Gaming How-To

How to Play Cyberpunk 2077 in Third Person With Mods

A modded camera and a full animation overhaul let V walk Night City in third person while combat stays first-person.

A modded camera and a full animation overhaul let V walk Night City in third person while combat stays first-person.

Cyberpunk 2077 shipped as a first-person game. Aside from driving, every moment of gameplay and every cutscene happens through V’s eyes, and the third-person camera that CD Projekt Red once showed off never made it into the final release. Modders have spent years closing that gap, and the current setup finally lets you move around Night City behind V’s shoulder with animations that look close to what a purpose-built third-person game would have.

Quick answer: Install Cyber Engine Tweaks, add the JB TPP third-person camera mod on top of it, then install the Every Animation Redone TPP mod for human-like movement. Combat and weapons stay first-person by default, so you get third-person only while exploring.

Image credit: CD PROJEKT RED

What you need for Cyberpunk 2077 third person

Third person on PC is a stack of mods rather than a single toggle. One mod provides the camera, a second rebuilds the character’s movement, and both rely on a scripting framework to function. Install them in order, because the animation overhaul does nothing without the base camera mod underneath it.

ComponentWhat it doesNotes
Cyber Engine TweaksScripting framework the camera mod runs onRequired first
JB – TPP MOD WIP third personAdds the actual third-person camera and controlsBy Jelle Bakker
Every Animation Redone TPP Third PersonRebuilds V’s walk, jog, sprint, jump, and climb animationsBy Tylerrrrr; needs the JB mod
spawn0 – BODY MOD 2.0Body proportions the animation mod was tuned againstOptional but recommended

Set up the third-person camera

Install Cyber Engine Tweaks. Grab the latest build from the Cyber Engine Tweaks releases page and extract it into your Cyberpunk 2077 folder. The camera mod cannot load without it.
Image credit: Nexus Mods
Install the base camera mod. Download JB – TPP MOD WIP third person and drop its files into the game directory. This is what pulls the camera out behind V and adds the debug menu you use to control it.
Add the animation overhaul. Install Every Animation Redone TPP Third Person after the camera mod. It replaces the default movement so V walks, jogs, and climbs like a real character instead of gliding or twisting to face the camera. For the closest match, the mod was built around the body proportions in spawn0 – BODY MOD 2.0.
Launch the game and turn on the camera. Open the JB mod’s debug menu through Cyber Engine Tweaks and enable the third-person camera. You can set the field of view, sensitivity, and zoom for the third-person view separately, and the mod remembers your camera settings between sessions.
Image credit: CD PROJEKT RED

You know it worked when the camera sits behind V and you can see the full character model, with a head attached. Early versions of these mods left V headless until a fix was found for spawning the head, so a complete, visible body is the sign the stack is loading correctly.


What the animation overhaul fixes

The reason third person looked broken for so long comes down to how the game was built. CD Projekt Red mounted the first-person camera at a position that feels right through V’s eyes but does not sit where the character’s head actually is. With no full-body animations authored for an external camera, dropping back into third person left the model distorted and stiff.

The animation mod rebuilds those movements and reshapes V’s rig to line up with how NPCs are proportioned. Recent versions shortened the neck and torso, pulled the arms and shoulders in, and cut the stretching that used to appear during parkour and directional movement. Walking, jogging, jumping in every direction, sliding, and climbing were all reworked, and bumping into crowds now produces a proper reaction instead of the model warping.

These rig edits are applied through additive animations, so they also carry into first person. That makes your arms shorter on screen during normal gameplay and while driving, which reads more naturally than the default view.

Image credit: CD PROJEKT RED / raton

How combat and weapons behave

The intended setup keeps combat in first person and reserves third person for moving through the world. The JB mod includes a weaponOverride setting that snaps the camera back to first person the moment you draw a weapon, which keeps shooting immersive and precise. If you would rather stay in third person with a weapon out, open the debug menu and turn the weaponOverride button off.

Note: dedicated third-person combat animations are the weakest part of the experience. Melee and pistol animations exist as separate add-ons, but they remain rough, which is why leaving combat in first person is the smoother option.

Image credit: CD PROJEKT RED

Current limitations to expect

  • The sprint animation is exaggerated and aggressive compared with the rest of the movement set.
  • Combat animations are unfinished and are not a planned focus, so first-person combat remains the reliable choice.
  • Some holster mods can trigger a brief loading screen when sheathing a weapon; manually unequipping usually clears it.
  • This is a PC-only setup that depends on Cyber Engine Tweaks, so it is not available on consoles.

With the camera mod and the animation overhaul together, exploring Night City in third person finally holds up outside of a fight. It is not the fully integrated feature CD Projekt Red once demoed, but for players who want to see their V move through the world, the community has closed most of the distance.