Night City, 2026 — I did not expect to still be thinking about a side job from a 2023 expansion, but 'Balls to the Wall' remains one of those compact stories that asks a simple question: how far should V go to clean up someone else's mess? I went back to Dogtown on a current save, followed the marker near the Golden Pacific fast-travel point, and found the whole ordeal just as tense as I remembered.
Meeting Paco And Babs
The quest begins at the camp near the Golden Pacific fast-travel spot. After heading inside and turning left, I found two Barghest members, Paco and Babs, deep in conversation. Interacting with Paco triggers a longer sit-down. He offers a drink and drugs. You can skip the drink, but accepting Paco's drug is mandatory to advance. That moment pulls V into a shared braindance-like memory, and suddenly I was no longer V—I was playing as Hansen.
Becoming Hansen
Inside the flashback, V takes control of Hansen. I talked to Yuri on the railing, then went downstairs to confront Paco in a makeshift arena. The fistfight is straightforward: Paco's punches are slow, and he doesn't dodge well. After beating him down, the sequence ends and V returns to the present. This part is less about difficulty and more about understanding the power dynamic between Hansen and his crew.
Protecting The Convoy
Paco offers another hit, which throws V back into the past. This time I was riding in a truck with Hansen when scavengers attacked. The game equips a powerful pistol, and the shooting segment is almost power fantasy: enemy vehicles fall quickly. After a short chase, I had to get out and clear more scavengers. A throwing knife appears, but I switched back to the pistol. The final wounded enemy is meant to be spoken to, not just executed, before returning to the present.
Here is where the side job becomes genuinely interesting. Paco admits he stole generators from the convoy and sold them. That confession puts V in the role of fixer, counselor, or executioner depending on how you answer.
The Core Choice: How Do You Help?
In my 2026 run, I tested all four routes. They all share the same setup, but the outcomes range from quietly tragic to surprisingly hopeful. The table below summarizes them.
| Choice | What you do | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Frame Yuri | Meet in the underpass, fight Yuri, find the conversation revealing Hansen knew | Paco dies; Babs flees to Kenya |
| Convince Paco to skip town | Drive Paco to the mall | Babs stays; Paco later works with scavengers |
| Ask Panam for help | Text Panam to arrange transport | Paco and Babs head to Kenya safely |
| Ask River for help | Use NCPD connections for replacement generators | Paco and Babs survive in Dogtown |
Is framing Yuri the obvious solution? It feels like it in the moment, but the quest punishes it. After killing Yuri, I searched his body and found a conversation proving Hansen already knew about the theft. That made Paco's execution feel less like pressure and more like a quiet tragedy. Scanning Paco's body near the Needle was one of the grimmest follow-ups I encountered.
If instead you convince Paco to leave, Babs stays behind because both of them vanishing would be suspicious. I followed Paco to his car, drove him to the mall, waited two days, and met him near Afterlife. He had landed a new gig with scavengers and gave me an assault rifle. It's not the worst ending, but it leaves Babs behind and Paco in a predatory line of work.
The Panam and River options are the cleanest, assuming you maintained those relationships. With Panam, I texted her and she arranged transport to Kenya. A few days later Paco confirmed they were safe and left a gift at the original camp. With River, I asked about replacement generators, relayed the NCPD connection to Paco, and received a celebratory message after a day or two. Both feel like the 'best' outcomes because they don't require abandoning anyone or killing Yuri based on a false assumption.
My 2026 Takeaway
I keep returning to this quest because it understands something many open-world side jobs miss: a single choice should reveal who V is, not just unlock a different loot drop. The 'frame Yuri' path is memorable precisely because it feels rational in the moment and then makes you scan a body. Should I have seen it coming? Probably not on a first playthrough, but that's the point.
By 2026 standards, 'Balls to the Wall' still holds up mechanically. The Hansen sequences are brief and cinematic, the combat is easy enough to enjoy, and the ending branches are distinct without bloating the quest. If you are replaying Phantom Liberty after the base game's many fixes, this side job is a perfect one-evening stop.
Industry context is referenced from HowLongToBeat, whose completion-time data helps frame why Phantom Liberty side jobs like “Balls to the Wall” work so well in a single sitting: the quest’s tight braindance-style flashbacks, short combat spikes, and clearly segmented choice outcomes create a compact loop that fits neatly into an evening replay without the sprawl of longer Dogtown arcs.