Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty Review: The Turnaround We Needed

Cyberpunk 2077 is a type of video games that gave me quite a few causes to be upset when it first launched, and the announcement of the Phantom Liberty made me extraordinarily cautious. This is the sport that had the worst form of overpromise and underdelivery. Cyberpunk Edgerunners, the Studio Trigger anime, revitalized the sport and common patches improved the general efficiency, bringing players back to Night City. But the sport was nonetheless lacking the RPG feeling. Does Update 2.0 and Phantom Liberty repair this problem? Can you lastly discover Night City at will? Let’s discover out in our Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty overview!

Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty tries to repair and make up for a lot of the missed guarantees. This DLC presents a strong storyline that expands the world of Night City. While that’s true, the sport nonetheless lacks a lot of the gameplay options we’d have anticipated. However, Phantom Liberty and the two.0 update adjustments are so drastic that you’ll not cease smiling and love exploring this sci-fi journey. We performed the spy thriller DLC and skilled the brand new adjustments, because of an early copy supplied by NVIDIA. And I’ve lots to inform you.

This overview will cowl the key adjustments and impressions concerning the recreation. The efficiency overview and the way it performs on my PC might be in a separate article, which is in progress.

Glory to the NUSA and a New Mission

Phantom Liberty begins instantly after V realizes they’ve an engram drawback. You can skip the primary story and bounce straight into the DLC, which begins the sport at degree 20 with pre-selected cyberware after you’ve created for V. The latter possibility is preferable for returning gamers who’ve had their run-ins with Night City. In my case, I had a save file one mission away from main the siege of Arasaka Tower for Hanako.

The quest begins when a Netrunner for the NUSA, Songbird, calls us to assist NUSA President Rosalind Myers from the crashed wreckage of Space Force 1 in Dogtown, a model new district with its personal algorithm. Hoping to get a remedy for the engram, we rescue the President, however issues nonetheless go improper.

The ruler of Dogtown, ex-Miltech Kurt Hansen, desires the President’s head on his desk. This is the place you and a sleeper agent for the FIA named Soloman Reed come into play. From right here on, the story rapidly turns into the marketed “espionage thriller” the place we do a handful of missions.

My predominant gripe with the story of Cyberpunk 2077 was that there was little or no change within the total story beat. Phantom Liberty makes an attempt to repair this. Your selections nonetheless don’t make plenty of significant adjustments. However, one of many selections we made considerably flipped the end result of the DLC and left me in awe. This is what I anticipated from the title, and it delivers.

The pacing of the story can also be price mentioning right here. The Phantom Liberty DLC for Cyberpunk 2077 strikes via every story sequence at an inexpensive tempo. Not as soon as did I really feel like I wanted to cease the sport to take a break. And imagine me, I performed it in two full periods, about 20 hours. The story is instructed magnificently. Phantom Liberty additionally provides a brand new ending to the sport, ending on a bittersweet observe.

A Slew of New Characters

In the story, Phantom Liberty doesn’t introduce a complete solid of latest characters and solely a handful of them. However, each character launched serves their supposed goal. It by no means feels for as soon as that any of the characters are wasted. Of course, Idris Elba, who performs Soloman Reed, does the sensible job of being a jaded sleeper agent whose complete life is devoted to serving the NUSA. The solely factor he cares about is serving the orders of the President. However, his previous choices additionally hang-out him, questioning his allegiance and obligation to his authorities.

Songbird is one other standout character within the DLC, the place you’ll query your choices and her claims. Seriously, Songbird jogged my memory of Lucy’s character from the Edgerunners present. You can see some parallels between the characters. Speaking something outdoors of that spoils her function, however she performs an necessary part within the recreation.

Of course, different characters shine, just like the ruthless and calculating NUSA President Rosalind Myers. The former CEO of Miltech turned President, Myers, is about outcomes. The voice actress does a fantastic job with the character, leaving an enduring impression. If there may be anybody who feels wasted as a personality, it’s Kurt Hansen. We solely see him briefly in two whole scenes. Maybe more interplay would have helped.

Two different notable characters who performed their roles nicely are one other NUSA sleeper agent, Alex, and the brand new Dogtown-based fixer, Mr. Hands. Alex is an ex-colleague of Soloman’s, working with Songbird and him. Every interplay together with her felt very private. Mr Hands, however, has a vested curiosity in Dogtown and helps V together with his mission in alternate for energy and politics inside the closed confines of the area. Although Mr. Hands’ function is transient, his look and holocalls are charismatic.

Of course, you get more of Keanu Reeves’ Johnny Silverhand. This time, rather less of a prick. Overall, each character you meet and proceed your escapades inside Phantom Liberty ensures that you simply care about them by the tip of the DLC.

A Fresh New Coat Over Familiar Grounds

Phantom Liberty isn’t the one factor the sport introduces. You additionally obtain a free 2.0 update that brings enjoyable and vital adjustments to the gameplay expertise. But earlier than that, let’s talk about what you do in Dogtown.

CD Projekt Red addresses the core drawback of Cyberpunk 2077 with Dogtown. This was my predominant gripe with the sport; you’d discover me saying how wasted a vibrant metropolis like Night City felt within the recreation. You had quite a few grandiose buildings to take a look at, however you might barely work together with them. Dogtown tries to deal with this problem by including new locations to the sport you could go to and discover. But you continue to don’t have something necessary or interactive to do in these buildings. However, now, you’ll be able to stroll at the least into most of them.

Outside of the brand new area, you could have some new actions. Throughout the realm, you’ll often discover an airdropped cache to intercept. You’ll discover supplies, uncommon weapons, and mods from these caches. It’s a mini-game the place the way you method the realm is as much as you. You can arrive early, attempt to intercept the merchandise, or expertise the customized airdrops that reveal lore drops.

Additionally, Mr. Hands presents new gigs you could full to earn rewards. These gigs additionally broaden the universe of Cyberpunk 2077 in a well-recognized means, although. From retrieving a prototype know-how to capturing a Vodoo Boy Netrunner, you could have a number of of them.

Unfortunately, Dogtown serves little to no goal aside from fawning over the brand new area when you’re accomplished with these two actions. This brings me to my main problem with Cyberpunk 2077, the place, even after Update 2.0, the world continues to really feel empty and non-interactive. it once more seems like a wasted alternative. While I did my fair proportion of exploring by visiting buildings, the attraction ran out rapidly as soon as I noticed there was nothing in them. Dogtown tries to be a Night City with augmented life however is as soon as once more decreased to an empty shell of a spot. This in my view is one other miss by Projekt Red.

New Ways to Play

However, it’s price stating that they’ve mounted a lot of the issues within the core Cyberpunk 2077 gameplay with the two.0 update. The two points, particularly the talent tree and the cop AI, have been reworked and stuck. Let’s begin with the cop AI. The system works like several open-world police AI system from some other online game. If you do one thing silly and life-threatening, the police might be alerted. This begins a chase the place you break their sightline and conceal. Each time you efficiently hide, your wished counter is reset, and as your wished counter depth rises, increasingly more cops will seem.

Up till you hit the max wished degree, through which case MaxTac will get dispatched. A working cop AI system makes town livelier, making the place really feel lived-in. Another welcome addition is the entire overhaul of the skill-tree system. This one feels intensive and concerned.

While you continue to obtain attribute factors that you simply spend on the 5 attributes in-game, the talent tree hooked up to the respective attribute has obtained intensive rework. Gone are the times while you spent factors to enhance your crafting talents. The talent timber now give you game-changing rewards. We are speaking, quick-dash, bulldozing via enemies, shockwave assaults. Each of the unlocked abilities additionally has sub-skills that enhance your attributes.

If something, now you can make a definite construct in your V. Want to create a V proficient in Netrunning? You can lastly do it. Want to create a bulldozer V, the place you’re taking much less however deal greater harm? The new talent tree lastly permits it. The adjustments are so significant that you’ll uncover some nice builds. Furthermore, when your attribute reaches a sure degree, you’ll be able to unlock more sections from the talent tree. You may also change into a full-on Ninja, who can sprint round and block bullets with Katana.

The recreation additionally receives a brand new talent tree unique to the Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty DLC referred to as Relic. It comes with three separate abilities so that you can select from, every costing 3 Relic factors. These relic factors are collected from the previous Miltech stations scattered in Dogtown. Relic tree provides you varied new abilities, similar to abilities in your Mantis Blade, cloaking capability, and vulnerability evaluation.

Though not as intensive as the opposite talent tree, it barely revamps your gameplay with signature weapons like Mantis Blade. I feel Projekt Red might’ve added more number of abilities to this tree, with the relic tree feeling fairly barebones.

CD Projekt Red didn’t cease there. You can now interact in vehicular fight, permitting you to shoot whereas driving. Though the holster animation inside a automotive wants some work, you’ll be able to lastly take out individuals providing you with chase. The recreation means that you can do it within the first or third-person mode. Cyberwares and gears additionally went via some adjustments.

Taking inspiration from Edgerunners, the sport now ties your armor score to your Cyberwares. This, after all, implies that attire and uniforms you purchase in-game are actually beauty, offering no safety. The Cyberware menu has change into more partaking, including new animations, and you may solely change the cyberware on the Ripperdoc. This means it’s a must to plan accordingly for the right construct. And sure, you’ll be able to go into cyber psychosis when you’ve got an excessive amount of cyberwar.

The new update additionally provides a brand new radio station. Called 89.7 Growl, it hosts user-created music that CD Projekt Picked up from a contest months in the past. Sasha Grey voices the RJ, and it’ll actually make you bob your head now and again.

Finally, the sport eliminated the collectible and craftable med-hypos and added a mounted Maxdoc. This comes within the amount of two and replenishes over time. Gone are the times of hoarding med-hypos. You now have to plan and method conditions with thought and technique. These adjustments create an interesting expertise, and whereas I’ll stand my floor on town being underutilized, all of those adjustments make the sport a worthwhile expertise.

Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty DLC: Is It Worth Buying?

Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty and Update 2.0 does what we anticipated of the corporate – carry the sport to a place the place it’s enjoyable. I’m not saying CD Projekt Red, as an organization, ought to be minimize any slack for the unique botched launch. We ought to maintain them accountable for the false guarantees and the state through which the sport first launched. But Projekt Red has tirelessly labored to make the sport fulfilling and that’s proven on this DLC. The love and care they’ve showered via the Phantom Liberty DLC and this update makes the recreation a very totally different, fulfilling expertise.

Now, the most important query one may ask is whether or not to play the sport recent with all of those adjustments. And we share the identical thought as CD Projekt Red. We advise you to do a brand new playthrough of Cyberpunk 2077, given how drastic a few of these adjustments are. Granted, we performed the sport off my present save file (cuz we have been brief on time for the overview). However, it hardly deterred the general enjoyable expertise of the sport.

With a storyline that fleshes out the lore of Night City and a few significant gameplay adjustments in tow, Cyberpunk 2077 is lastly in a state the place you should buy and benefit from the recreation with none considerations. This is how the sport ought to’ve launched, and it exhibits that the workforce took each criticism to the chin and delivered a mighty wonderful update. We suggest getting Phantom Liberty and exploring Dogtown with a recent outlook. Well, that is the right technique to shut the curtains on V and their escapades in Night City.

Purchase Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty DLC (Steam, $29.99)