The Hunt quest is part of River Ward’s story and is necessary to complete if players want to romance him. After getting his NCPD badge taken away for attempting to reopen a coverup, he asks V for help in tracking down his missing nephew Randy as he no longer has the same resources. Their investigation leads V and River to discover Randy’s laptop, containing a series of emails between a child abductor as well as a disturbing video. Successfully leading this investigation to the farm is important to saving Randy and maintaining a positive relationship with River.
Updated on September 19, 2022 by Ritwik Mitra: Cyberpunk 2077 is a game that was lauded for its strong writing and quest design. The various side gigs in the game are quite riveting in their own right, and players will love uncovering the mysteries of each and every side story that they can uncover. However, there’s one particular side gig that can prove to be quite harrowing to uncover, involving the kidnapping and torture of multiple children.
River Ward is an ex-cop who’s hunting down the abductor who kidnapped many children, including his own nephew. In a bid to try and save Randy and mend his relationship with his sister, River enlists V’s help to figure out where Randy is being kept and save him in the nick of time. This leads to one of the most intense and heart-pounding quests in Cyberpunk 2077 that ends with a truly sickening revelation.
Getting The IP Address
After reading through the emails between Harris and Randy and finding the video file on the laptop, River will ask V if they can “use any of that netrunner magic” to get Harris’ IP address from the emails. This requires an Intelligence Level of 12, which will then open up the hacking window, but the code that V needs to input is simple. If V doesn’t have a high enough Intelligence Level at this time in Cyberpunk 2077, they’ll tell River it’s too advanced for them.
This can be somewhat of a disheartening event, as is the case with most failed skill checks in Cyberpunk 2077 that players can’t attempt again. However, the task of obtaining Harris’ IP address during The Hunt is somewhat pointless. Whether or not V is able to crack the code and get it will likely not affect the outcome of the quest at all. What leads V and River to discover the location of Harris’ farm is not the IP address but rather the dream braindances from Rhyne that V will need to scan for clues regardless of whether or not they got the IP. Of course, players will need to be extremely diligent while scanning these braindances so that they can pinpoint Randy’s exact location instead of hazarding a wild guess that will probably lead to the quest failing.
How To Successfully Complete The Quest
This side quest in Cyberpunk 2077 can be failed according to fans if V guesses the name of the farm incorrectly. River will mention that Harris’ IP places him outside Night City approximately within a dozen miles, but the correct name of “Edgewood Farm” is found through the braindance session. The investigation can lead River and V to this conclusion, regardless of whether V obtains the IP or not. Be warned — not only will a wrong guess lead to Randy’s death, but it will also lock out River’s final quest and also prevent players from initiating a romance with him.
This child abduction case is one of the more disturbing side quests in Cyberpunk 2077 along with quests like Sinnerman. Once V and River get to Edgewood Farm, they’ll see that Randy isn’t the only boy that was kidnapped and players should be wary of the terrifying imagery that can be found there because, unlike Sinnerman, V can’t opt out of seeing it while still successfully completing the mission. For what its worth, getting through these heinous visuals will lead players to share a pretty great moment with River further down the line, potentially establishing him as a romantic interest if players wish for it.
Cyberpunk 2077 is out now for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One, and is currently in development for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
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