It’s been nearly three years since CD Projekt Red first launched Cyberpunk 2077 into the world. And amid all the issues and updates, the question has constantly been whether Cyberpunk is back; whether it can right the course of its failed launch and regain ground in the eyes of those who were fervently anticipating it.
I’m not sure anything could have cleared those original, lofty expectations, but Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty feels like a fitting swan song for a beleaguered yet still captivating RPG.
Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty (PC [Reviewed], PS5, Xbox Series X|S)
Developer: CD Projekt Red
Publisher: CD Projekt Red
Released: September 25, 2023
MSRP: $29.99
Phantom Liberty is the one and only expansion CD Projekt Red is putting out for Cyberpunk 2077, and it’s important to note that it arrives just alongside a big 2.0 update. These pieces intersect in important ways. Update 2.0 smoothes over a lot of Cyberpunk 2077’s notable shortcomings. Phantom Liberty injects a flood of new content, through its campaign and new quests, as well as a whole new area in Dogtown.
Your mission, if you choose to accept it
Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty is framed as a spy thriller, and it nails that feeling. A netrunner named Songbird (Christine Minji Chang) contacts V and informs them that they’re with the President of the NUSA, and their ship—Space Force One—is about to crash, right in the middle of the hotbed of Dogtown.
The story essentially juts into the narrative of Cyberpunk 2077, which has up-and-coming mercenary V trying to save themselves from a soul-stealing Relic in their head that’s slowly overwriting their consciousness with dead rockerboy Johnny Silverhand. CDPR justifies the excursion with a simple, albeit effective, dangling carrot: Songbird knows about the Relic, and promises a cure in return for V’s help in rescuing NUS president Rosalind Myers.
Dogtown, though, is a walled-off Combat Zone informally ruled by former NUS colonel Kurt Hansen, and not exactly a peaceful piece of Night City. Explosions, gunfire, and a giant mech battle later, and V is holed up with the president, seeking a way out, which they find in former master spy Solomon Reed (Idris Elba).
What spins out from there is a pretty compelling spy tale. The intertwining web of double-crosses and lingering tension amid all the spies and operatives is enticing, and V being caught up in the middle makes for good framing. The beginning is big and loud, and doesn’t let off the gas for several missions in a row. Phantom Liberty’s conclusion is even better, and will probably be the part of this expansion most people talk about. It’s got several gut-wrenching decisions, some big set piece moments, and really dives into the lives of spent soldiers who’ve given their all, now questioning what they gave it all for.
Reed and Songbird especially shine in these moments, with both Elba and Chang respectively delivering. Songbird, especially, became one of my favorite characters in Cyberpunk 2077’s world, even stood up even against the game’s stellar companions. And Elba, while feeling a bit understated at first, gets more to work with as the tensions ramp up. Both really make some of the more dramatic moments and monologues of Phantom Liberty shine.
Keanu Reeves also delivers a solid performance, returning as Johnny Silverhand for the expansion and getting some genuinely compelling asides, expanding on his history as an NUS deserter. The ever-present conflict and war, and the way these career spies have been shorn down over the years beneath the shadow of their flag, really works.
Brothers in arms
Some of Cyberpunk 2077’s historical issues do crop up, though. The middle portion of Phantom Liberty indulges in one of my less favorite aspects of Cyberpunk 2077: the “wait for a call” pacing. Multiple times, the story slams on the brakes. While the intention could be signposting when it’s okay to go do other open-world activities, it never stopped feeling jarring.
Thankfully, Dogtown does add a lot to do. It’s extremely active, thanks to a few area elements CD Projekt Red has introduced. The big one is airdrops; noise will blare and a ship will swoop in from overhead, dropping a crate of goods and a red smoke signal. An enterprising merc like V could, at that point, swoop in and take out any other would-be raiders, snatching the supplies for themselves.
These fights aren’t too involved and, depending on what level you’re at when you start this campaign, can be a bit easy. But, airdrops also provide a constant source of cash, components, shards, and high-tier gear. I routinely looted new, effective gear, and it feels like airdrops are Cyberpunk 2077’s way of introducing a repeatable loot opportunity for some of its best gear. It’s very Destiny, but in a good way.
Especially for endgame players, the arsenal of weapons Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty gives to V is excellent. Some of this is wrapped up in combat, post-2.0, feeling a lot stronger and more varied than just being a shooter. But Phantom Liberty loves to hand some unique, memorable guns to the player.
The “Her Majesty” silenced pistol became a staple of my playthrough, as did a tech sniper rifle that could pierce surfaces when charged. What I dug about these options, and other guns I picked up in Dogtown, is that they encouraged me to play a little different than I used to. While I would still spend most my time in the net world, hacking enemies, the silenced handgun made it easier to consider a stealth option more often. Combat feels like it’s in a good place in the 2.0 Cyberpunk universe, even when I don’t always need to resort to it.
Dog eat dog town
Side quests are also pretty strong. I haven’t done all of them, and haven’t seen any that hit the peak highs of Sinnerman or Dream On, but they’re good, especially in the writing department. A few highlights include a Braindance fan getting zapped while watching one of his favorite stars and believing he’s now her; a shady clinic under siege from scavs; and recovering some prototype cyberware, only to discover the job’s a lot more complex.
They’re all paced well, tell a solid and contained story, and even get some follow-ups after you’ve ticked them complete in your journal. These side quests also dig into some of the more interesting topics within the world of Cyberpunk, too. Especially if you want some of the more futuristic dystopia vibes.
Alongside the new set of missions and story Phantom Liberty, CD Projekt Red also introduces a new ending specifically for a choice made near the end of the expansion. While Phantom Liberty has its own ending and resolution, with a wrap-up that lingers even after the expansion’s credits roll, there is also a full additional ending to the game proper.
Alongside a really stellar ending to the expansion, the additional ending to Cyberpunk 2077 proper is really good. Oddly enough, it feels a bit like a send-off for the game itself; I’d actually recommend those playing Cyberpunk 2077 to get a “traditional” ending first, then run back to get the new ending. It feels especially intriguing for returning players, and puts a bittersweet note on not just V and Johnny’s journey, but the entire run up to this point. It’s where Phantom Liberty feels the most like a send-off for Cyberpunk 2077 as a whole.
Ghost in the shell
Like I said above, talking about Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty also entails talking about its 2.0 update. While the two didn’t directly coincide, they’re both ample reason for coming back to Night City, and the update is a big part of what makes the expansion feel different.
Notably, Cyberpunk 2077 has reworked its skill trees. There are much fewer incremental number upgrades, and instead, more perks and options that give V new or expanded tools. The new Relic tree, directly tied into Phantom Liberty and Dogtown, is a big part of this, adding extra features for arm-installed cyberware, optical camo users, and those who like to shoot shiny red spots on enemies for massive damage. But even within the branches of each attribute, skills feel more impactful.
My V was a netrunner in the base game, and I kept it that way going into Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty. The new option to ‘queue up’ quickhacks seemed daunting and unclear at first, until I eventually figured out that it worked a lot like playing a card game. If I was smart and planned out my quickhack sequence, the perks of that tree rewarded me with fast RAM recovery, bonus effects, and more. Rather than casting cyber magic spells at enemies, I felt like I was playing Slay the Spire or Magic, dumping damage cards in a specific sequence to deal the most net-based devastation.
It’s a more interactive and, consequently, rewarding feeling for hacking, and it felt like that carried out through the other options I saw and experimented with in other trees. Combat in Cyberpunk 2077 was already pretty cool, and I felt like the original skill trees didn’t always add enough to that; with these new perks, V gets to do way more cool stuff, way more often, and progression feels that much more tangible.
Night City still looks and sounds great. That much hasn’t changed leading into Phantom Liberty, and Dogtown has some fantastic vistas to gaze out over. There’s new music and radio stations, plus new weapons, pick-ups, and just about new everything. While it’s still built on the Cyberpunk 2077 you know, the combined Phantom Liberty and 2.0 dual-header has a sheen of ‘new’ that makes a fresh playthrough tempting.
Future days
But Phantom Liberty is still built on Cyberpunk 2077 as a base, and alongside the narrative pacing qualms I had above, there are also still bugs in need of ironing out. I had enemies clip through the ground a few times, vehicles stutter forward and around, and a few other issues. Most notably, I had my quickhacks wiped from my cyberware with the update, something CD Projekt told me they would look into and fix.
The bugs and quirks are still present, though not as game-shatteringly problematic as they were in the past, from my experience. On a whole, Cyberpunk 2077 feels like it’s gained back some ground. And so, to answer the question about whether Cyberpunk is back, I do feel it’s at least in a state where CDPR could feel content moving on to whatever’s next.
And I do hope there’s a next. That’s a fire that Phantom Liberty kicked up in me. Seeing the NUS getting involved in all the goings-on of Night City added another layer of intrigue and tension that roped me back into this world. Even when I was tired of having to open my journal and arbitrarily wait 24 hours to see the next step of my main quest, I sometimes took it as a chance to stray off the path and find some side activities, raid an airdrop, or just get into a cop chase.
Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty is a great expansion, with a conclusion that easily secures it a spot on CD Projekt Red’s track record for great expansions. The spy thriller tale works well, the story beats hit, and the new perspective on Night City adds a good reason to return for those who’ve already seen Cyberpunk 2077 through once. Phantom Liberty is a fitting swan song for Cyberpunk 2077, and has me interested to see what plans CD Projekt might have for this adapted world in the future.
[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]
Published: Sep 20, 2023 10:00 am