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Locationmajor

Afterlife

The Afterlife is Night City’s most famous mercenary bar and one of *Cyberpunk 2077*’s defining locations.

Importancemajor

Key takeaways

  • Location Little China, Watson, on Palm View. The bar is in the southern part of the district, close to the Watson and City Centre boundary.
  • Access V cannot freely enter it at the very start of the game. The first story visit occurs during The Heist, after the montage and the early Dexter DeShawn jobs.
  • Hierarchy Rogue is the owner and power behind the venue. Claire Russell is the bartender, Emmerick Bronson the bouncer, Nix the principal netrunner and Crispin “Squama” Weyland Rogue’s bodyguard.
  • Main activities Story meetings, Rogue’s side jobs, Claire’s The Beast in Me races, Nix’s Spellbound and KOLD MIRAGE jobs, conversations with named characters and drink purchases.
  • Important rewards The Afterlife is associated with the Johnny Silverhand drink, the Jackie Welles drink, Nix’s quickhack rewards and access to the Rogue ending route.
  • Continuity warning The 2077 club is not the same physical Afterlife described in the 2020s tabletop material. The earlier venue had named interior chambers including the Antechamber, the Crypt and Hades. Those names should not be used as confirmed room divisions for the 2077 game interior.

About this guide

Scope: Cyberpunk 2077 base game, including the post-launch 2.0-era version of the base game but excluding Phantom Liberty-specific locations and continuity. Spoilers: This guide discusses major story missions, Johnny Silverhand, Rogue’s quest line, Nix’s jobs and several endings.

Overview

The Afterlife is Night City’s most famous mercenary bar and one of *Cyberpunk 2077*’s defining locations. It is not simply a nightclub or a convenient quest hub. It is a professional court for fixers, solos, netrunners and ambitious newcomers, a place where reputation is traded almost as readily as eurodollars. Rogue Amendiares runs the establishment in 2077, and her authority gives the bar its unusual position between business, legend and underworld institution.

The 2077 Afterlife is located in Little China, Watson, on Palm View. It is a separate location from the earlier Afterlife of the tabletop continuity, which stood in or near Central Night City before Rogue eventually moved the business to southern Watson. The two locations share a name, reputation and traditions, but they should not be treated as the same building.

In the base game, the Afterlife is used for the first major step into Night City’s high-level mercenary world. V and Jackie Welles gain entry after completing Dexter DeShawn’s job, and the bar later becomes the launch point for Rogue’s missions, Nix’s side jobs and several late-game routes.

Overview and boundaries

The Afterlife is a single named venue rather than a broad district. Its relevant scope consists of:

The club’s surrounding streets belong to Little China, not to the Afterlife itself. Nearby businesses, road segments, food stalls and unrelated buildings should therefore not be listed as Afterlife subareas merely because they appear close to the entrance.

Likewise, the municipal landfill in the Badlands is not an Afterlife subarea. It is part of KOLD MIRAGE, a mission connected to Nix and the club, but geographically separate. The same distinction applies to the shopping plaza used during Spellbound.

Overview and boundaries: steps

  1. 01
    The exterior entrance and forecourt, including the bouncer and the access point.
  2. 02
    The public bar and club floor, where Claire works and where most story conversations occur.
  3. 03
    Rogue’s seating area, used for important meetings and the late-game assault planning.
  4. 04
    Nix’s netrunning room, situated beyond the main bar and used for his side jobs.
  5. 05
    Mission-state areas, including rooms and spaces that become available only during particular quests or story phases.

Geography and approach

The Afterlife sits in southern Little China, Watson. Its entrance is recognisable from the large illuminated sign, the guarded doorway and the heavy industrial exterior. The building’s design deliberately suggests an old morgue or repurposed industrial structure rather than a polished corporate nightclub. The result is one of the clearest examples of Night City’s habit of turning obsolete infrastructure into fashionable commercial space.

Practical route

During the opening story, V reaches the location as part of The Heist. Before this point, the building is not a normal free-access destination for the player. After the story establishes V as a recognised mercenary, the location becomes a regular hub.

Practical route: The simplest approach is

  1. 01
    Travel to the Afterlife fast-travel point once it is available.
  2. 02
    Follow the short approach towards the illuminated entrance.
  3. 03
    Speak to the bouncer or pass through the door when the current quest allows access.
  4. 04
    Enter the main bar and look for Claire, Rogue or Nix depending on the active objective.

Internal areas

The 2077 game does not provide a formal, labelled floor plan comparable to the tabletop descriptions. The following names describe functional spaces verified through gameplay and mission use rather than official architectural labels.

Main bar and club floor

This is the public heart of the Afterlife. It contains the bar counter, tables, booths and the main crowd of mercenaries and visitors. Claire normally works here, although her precise position changes with quest state.

The main floor is also where the Afterlife’s social hierarchy is most visible. Newcomers wait for recognition, established mercenaries occupy more comfortable seats and Rogue’s private conversations take place away from the busiest part of the room.

Rogue’s booth and seating area

Rogue uses a booth or private seating area within the club as an informal office and court. It is not a conventional fixer’s office. The location allows her to remain publicly visible while controlling who can approach her.

Nix’s room

Nix operates from a small netrunning room beyond the main bar. This is a separate functional area, not a general-purpose cyberware clinic or electronics shop. Nix’s work includes data recovery, decryption and netrunning-related jobs.

Mission-only and state-dependent spaces

Some parts of the Afterlife are used differently according to the active quest. Rogue may move between her normal seating area and more secluded locations, while Claire’s availability changes depending on The Beast in Me and the main story.

These changes are progression states, not separate permanent businesses. The base game does not establish a broad network of back rooms, shops or independent offices inside the club.

Nix’s room: His room is used in

Named directory: people

Owners, staff and regular operators

Rogue’s organisation is deliberately compact. She does not run the venue like a conventional corporation. Instead, her staff represent the skills necessary to operate a high-level mercenary business: security, bartending, netrunning and combat support.

Visitors and story-associated characters

These characters are connected with the Afterlife but should not all be treated as permanent residents or staff:

The presence of ordinary mercenary NPCs gives the club its atmosphere, but most do not have individually confirmed names, jobs or permanent roles. They should not be expanded into a fictional membership directory.

Services and businesses

Claire’s bar

Claire provides the Afterlife’s principal public service: drinks and informal information. Her most recognisable named drinks are associated with Night City mercenary legends.

The availability and dialogue around these drinks depend on story state. The game does not turn the Afterlife into a full food-and-drink inventory system, and the venue should not be described as a general restaurant.

Claire also functions as a quest giver. Her major activity is the street-racing series The Beast in Me, which takes V across several districts rather than keeping the missions inside the Afterlife. Claire’s presence at the bar is the starting point and recurring social anchor for that quest line.

Nix’s netrunning services

Nix is not a ripperdoc. He does not provide cyberware installation, attribute resets or standard medical services. His role is focused on netrunning, data and old technology.

In Spellbound, Nix sends V to obtain a rare Zetatech XPR tablet called The Book of Spells. V can decrypt it personally or return it to Nix. The job can produce additional money, and the dialogue can change the payment. A high Intelligence option allows V to challenge Nix’s valuation and obtain a larger reward.

In KOLD MIRAGE, Nix examines Rache Bartmoss’s cyberdeck. If V saves him during the malware incident by overriding the nearby power panel or breaching the computer beside his desk, Nix can reward V with five quickhacks:

The exact availability of some Nix interactions can be affected by quest order. Spellbound and KOLD MIRAGE are linked, but the game can also allow KOLD MIRAGE to begin through independent discovery at the landfill.

Claire’s bar: Verified drink names include

Nix’s netrunning services

QuickhackSource
Memory WipeNix’s KOLD MIRAGE reward
Reboot OpticsNix’s KOLD MIRAGE reward
Short CircuitNix’s KOLD MIRAGE reward
Sonic ShockNix’s KOLD MIRAGE reward
System CollapseNix’s KOLD MIRAGE reward

Missions and activities

The Heist

The Heist is the Afterlife’s first major story appearance. After the opening sequence and the Dexter DeShawn jobs, V and Jackie are finally admitted to the club. Jackie uses the occasion to discuss his ambition to become a Night City legend and asks Claire about having a drink named after him if he dies spectacularly enough.

After The Heist, the Afterlife changes from a restricted story destination into a recurring base of operations.

Spellbound

Spellbound begins through Nix after the relevant progression around Ghost Town or the connected Nix quest state. Nix asks V to obtain the Book of Spells from R3n0.

A Corpo lifepath can provide extra dialogue involving R3n0’s employer. The quest’s payment can also vary according to V’s approach, including a larger payment from Nix if V argues that the book is worth more.

KOLD MIRAGE

KOLD MIRAGE is partly an Afterlife mission and partly a Badlands investigation. The initial discovery occurs at a landfill rather than in Watson. V finds a freezer containing Rache Bartmoss’s corpse and an old cyberdeck, then brings the device to Nix.

This mission is significant because it turns the Afterlife from a social venue into a place where the old Net’s history is actively recovered. The Bartmoss material also links the club’s modern mercenary culture with the older technological catastrophes that shaped the setting.

The Beast in Me

Claire’s racing series begins at the Afterlife but takes place throughout Night City and the Badlands. The bar acts as the meeting point between races, while the actual activity is driving.

The outcome of Claire’s personal objective affects her attitude towards V and can influence later interactions at the bar. Players wishing to preserve the most sympathetic relationship with Claire should listen to her account of Dean and mute the urge to treat every race as a simple win-at-all-costs challenge.

Chippin’ In and Blistering Love

Rogue’s story becomes central after V helps Johnny confront his past in Chippin’ In. The Afterlife is the setting for the next stage, Blistering Love, if V chooses the relevant dialogue and has developed Johnny’s relationship sufficiently.

Completing this chain is important because it unlocks Rogue’s assistance as one of the possible endgame routes. The Rogue path is not available merely because V has visited the bar. It requires the correct Johnny-related progression, particularly the relationship-building choices in Chippin’ In.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

This late-game sequence brings V back to the Afterlife for a final meeting with Rogue before the Arasaka assault. The bar is temporarily transformed from a living social space into a staging ground for a high-risk operation.

Ending-state changes

The Afterlife’s most important progression change occurs in the ending. In the Sun ending, V can become a legend of the Afterlife. The precise state of Rogue and the club depends on the chosen route and outcome of the assault.

The Afterlife therefore has several distinct narrative states:

The base game does not allow the player to manage the club as a full business. Becoming its owner or successor is an ending-state narrative outcome, not a free-roam management system.

Spellbound: Recommended approach

  1. 01
    Visit Nix in his room at the Afterlife.
  2. 02
    Travel to the shopping plaza across the street.
  3. 03
    Locate the suitcase beside the vending machine.
  4. 04
    Take the Book of Spells.
  5. 05
    Decide whether to decrypt it personally.
  6. 06
    Return to Nix.
  7. 07
    Press him on the price if the appropriate dialogue option is available.

KOLD MIRAGE: The Afterlife portion proceeds as follows

  1. 01
    Bring Bartmoss’s cyberdeck to Nix.
  2. 02
    Allow Nix to begin decrypting it.
  3. 03
    Respond when the malware disables his cyberware.
  4. 04
    Save him either by overriding the wall power panel or by hacking the computer near his desk.
  5. 05
    Speak with Nix after the incident.
  6. 06
    If the computer route is used, collect the five quickhacks he provides.

Ending-state changes

StateWhat changes
Before The HeistRestricted or unavailable to V
After The HeistRegularly accessible mercenary hub
Nix quest stateNix gains additional dialogue and mission functions
Claire quest stateClaire’s availability and attitude can change
Johnny and Rogue quest stateRogue becomes central to an ending route
Post-ending epilogueV’s status may rise to the level of Afterlife legend

Lore and history

The Afterlife’s reputation predates V by decades. In the earlier tabletop continuity, it was associated with solos, mercenary contracts and named drinks commemorating famous operators. The older venue was described as having three increasingly private areas: the Antechamber, the Crypt and Hades. These names belong to the earlier continuity and should be kept separate from the 2077 game’s more loosely defined interior.

At some point after the older venue’s history, Rogue relocated the Afterlife to Watson. The 2077 building is said to occupy a former morgue, which explains the crypt-like identity suggested by the name and its visual style. The venue’s central tradition remains unchanged: legendary mercenaries are remembered through drinks, stories and the expectation that every ambitious newcomer is trying to earn a place among them.

The database description presents the Afterlife as a nerve centre where major deals are made and elite mercenaries gather. That description is not mere advertising. The game repeatedly demonstrates that Rogue can connect V to people, resources and operations unavailable through ordinary fixers.

Suggested exploration route

For a first complete visit after unlocking the club:

Suggested exploration route: steps

  1. 01
    Walk around the exterior and inspect the entrance, sign and nearby street.
  2. 02
    Enter during a neutral free-roam state rather than immediately following a quest objective.
  3. 03
    Speak with Claire and check whether her drink interaction is available.
  4. 04
    Find Rogue’s usual seating area.
  5. 05
    Locate Nix’s room and confirm whether he has dialogue.
  6. 06
    Return to the main floor and speak with any named visitors currently present.
  7. 07
    Complete Claire’s available conversation before starting or continuing The Beast in Me.
  8. 08
    Check the journal after Ghost Town for Nix-related jobs.
  9. 09
    Before committing to the final point of no return, complete Blistering Love if the Rogue ending route is desired.
  10. 10
    Revisit the club after major story changes to observe altered dialogue and attendance.

Sources