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Locationmajor

Pacifica Pier

Pacifica Pier is a ruined seaside amusement and recreation complex on the western coast of Coastview, one of Pacifica’s two subdistricts.

Importancemajor

Key takeaways

  • Pacifica Pier is in Coastview, Pacifica, not a separate Pacifica subdistrict Coastview and West Wind Estate together make up Pacifica.
  • The principal activity is Cyberpsycho Sighting Smoke on the Water, whose target is Diego Ramirez.
  • The nearest and most useful navigation point is the Pacifica Pier fast-travel Dataterm.
  • Search the van beneath the pier and the bodies along the walkway before fighting Diego. These clues explain the incident and help advance the investigation.
  • A body on the lower platform holds Drowned Man’s Note, which leads to a small underwater cache beneath the bridge between Heywood and Pacifica.
  • The abandoned roller coaster can be restored and ridden It is a free exploration interaction rather than a shop, service or conventional mission reward.

About this guide

Scope: Cyberpunk 2077 base game, including content that remains available in the open world after the relevant missions. This guide treats Pacifica Pier as a specific named location, not as a synonym for the whole Coastview waterfront or the wider Pacifica district.

Overview

Pacifica Pier is a ruined seaside amusement and recreation complex on the western coast of Coastview, one of Pacifica’s two subdistricts. The location is recognisable by its long timber-and-metal pier, abandoned fairground structures, beach access and the roller coaster that runs along the shoreline. In 2077, its holiday atmosphere has collapsed into a gang massacre and a cyberpsycho incident.

The pier’s main gameplay purpose is the Cyberpsycho Sighting: Smoke on the Water, in which V investigates the aftermath of an attack and confronts Diego Ramirez at the end of the pier. It also contains a fast-travel Dataterm, several readable shards, an unmarked underwater cache and the power controls for a rideable roller coaster.

Pacifica Pier is therefore a compact but unusually rewarding stop: it combines a named landmark, a combat encounter, environmental storytelling, a small exploration puzzle and one of the game’s more memorable optional interactions with Johnny Silverhand.

Boundaries and hierarchy

Pacifica is a major district in southern Night City. Its two recognised subdistricts are Coastview and West Wind Estate. Pacifica Pier belongs to Coastview, alongside locations such as the Grand Imperial Mall, Batty’s Hotel and the Chapel. It should not be expanded into a guide to all of Coastview, and it should not be confused with the Pacifica district as a whole.

The Grand Imperial Mall is a nearby Coastview landmark, but it is not part of Pacifica Pier. Likewise, the wider Pacifica waterfront, the Chapel and the Voodoo Boys’ story locations are neighbouring or district-level places rather than child areas of the pier.

Geography and visible landmarks

Pacifica Pier projects westwards from the Coastview shoreline. Its main walkway is long, exposed and relatively linear, making the location easy to navigate once the player reaches the fast-travel point. The pier is surrounded by the visual remains of a failed tourist resort: small concession structures, derelict attractions, beach access and amusement infrastructure.

The surrounding ocean is explorable by swimming, but the pier itself has no general-purpose boat service, vendor district or purchasable property confirmed by the available location sources.

The location’s most prominent features are

NameDetails
Main pier walkwayThe route used by the Smoke on the Water investigation.
Pier-end combat areaDiego Ramirez waits at the far end during the cyberpsycho encounter.
Lower platform and beachContains a corpse and the Drowned Man’s Note.
Under-pier areaHolds the van connected with the attack.
Abandoned roller coasterA separate interactive attraction near the beach.
Bridge and open water nearbyThe note’s clue points to a cache under the southernmost pillar of the road bridge linking Heywood and Pacifica.

Access and routes

From fast travel

The Pacifica Pier Dataterm is one of seven fast-travel points listed for Pacifica. Other Pacifica terminals include Stadium Parking, Batty’s Hotel, Chapel, Metro: Stadium, Grand Imperial Mall and West Wind Apartments. These are useful for district-wide travel but are not part of the pier location itself.

For the most complete first visit, use this order:

From fast travel

  1. 01
    Select Pacifica Pier from the fast-travel network.
  2. 02
    Face the pier and follow the main walkway towards the sea.
  3. 03
    For the cyberpsycho investigation, search the lower area and bodies before proceeding to the end.
  4. 04
    Return to the beach and under-pier structures if you want to complete the shard and cache discoveries.

Recommended exploration route

  1. 01
    Scan the pier entrance and surrounding bodies.
  2. 02
    Check the van beneath the pier before confronting Diego.
  3. 03
    Inspect the bodies and collect readable shards along the walkway.
  4. 04
    Continue to the pier end and deal with Diego Ramirez.
  5. 05
    Search Diego’s body after the fight.
  6. 06
    Go down to the lower platform and collect Drowned Man’s Note.
  7. 07
    Follow the note’s clue to the bridge and search the water beneath the southernmost pillar.
  8. 08
    Visit the roller coaster and restore its power if the interaction is available in your playthrough.

Residents, characters and factions

Pacifica Pier has no permanent named resident or shopkeeper. Its named story-associated character is Diego Ramirez, the cyberpsycho at the centre of Smoke on the Water.

The incident is connected with the Tyger Claws. According to the location’s account, Diego became a cyberpsycho after learning that his daughter had been killed by the gang. He subsequently attacked the Tyger Claws and other people at the pier, leaving numerous bodies behind.

The ordinary people found here are primarily environmental victims, hostile participants or bodies associated with the massacre. The pier is not a functioning civilian promenade, and there is no verified regular resident population comparable to a market, apartment block or gang headquarters.

Mission: Cyberpsycho Sighting: Smoke on the Water

Spoilers for the encounter and its backstory

Smoke on the Water is the pier’s defining activity. The mission becomes available after The Rescue, according to guide references, and is handled as part of Regina Jones’s Cyberpsycho Sightings chain. Its target is Diego Ramirez, who waits at the end of the long pier.

Combat advice

The pier gives Diego a straightforward approach lane, but it also provides usable cover around the stalls and small structures. A stealth or ranged build can open from cover, while a netrunner can reduce the danger by disabling or controlling him before closing in. Do not assume that the bodies are harmless scenery: the investigation objective may require scanning or looting specific evidence before the encounter progresses correctly.

Walkthrough

  1. 01
    Approach the pier. The mission area is immediately around the Pacifica Pier fast-travel point.

Walkthrough

  1. 01
    Investigate before attacking. Search the van beneath the pier. It contains information relevant to the incident and is easy to miss if you rush directly to the target.

Walkthrough

  1. 01
    Search the bodies along the walkway. Several bodies and shards provide additional context. One of the investigation clues is associated with the group of corpses near the pier’s structures.

Walkthrough

  1. 01
    Reach the pier end. Diego Ramirez is positioned at the far end, where cover is limited and the approach is exposed.

Walkthrough

  1. 01
    Defeat or incapacitate Diego. He uses a powerful shotgun and prefers close-range aggression. Keeping distance, using cover, disabling his weapons or applying control quickhacks is safer than attempting a direct exchange at point-blank range.

Walkthrough

  1. 01
    Loot and read the evidence. Search Diego and the surrounding bodies for the available shard material.

Walkthrough

  1. 01
    Contact Regina. Completing the investigation and reporting back advances the Cyberpsycho Sightings chain. One guide lists the encounter’s reward as 2,170 eddies, although exact reward presentation can vary with game version and quest-state handling.

Items, shards and the underwater cache

Drowned Man’s Note

The Drowned Man’s Note is found beside a body on the lower platform of Pacifica Pier. It describes a dying treasure hunter’s search for a final smuggler cache marked by a question mark. The note directs V to the water beneath the southernmost pillar of the bridge connecting Heywood and Pacifica.

The reward is described as randomised loot, rather than a named unique weapon or fixed quest item. The shard is also a reference to the hidden smuggler caches in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Verified shard directory

The first two entries are listed as shards associated with Pacifica Pier, while Drowned Man’s Note has a specifically documented lower-platform placement.

Drowned Man’s Note: To follow the clue

  1. 01
    Collect the note from the lower platform.
  2. 02
    Travel or swim towards the Heywood–Pacifica bridge.
  3. 03
    Enter the water beneath the bridge.
  4. 04
    Search around the southernmost pillar, using the scanner underwater.
  5. 05
    Collect the resulting loot.

Verified shard directory

NameDetails
Archived ConversationKen Masuda and Diego Ramirez, associated with the pier’s cyberpsycho incident
Archived ConversationHideyoshi Ueno and Ken Masuda, associated with the same location story
Drowned Man’s Note, lower platform; leads to the underwater cache—

Roller coaster

The derelict roller coaster is one of Pacifica Pier’s most notable optional interactions. It is not a shop, paid attraction or conventional side quest. V can restore its power by locating and resetting the relevant electrical equipment, then ride the coaster. Johnny Silverhand can accompany V during the ride, making it a small character moment as well as an environmental secret.

The attraction is easy to overlook because it is not presented like a normal amusement-park activity. Look around the beach and ride infrastructure rather than staying exclusively on the cyberpsycho mission path.

Law enforcement and hazards

Pacifica operates as a largely lawless combat zone. NCPD presence at the pier is not comparable to the heavily policed commercial districts, and the main danger is the scripted cyberpsycho encounter rather than a permanent security checkpoint.

Pacifica’s broader factional instability should not be mistaken for a constant random battle at every point on the pier. The documented encounter is the Smoke on the Water activity; other hostile activity in the wider Coastview area belongs to neighbouring locations and should not automatically be attributed to Pacifica Pier.

Sources