Talking NPCs
Every local walking around Night City can be talked to. Each one has a name, a job, a mood and a type that fits where they live: street locals, gang members, office workers, tourists, seniors, clubbers, homeless people, cops on patrol and more. They answer in their own way, and many lines are spoken out loud, so players standing nearby hear the conversation too.
What you do with locals is remembered. Every neighbourhood keeps a reputation for your character: be good to people and they open up, give you their number, hand you paid favours and give you a better price at the corner store. Insult, threaten or rob them and the whole area turns cold.
Start a conversation
On foot, walk up to a local and face them. When [E] Talk shows over their head, press E. Locals in a car, running away or in a fight can't be talked to.
Some locals are simply too busy and brush you off. That happens more often in areas where people don't like you.
Pick an answer or say something
Press 1 to 9 (or click) to pick one of the answers on the right. Chat about..., Get personal... and Do something... open more options.
To say something in your own words, press T, type and press Enter. The local works out what you mean, so "where's the hospital", "any work around here?" or "you look nice today" all work. If they don't follow you, gold suggestions show above the box; click the one you meant. What you type also shows as a bubble over your head for players nearby.
Talk with your mic
You can also just speak. Face a local and talk on voice chat (your push-to-talk key or voice activation), or talk while the conversation screen is open, and the local answers what you said. Speech is turned into text on your own PC; nothing is recorded or sent anywhere. The first time takes a few seconds to load.
Locals can't hear voice chat itself, so they listen to your mic separately while you talk on voice. They use your Windows default recording device unless you pick another one. If they never react, type /npcmictest and say a sentence. It listens on every mic you have, switches to the one that heard you, and tells you what it understood. /npcmic list shows your mics, /npcmic <number> picks one, /npcmic default goes back to Windows' choice, and /npcmic on its own turns mic talking off or back on.
Leave
Pick Goodbye, press Esc or just walk away. If you are typing, the first Esc only clears the box.
Things you can talk about
| Ask about | What happens |
|---|---|
| How they are / who they are / the area | Small talk that fits their type and mood |
| Heard anything interesting? | A rumour: recent trouble in the area, a business that is open right now, or gossip |
| Directions | They point the way and mark it: a gold map blip with a GPS route and a glowing ring on the ground when you get close. It clears when you arrive or after 10 minutes. Type a place ("where is the bank") or pick from a list. Locals who don't like you sometimes send you the wrong way |
| Work | Their take on making money around here |
| Need a hand with anything? | They may have a paid favour (see below) |
| Jokes, food, weather, the cops, the city | Chat. A friendly chat makes them like you a little more |
| Compliment / insult | Raises or lowers your reputation here |
| Flirt, phone number, coffee | See below |
Locals also notice you. Walk up with a gun out, badly hurt, in a mask, in uniform or right after sirens went past, and they say so. A gun in your hand makes almost anyone nervous.
Neighbourhood reputation
Every area of the map (Strawberry, Vinewood Hills, Sandy Shores...) has its own reputation for your character. Once you have some, it shows top-left of the talk screen.
| Tier | What it means |
|---|---|
| Loved | Locals wave and say hi, stores here give you a discount, and when you do something wrong people often "didn't see anything" |
| Liked | Friendlier answers, small store discount, unlocks the shady favours |
| Neutral | Where everyone starts |
| Disliked | Short answers, more locals brush you off, stores charge a bit more |
| Hated | Locals glare and insult you, some stores refuse to serve you, gang members on their own turf may attack you, and walking around armed gets reported |
Raises it: friendly chats, compliments, gifts, favours, coffee dates. You can only earn so much in one area per hour.
Lowers it: insults, threats, robbing locals, shooting nearby, killing locals.
Stay away from an area for a couple of weeks and your reputation there slowly drifts back toward neutral.
Gifts are the quickest way into a neighbourhood. Food, drinks and smokes from your pockets all work - homeless people, junkies and students love them most.
Phone numbers and coffee dates
A local who is in a good mood with you (green Friendly dot) may give you their number under Get personal.... You need a Nova 15 with a SIM Card in it. They are saved to your contacts and text you now and then: gossip, jokes, or the odd tip.
Ask a friendly local Grab a coffee with me? and they pick the nearest coffee spot. A blip and route appear and you have about 20 minutes to get there. Talk to them and buy the coffees (cash). You chat for a while, they like you more and give you their number if you didn't have it. Don't show up and they leave.
Named locals
Some locals around the city have a name over the talk prompt ([E] Talk to ...). They are always around at their usual spots and remember you. Tell them your name ("my name is Alex") and they use it next time. Visit, chat and bring gifts, and they say hi when you walk past.
A few regulars are always out there: Old Mac in Legion Square, Darnell Hayes on Grove Street, Bill Harrow fishing off Del Perro Pier, Earl Tucker at the Yellow Jack and Deputy Ruth Kemp outside the Paleto Bay sheriff's office.
Favours (side quests)
Ask Need a hand with anything? and about half of the locals have something for you. You see the job and the pay before you say yes. Each kind of local asks for different things.
| Favour | What you do |
|---|---|
| Package delivery | Carry a package across town and hand it to the person waiting |
| Bring them a snack | Bring back the food or drink they name. They wait where you met |
| Lost dog | Search the circle on the map, grab the dog and walk it back |
| Groceries | Carry their bags while they walk home with you. Don't leave them behind |
| Car trouble | Change a flat tyre or jump-start their car. Mechanics get paid more |
| Ride | Drive them somewhere. Smooth driving means a better tip, crashes and speeding cost you |
You can run one favour at a time, each must be finished within a time limit, and there is a short wait between offers. Every favour done also raises your reputation in that area.
The shady side
Locals can also be bought, scared or robbed. All of it costs reputation and can bring the police.
- Slip them some cash - pick an amount. The more you offer, the more likely they take it and tell you a real crime tip. Sometimes they just take your money and tell you nonsense. Cops on patrol don't take bribes.
- Threaten them - a scared local puts their hands up: you can take their cash, make them talk or let them run. A brave one tells you where to go, runs, pulls out a phone or swings at you. Scared locals often call it in once you're gone, with a description of you and your car.
- Witnesses - after a crime, locals nearby may have seen it. Before the police arrive you can tell a witness they "didn't see anything", with cash or a weapon in your hand.
- Shady favours - once an area likes you, its tougher locals may ask you to stash a bag, lean on someone who owes money, or quietly follow someone. Somebody sometimes tips off the police afterwards.
Taking hostages
A scared local can be taken hostage. Threaten them, then pick You're coming with me, or use Hostage in the radial menu (F1) while you face someone with a gun out. At least 2 police must be on duty.
- Hold them in front of you (gun in hand) - a human shield. You can't run, jump or get in a car while holding them. Press E to let them go.
- Zip-tie them - uses one Zip Ties or Rope. You can keep up to 4 tied up. Walk up to one and press E to lead them, put them in a car's boot (the E prompt at the back of the car while leading), take them out again, or let them go.
Taking someone calls the police straight away with your description, and the hostage becomes a witness. Your reputation in the area drops hard. Tough locals (bikers, gang members, security guards, fitness fans) may break free and run or fight back. If a hostage dies by your hand, it is flagged on the police record as a homicide.
During a store robbery, hostages are leverage. Each local you hold or have tied up gets you 10% more from registers and safes (up to 40% more), and makes the clerk less likely to fight back.
The stand-off panel#
While you hold anyone, the Stand-off panel shows on the right: your civilians, how long until the police may come in, your demands and the payout. Press F10 to use it with the mouse and Esc to hide the cursor.
| Panel | What it does |
|---|---|
| Civilians | Who you hold. Click one, then Release one to let them go (it picks someone if you don't). A ! means the negotiator asked for that person |
| Breach risk | When it runs out the police are cleared to go in. Negotiators can buy a little more time |
| Your demands | Pick from the list (getaway car, no spike strips, air unit pulls back...). The police accept or deny each one |
| Payout terms | Family contact - a hostage texts their family, who offer money by who they are (rich locals pay most). Let someone go and the money is left at a spot marked on your map. Police negotiation - ask for up to $25,000. If the police agree, you get paid the next time you let someone walk out |
| Answer negotiator | Type a reply. The police read it in their negotiation log |
| Surrender | You give up and everyone is let go |
You can only do this once every 10 minutes. Released hostages hang around for a while and tell the police what they saw.
Gang members, bikers and street locals hear the most. Tips get better when you pay for them or when someone is scared, and a good reputation in an area means people keep your secrets.
Threats are remembered. Rob the same neighbourhood too often and you'll be hated there: no service in the stores, insults in the street, and armed locals on their own turf.
For police: witnesses
When locals see a crime, on-duty officers who get to the scene see WITNESS over the locals who saw it. Talk to them and pick Did you see what happened?. They describe the suspect (clothes, mask, the car and part of the plate) and the statement is saved as a draft report in your MDT. Go quickly: witnesses forget details as time passes, and after a while they leave. A witness who was paid or scared may say nothing or describe the wrong person. See Police Work for the rest of the job.
For police: stand-offs
When someone takes a local hostage, dispatch gets a Hostage situation call with the suspect's description and phone number. Open the MDT (F7) → Stand-offs:
- Incident overview - location (Set GPS), how long it has been going, units within 150 m, the suspect and their weapon.
- Breach window - when it runs out you are cleared for tactical entry. Press the stopwatch to hold the entry team back 2 more minutes (3 times at most).
- Civilians on scene - each hostage, their condition and where they are. Request release asks the suspect to let that person go.
- Demands - accept or deny each one. A money demand is paid from the city treasury the next time a hostage walks out.
- Negotiation log - everything said on both sides. Call suspect phone shows their number, Megaphone reaches everyone near the scene, Release terms goes straight to the suspect's screen.
Released hostages wait nearby for a while: talk to them and pick Are you okay? What happened in there? for what they saw. Finished stand-offs stay listed with how they ended.
VIP
VIP Tiers members (Gold and up) get premium rumours, extra favour types (VIP courier runs and chauffeur rides with bigger pay), can run more favours at once, skip the reputation needed for shady favours and earn reputation faster.
Staff can move named locals and coffee date spots, or turn them off, in F9 → World Spawns.
Admins can end every running stand-off with /endstandoffs (for a stuck one after a crash).
Thanks! Staff will look at it.