CYBERPUNK 2077: PHANTOM LIBERTY

Phantom Liberty is NOT an expansion that dramatically changes the Cyberpunk 2077 experience to the point of making the original game unrecognizable. This ought to be made clear from the start, and if anyone expects to buy the expansion and suddenly experience a completely different game (as some reviews claim), they will likely be disappointed. Of course, this in no way means that the release of Phantom Liberty (and the accompanying free 2.0 patch) does not introduce high-quality new material to CP2077 and is not at the same time a clear, almost cataclysmic I would say improvement to almost all systems in the game.

Given the parallel release of the expansion with a free companion patch, I feel a bit like I'm analyzing the release of an expansion for Stellaris, but that's probably the best way to approach the whole release since Patch 2.0 has a major impact on the quality of the game whether one chooses to buy the expansion or not.

In my review of the original Cyberpunk 2077 back in late 2020 I listed a number of flaws I could spot in the game, ranging from minor to major. Seeing the game in its current version, it's literally as if CD Projekt RED read those flaws and decided to fix them one by one with the latest patch. From small things like optimizing the UI, to medium ones like removing Armor from clothing items (now Armor is offered exclusively by our character's Implants, and clothing is almost exclusively cosmetic) and simplifying crafting (a feature that also ties in slightly with the larger skill system overhaul - more on that below), all the way to the... main course, which is none other than the AI.

When analyzing back in the review of the original CP the areas affected by AI (mainly pedestrians, driving NPCs and the police), I had written that "hopefully future Patches will fix the situation" but "I don't know if such a fundamental function as the AI can be fixed". Almost 3 years later, well, it's time to give the CDPR creators credit for doing EXACTLY that.

On one hand, pedestrians now have some extra personality and will run, for example, to save themselves if a fight breaks out near them (8 out of 10 times at least - there are still some remnants of the old "crippled" AI). On the other hand, random drivers can now overtake (!!!) or change course to avoid random obstacles (such as ourselves when we're driving on the opposite side of the road like maniacs), and will also increase speed to escape when their vehicle is attacked. Finally, the police finally work more or less exactly like in GTA games, with NCPD forces constantly patrolling the streets instead of spawning on our heads as soon as we commit a crime, stepping in when we do commit a crime to locate and pursue us, with their forces' strength increasing as the "stars" of our pursuit rise, and with the pursuit ceasing if they lose track of us.

The above may be minor touches in the grand scheme of things, but they succeed 100% in increasing the believability of the open-world, which was one of my big complaints from the initial release of CP. But there are clearly more substantial gameplay changes/additions, the main one being the rebuilding of the game's Skill System practically from scratch. The fairly chaotic Perks from the original release are reorganized into some more tidy Perk Trees, which contain fewer Perks but are 100% more geared towards specific builds (Stealth, Netrunning, Melee, firearms subclasses, etc.). It's also worth noting that, instead of giving some simple 5% increased damage bonus, now the vast majority of Perks offer some new ability related to the game's builds, enriching the player's playstyle and arsenal.

The passive bonuses that were removed from Perks are now tied to the introduction of 5 new Skills: Headhunter, Netrunner, Shinobi, Solo, Engineer. Every time we do any in-game action we gain XP towards one of these Skills (for example when crafting we gain Engineer XP, when killing people with shotguns and assault rifles Solo goes up, when doing Cyber attacks Netrunner goes up, etc.), raising the level of each skill, with passive bonuses unlocked every 5th level.

Patch 2.0 introduces many more features, such as full level scaling (which affects enemies, merchant stock and quest rewards, among other things), vehicle combat, new weapons and melee moves, modifications to how Cyberware works, and more, too many to go into at length here, so we suggest you take a look at the official Patch Notes.

Beyond the free Patch 2.0, however, we also have the content that's locked behind the purchase of the Phantom Liberty Expansion, which introduces a new region of Night City, a walled area to the east of Pacifica called Dogtown. There, Colonel Kurt Hansen and the security forces under him have established some sort of an autonomous "kingdom" where the black market and arms trade flourish - a fact that has been instrumental in getting all Corporations to more or less leave Dogtown alone. I have to point out how well-designed Dogtown is; it's essentially a very small part of the map compared to the rest of Night City and the Badlands, but offers huge exploration potential due to the increased verticality, as there is access to multi-level basements, galleries, tunnels, streets, rooftops and other extensions of the area's many buildings that can be visited.

This is mostly where the new storyline thread introduced by Phantom Liberty takes place, which I could describe as a combination of Spy Thriller and classic Heist Film. There's everything you'd expect from these genres: government sleeper agents, spies, high-profile robberies and assassinations, high-tech gadgets, identity theft, chase sequences, secret plots and schemes, backstabbing and twists at every turn. At the conclusion of the main quest there's even the option to unlock an entirely new finale for V and Johnny's story, which of course could only be described as bittersweet - after all, as I wrote again in the original CP review, there can't be a truly happy ending in a place like Night City.

Alongside the main quests, Phantom Liberty introduces about 15 other sidequests and Gigs, most of which are extremely well written and offer one or more options during their progression, both in terms of the approach to the objective and the consequences. Especially this last one is probably my favorite aspect of the expansion: for example, if at the finale of a quest we have the option to kill someone or let them escape, depending on our decisions we will then receive new relevant messages and phone calls, we will at some point in Dogtown run into the protagonists of the quest as NPCs who talk to us about their lives after our decisions in the quest, we might also receive completely new relevant side-quests. And that goes for ALL new quests. The creators have tried really hard, and succeeded, in making every decision we make in Dogtown have some obvious, small or large impact on the world of Cyberpunk.

It's also worth noting the boost in the available open-world activities in Dogtown, with some of them reminding me quite a bit of... Ubisoft's The Division, truth be told. Specifically, every few hours some aerial supply drops (memories of The Division's Dark Zones...) pop up at some point in Dogtown, which can be claimed to earn high-level weapons, cyberware, money, and shards with flavor text that tell minor stories from the world. Obviously though, these supply drops are in the sights of all the Gangs in the area (and Hansen's forces) so we'll have to fight them if we want to claim the prize. Another activity are some areas with "increased gang activity", which are like small dungeons in the open world, at the end of which a Gang Leader is found as a Boss Fight, but also substantial Loot.

Finally, the expansion introduces some Vehicle Theft missions, which are random-generated and theoretically you can do them forever. These involve expropriating a vehicle and taking it to a drop point, with varying rewards. But the truth is that I didn't get to explore this particular content myself because... the first quest that unlocks these missions was bugged, so they never appeared on the map. Despite the improvements and modifications, some elements of Cyberpunk 2077 are unfortunately not going to change that easily.

Ultimately, what I stated in the article's intro is 100% true: Phantom Liberty (and Patch 2.0) don't result in a completely different game, but they manage to elevate the Cyberpunk experience to perhaps the highest level it could reach given the philosophy and original design of the game. If someone wasn't thrilled with CDPR's cinematic storytelling from the start and found CP's battles uninspired, the open-world navigation boring and/or Johnny Silverhand and Keanu Reeves' performance unnecessary presences in the world (the truth is that Johnny's role in the expansion is decidedly more mild and subtle, of course), then Phantom Liberty probably won't mean much to them. But for those who had a little to a lot of fun with the original CP, the new region of the expansion will offer the thrill of exploration, the new quests the thrill of choice and consequence, the new story thread the thrill of cinematic design and suspense (also note Idris Elba's excellent performance as one of the protagonists), the Patch 2.0 modifications the thrill of leveling, combat, and navigating the world.

One can't help but wonder how things would have turned out if Cyberpunk 2077 had been released in THIS state from the start, and used the further momentum of the expansions to tell more stories of similar quality. Unfortunately we'll be left wondering, as the devs have already said that Phantom Liberty concludes V's story, so we won't be seeing any more extra content for the game. If anything, however, the Polish developers have managed, through the (hopelessly much, in terms of specific areas) work they've put in, to restore at least some of CDPR's intergrity, regardless of the fact that it took them a few more years than we expected and than perhaps it should have.

We would like to thank CD Projekt RED for providing the review code for the game.

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