You’re driving through Rancho Coronado, maybe just heading to a gig or looking for a stray tarot card, and you see it. An unassuming garage. No yellow quest marker. No frantic phone call from Regina Jones or Wakako. Just a keypad and a mystery. This is how Cyberpunk 2077 The Highwayman starts, and honestly, it’s one of the few pieces of content left in Night City that actually treats you like you have a brain. It doesn't hold your hand. It doesn't give you a GPS line to follow.
It just leaves you with a photo and a prayer.
Most players stumble onto this by accident. You find a garage near the dam, see a broken bike, and read a laptop entry about two lovers—Josie and James—caught in a bad spot. It feels like flavor text. It’s not. It’s the breadcrumb trail for one of the coolest vehicles in the game, the Nazaré "Itsumade," which is basically the Arch motorcycle on steroids with glowing rims and a custom paint job.
The Problem With Modern Quest Design
Most open-world games are obsessed with "player engagement metrics," which usually translates to "don't let the player get lost for more than five seconds." If you don't find the objective, a little waypoint pops up. Cyberpunk 2077 The Highwayman rejects that entirely. It’s a "hidden" quest in the truest sense.
If you aren't paying attention to the environment, you'll never finish it.
The quest requires you to actually look at a physical photo in your inventory. You have to recognize landmarks. You have to remember where James was sitting—that specific bench in Japantown near the cherry blossoms. If you’ve been fast-traveling everywhere, you’re screwed. You won't recognize the geometry of the city. This quest is CD Projekt Red’s way of forcing you to actually live in Night City rather than just passing through it at 200 mph on a Caliburn.
Tracking Down James and the Truth
So, you’ve got the garage open. You’ve seen the bike. Now you need to find James. He’s chilling on a bench in Japantown, right near the Westbrook North entrance. He looks like every other NPC, which is kind of the point. When you talk to him, he’s cagey. He tells you Josie is fine, she’s just laying low.
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But he’s lying. Obviously.
You have to find Josie. This is where people usually give up and check a wiki. She’s not in some high-security Arasaka bunker. She’s in the dirt. Specifically, she’s behind a drop point in the Northside of Watson, near the Big Entrance fast travel point. There’s a bloodstain on the ground. You follow it, and you find her body tucked behind a dumpster. It’s a grim, quiet moment that perfectly encapsulates the "Low Life" part of the Cyberpunk mantra. She didn't die in a blaze of glory. She died alone because of a botched heist and a boyfriend who was too cowardly to help her.
The emotional weight here is subtle but heavy. You find a shard on her body—a final message. It reveals the betrayal. James didn't just stay quiet; he basically let the Tyger Claws get to her to save his own skin.
Why the Itsumade is Worth the Headache
The payoff for Cyberpunk 2077 The Highwayman isn't just "closure." It's the bike. After you confront James (and you should definitely choose the dialogue options that call him out on his cowardice), you need to head back to the Northside. There’s another garage.
The code is 0214.
Why 0214? Because it’s the date on the bench where Josie and James first met. It’s a "love" story that ended in a gutter. Entering that code opens the shutter to reveal the Nazaré "Itsumade."
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It’s easily one of the best-handling bikes in the game. In a game where vehicle physics can sometimes feel like you’re driving a bar of soap on a wet marble floor, the Itsumade feels planted. It has a wider rear tire and a lower center of gravity than the standard Arch. Plus, the neon magenta rims look incredible under the artificial lights of the City Center at night.
Technical Nuances and Common Glitches
Look, we have to talk about the technical side. Even in the 2.12 or 2.2 builds, the quest can be finicky. Sometimes the bloodstain in Northside doesn't trigger correctly if you haven't talked to James first. Other times, players try to skip ahead and go straight to the final garage.
Don't do that.
The game’s flag system for this quest is weirdly linear despite the lack of markers. If you haven't "discovered" the body, the keypad at the final garage sometimes won't even let you interact with it. It’s a safeguard to make sure you actually play through the narrative beats.
Also, a pro-tip: if you're playing a high-Cool build, you get some extra snarky dialogue when confronting James. It doesn't change the reward, but it makes the "justice" feel a bit more earned.
The Environmental Storytelling Masterclass
Night City is full of these "unmarked" stories, but Cyberpunk 2077 The Highwayman stands out because it spans three different districts. It forces a cross-city investigation.
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You start in Santo Domingo (The Garage).
You go to Westbrook (James).
You go to Watson (The Body).
You end in Watson (The Bike).
This isn't just about a fetch quest. It’s about understanding the hierarchy of the gangs. The Tyger Claws are the villains here, but the real antagonist is the apathy of the city. Nobody looked for Josie. The NCPD didn't care. James just sat on a bench and watched the holograms.
When you finally ride away on that bike, you aren't just a mercenary with a new toy. You're the only person in Night City who actually knows what happened to that girl. There's a certain "Noir" satisfaction in that which the main quest often overshadows with its high-stakes "save the world" plot.
Actionable Steps for Completing The Highwayman
If you want to knock this out right now, follow this sequence. Don't skip steps or the script might break.
- Find the Starting Garage: Go to the dam in Rancho Coronado. It’s right behind the Gun Shop. Open the garage, look at the laptop, and read every single entry.
- The Japantown Bench: Travel to the Japantown West fast travel point. James is sitting on a bench near the tree with the pink leaves. Talk to him. Don't leave until the quest log (if it’s triggered) updates or you've exhausted the dialogue.
- The Northside Search: Go to Watson, Northside. Find the "Big Entrance" fast travel station. Look for the "All Foods" factory nearby. There’s a drop point against a brick wall. Look for the blood on the ground right next to it. Follow it into the alley.
- The Confrontation: Go back to James. You can kill him, walk away, or just berate him. It doesn't affect the bike, but killing him feels like the "canon" Night City ending.
- Claim the Prize: Go to the All Foods plant in Northside. There is a garage labeled with a "02" near the entrance. Use the code 0214.
Once you’re on the bike, it’s yours. It gets added to your "Call Vehicle" list permanently. No eddies required. Just a bit of legwork and a willingness to look behind a few dumpsters. It’s the ultimate reward for actually being a detective in a city that usually prefers you to be a wrecking ball.
Next time you're cruising through the Badlands, take the Itsumade. It handles the dirt better than the Kusanagi and looks ten times more "Street Kid" than any of the corporate cars you can buy from Dino Dinovic.
Final thought: keep an eye on the dates in shards. In this game, numbers are rarely random. 02/14 isn't just a code; it's the heart of the whole tragic story.