades of several colors, and choose from lots of different decals. The world of Cyberpunk is all about style, so don't settle for arms that look like you bought them off the shelf. Customize them!
Graphics mods
E3 2018 Lighting
Download from: NexusMods
Miss the deep purples and lush reds of the E3 2018 preview? WT3WD’s incredible overhaul cuts out the garish film grain and makes a litany of other environment adjustments in addition to some impressive shader work. If you found yourself turned off from 2077’s smoggy yellow look, WT3WD’s blood sweat and tears have gone into making 2077 look like the game we were promised.