Can you save Jackie during The Heist mission in Cyberpunk 2077?


A Cyberpunk 2077 side character facing front and center
Credit: CD Projekt Red

Can you save Jackie Welles, the best friend of V, during the main story of Cyberpunk 2077?

If you're looking at this article it likely means you know what will happen to Jackie and it probably broke your heart just like me. Or maybe you're a new player that got sucked into Cyberpunk with the release of Phantom Liberty and want to give the main story a chance.

If you want to find out whether you can rescue him from this fate, keep reading!

Warning: major Cyberpunk 2077 campaign story spoilers below.

Can you save Jackie in Cyberpunk 2077?

A still image of Jackie Wells from Cyberpunk 2077
click to enlarge
Credit: CD Projekt Red
Can you save good-old Jackie?

During one of the games prologue missions, “The Heist”, fans are placed into an impossible position and ultimately it leads to the unfortunate passing of Jackie Welles.

Just prior to this, V and Jackie were breaking into the Konpeki Plaza hotel in the hopes of stealing a mysterious chip. But, the heist goes south pretty quickly and in their escape a drone starts firing on them clipping Jackie.

He's just about ok to help make it out with V, who both reach the Delamain cab and a quick exit, but Jackie is too badly injured and dies in the backseat.

You'll have no doubt seen this to some degree in the games E3 trailer some years ago.

Although the Heist mission takes place during the early prologue of the game, it's not right at the start. You'll have made plenty of big choices up until this point, and so it's possible some fans might be thinking the all-important question...

Is it possible to save Jackie in The Heist mission?

Given how much Cyberpunk 2077 has been sold on the changing narratives and infinite choices, coupled with the fact that pre-launch marketing revealed the fate of Jackie, you would think it might be possible to save him.

Well, brace yourselves, folks.

Despite your love for the character it is not possible to save Jackie in Cyberpunk 2077.

It doesn't matter what you do leading up to The Heist mission, the ultimate fate of Jackie Welles is a core part of the story and cannot be avoided.

In fact, a lot of the key story beats that follow mostly stem from the untimely death of Jackie Welles.

Is Jackie really dead in Cyberpunk 2077?

Some fans have argued that although Jackie dies, you never see what happened to his body after meeting Dex. 

Given that Johnny Silverhand has found a way to live on, could Jackie return also?

We know the game plans to release plenty of post-launch DLC.

Is it possible that Jackie could somehow live on. We certainly wouldn't rule it out.

This is Cyberpunk 2077 after all; a world where even the impossible, seems possible.

For more on Cyberpunk 2077, check out our guide for the Megabuilding mod.

For more articles like this, take a look at our Guides and Cyberpunk 2077 page.