Should you call Reed and agree to the deal or kill Reed in Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty?

When you reach the Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty call or kill Reed choice, this is one the pivotal decisions that has serious bearings on the rest of the game. You can either make amends with Reed and the NUSA, because after all, they've helped you out, right? Or you can kill Reed and finish Songbird's journey, which may be more tempting given some information you'll have just received. Your choice here determines which of the Phantom Liberty endings you'll get, and it can also affect your main Cyberpunk 2077 endings too. Here's what happens depending on what choice you make when you need to call Reed and accept his deal or kill him and help Songbird in Phantom Liberty

Obviously, big spoilers below as this is the final choice in the ‘Help Songbird’ path of Phantom Liberty!

Phantom Liberty agree to deal or kill Reed choice explained

If you choose to help Songbird in the Firestarter mission, you will help her get through the spaceport terminal to reach the train that leads to the Moon rocket. During the train journey, So Mi will reveal that she’s been lying to you the whole time and that the Neural Matrix can be used only once. This leads into the first choice of this Phantom Liberty ending – deciding whether to call Reed. After that, you’ll be confronted by Reed while carrying Songbird and will need to decide how you’ll deal with them both, ending Phantom Liberty’s story.

Call Reed or pick up Songbird in Phantom Liberty

When the train pulls into the rocket launch area, you’ll have to choose whether you’ll simply pick up Songbird and carry her to the rocket or call Reed to strike a deal to get the Neural Matrix cure. Choosing to pick up Songbird just means you can walk straight to the rocket pod and face Reed – you are not locked out of any of the endings by not calling him.

If you do call Reed, he’ll ask that you give up Songbird and in return, you’ll get the cure you were promised. You’re then faced with these responses to Reed:

• “Deal.” – agree to Reed’s deal. This locks you into the relevant ending which is detailed below.
• “Song’s yours, fine. But I don’t want shit from you.” – you agree to give up Songbird but refuse the cure, though you are not locked out of the new main story ending by choosing this option.
• Hang up | “No deal, not handin’ Songbird over.” – you refuse the deal. Again, this does not lock you out of getting the new main story ending.

So, however you get through this choice, you’ll always carry Songbird over to the rocket pod where Reed will emerge and face you on the walkway. You must put Songbird down, otherwise Reed will eventually just shoot you and you’ll have to reload your checkpoint.

Kill Reed in Phantom Liberty

The option to kill Reed, or “draw weapon”, isn’t available to you straight away, so you need to talk to Reed a bit first. If you did not call Reed or rejected his deal when calling him, V will draw a revolver after putting Songbird down and you’ll be presented with some dialogue options. Choose either “Song’s dyin’” or “can’t let you take her”, and you’ll then get more dialogue options after some chatter, with one of them being “draw weapon”. You can keep talking with Reed and this option will keep coming up, but eventually you’ll get to a point where you can only holster or draw your weapon.

Choosing to draw your weapon causes the game to slow down and you need to shoot Reed in the head before he does the same to you. With Reed dead, you can pick up Songbird and place her in the rocket, then watch it blast off while you chat with Johnny Silverhand. After this, the credits roll and then you’ll be looking at the spaceport the next morning while talking to Johnny. There are no missions after this, and Phantom Liberty’s story is over if you get this ending.

Agree to Reed’s deal in Phantom Liberty

There are a few ways you can reach this ending in Phantom Liberty. The easiest method is to call Reed on the train and agree to the deal – as mentioned, you are locked into this ending once you do this. Alternatively, if you did not call Reed, or rejected his deal, make sure you choose the “holster weapon” when available to deescalate and strike a deal with Reed.

Once you agree to the deal, Reed takes So Mi, then the credits roll. Afterwards, you’ll speak to Johnny and then you’ll get a call from Reed. This eventually leads into a mission called “Through Pain To Heaven”, where you’ll have one final talk with Reed at a gas station, then he’ll give you details on the new Cyberpunk 2077 ending for the main story.

If you decided to agree to Reed’s deal but refuse anything in return (this can be done when calling Reed or after holstering your weapon), you won’t be permanently locked out of the new story ending either. After the credits, Reed will message you and you’ll get one last chance to either accept or reject the promised surgery. Based on my testing, rejecting the cure here seems to permanently lock you out of this ending while accepting leads you into the “Through Pain To Heaven” mission like normal.

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