Cyberpunk 2077 modders are massively improving player customisation

In the world of Cyberpunk 2077, you can swap out your boring, run-of-the-mill human bones for an endoskeleton at the drop of a hat. It’s so quick and painless, you won’t even know it’s happening. No, seriously: when you decide to install some cyberware at the Ripperdoc, almost nothing happens. The lack of a cutscene or appearance change for most of Cyberpunk 2077’s cyberware has disappointed a fair number of players, myself included – and while visible changes appear with a couple of hand and arm mods, even these are fairly subtle. Where are the big red mechanical arms I was expecting? Why can’t I have that NPC’s robot legs?

Luckily, PC modders are here to help.

Over the last few weeks, modders on Nexus Mods have been hard at work opening up further customisation options for players, be it the ability to change your haircut and appearance mid-game, or access some of the fancy clothes normally locked to Night City’s NPCs. There’s even a way to get your hands on some Trauma Team gear. But the thing that excites me the most is this: modders have created several different ways for you to visibly modify your body.

One of the newest of these is Arasaka Cyberarms by Aanderz, which gives your arms a serious overhaul, and even gives you glowing mantis blades (which you may recognise from a certain boss fight). It’s a little tricky to set up and some of the skin at the top of the arm may be the wrong colour, as modders do not yet have the option to edit models, but it still looks pretty solid. Another mod, Cyberarms Library by Padhiver, lets the player install Alt Cunningham’s hand, Netwatch arms, and some more old-school nomad and street arms.

If you’re looking for slightly more colourful arms, however, some modders have resorted to changing the colour of existing Cyberpunk 2077 cyberware (such as turning the gorilla arms red, or changing the projectile launcher to a metallic brown), while one has even managed to fish out Mox gang member Rita’s arms to put on your own player. Available in a variety of colours with spiked and non-spiked variants, Cyberkitsch Cyberarms by dae swaps out your gorilla arms for some true street-fashion cyberware (although be warned, the mod page is a little NSFW).

If you want to take the plastic fantastic look a step further, a new mod released earlier today lets you give V a plastic sheen, which really helps complete that Mox look. Give PlasticV by Dobrov a try if that sounds appealing to you – or, if you’re feeling more Lizzy Wizzy, you can get a full body conversion with Chrome Female V by Crazy Potato.

As for facial changes, you can get a hench neck with Netwatch Cyberware by l2ahman, which gives you the cyberware from the Netwatch agent in the main story. If you’re looking for some seriously heavy customisation that would impress even Maelstrom, Advanced V Customisation by almico has some great options, as does Cyber Eyewear by Kriegerurteil, but these are currently limited to Male V only.

A lot of these mods are still in the bug-squashing stages, and some cyberware will clip through your clothes, but I expect the mods will only improve over time, with streamlined installations and further options added. The ironic thing about all this, of course, is that you can only really see your character when taking photos or on a motorbike. Unless you get a third-person mod, I suppose.