River Ward: The NCPD Detective and Romance Option in Cyberpunk 2077
The short version
River Ward is an NCPD detective in Cyberpunk 2077 who helps V investigate a mayor's death and later asks V to help find his missing nephew. Robbie Daymond voices him, and he is a romance option for a V with a feminine body type.
On this page
A cop with a reason#
River Ward grew up above his parents' grocery store after their farm failed. When he was a child, thugs broke in, killed his father, and forced him to point a gun at his mother before killing her themselves. The NCPD never caught them. That is why he became a detective. Opinion: it explains everything about how he works a case.
He is of Pomo descent, and his sister Joss married into the Aldecaldos (Panam's clan). He looks after her kids, and he was the one who bought the family their trailer.
River and V#
River is the cop who stops a cyberpsycho from killing Mayor Lucius Rhyne and gets a medal for it. When Rhyne dies of an unrelated heart problem the same day, River does not like the coincidence. His boss orders him to drop it.
V meets him through the job I Fought the Law, where the Peralez family asks V to find out what really killed Rhyne. River and V trace it to an invitation-only club called the Red Queen's Race.
Spoilers The Hunt and Following the River
River's nephew Randy goes missing and River believes he was taken by Anthony Harris, the man behind the Peter Pan abductions. In The Hunt, V helps him follow the clues, and the game can end in several ways depending on what V finds and whether V stays.
If V leaves, River goes alone to Edgewood Farm and dies. If V stays, they rescue Randy. River then decides not to kill the comatose Harris because he remembers the thug who made him aim a gun at his own mother. In Following the River, he invites V to a family dinner and gives V his revolver. Our read: the quietest, warmest scene in the game.
With a feminine V, the evening on the water tower can lead to a kiss, which begins the romance (requirements are on the romance options page). After the quest, he leaves the force and opens up as a private investigator who specializes in kidnapping cases.
Spoilers Pick your side before The Hunt
Do not leave River alone during The Hunt. If V walks away he goes to Edgewood Farm by himself and dies.
Opinion: he is the best cop in the game because the story does not need him to be right about the NCPD. It only needs him to be right about people. The Night City page covers the force he works for, and Panam Palmer the Aldecaldos side of his family.
Explore#
- Official