Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty

This game's reception has certainly had one heck of a ride. After years of hype following a stylish reveal trailer it launched to, well, less than favorable reviews. While I assume at least some of the response to its 2020 release was overblown, the game was in a rough enough state that even Sony didn't feel comfortable leaving it on its store. The hullabaloo at the end of 2020 was enough to keep me away and, as I had more than enough other things on my mind at the time, I welcomed the chance to free up my schedule. Still, my interest in a "lower-case C" cyberpunk experience gnawed at me until I finally bit the bullet at the start of 2022 when its 1.5 update dropped. I almost immediately fell in love with the game.

People went into this game with wildly different expectations, but for me it was exactly what I wanted. A more open-ended take on something like Deus Ex with a story that's just as dour and unhappy as you'd expect from something calling itself "cyberpunk". It's dark and gritty and edgy and violent and I loved it. The voice acting is solid throughout, Keanu Reeves is more than just a pretty face (Johnny Silverhand is a legitimately good character) and the combat has enough variety that it never felt stale. There were issues, sure, and some of the set dressing like the hypersexualized and over-the-top advertisements took some getting used to, but once I'd adjusted to the world I deeply enjoyed just about everything the game had to offer. 

I played through the original game's ending once and felt pretty satisfied with where my decisions led me. I landed on something that felt tonally right for the setting and while I know there are other ways it could've gone, based on what I knew/assumed about the other endings, I've never felt much of a need to see what those other routes looked like. The story of "my" V felt like it had reached its conclusion and I was content to put this game behind me.

This is what my V looked like for most of the game.

 

What about Phantom Liberty, then, you might ask? Well, it's more Cyberpunk 2077 and it's up there with the best stuff in the original. Additionally, one of the selling points of this DLC was that it would be introducing a new ending. While I was satisfied with what I'd gotten, the allure of an additional post-launch ending was enticing. Could this be the "canon" ending that the inevitable sequel would be taking into account? I'm rambling, but the idea of revisiting V's story and potentially ending things on a different tack was one of the things that made me want to jump back into Night City.

Aside from that, though, this expansion also touts a new district for you to explore. In the original game there was a large walled off section of the city and now, thanks to the power of DLC, you can explore it. Despite appearing relatively small compared to the rest of the map Dogotwon, the new district, is incredibly dense and manages to feel different from the rest of Night City. It's a somewhat rundown area crammed full of people and run like a warzone and it feels like one. Where Night City is largely a flashy city, and the outskirts are, well, the outskirts, Dogtown manages to feel urban and lived-in in ways wholly different to the rest of the city.

The story is a good addition to the world and Idris Elba, much like Keanu before him, puts in a good performance and is more than just a cheap celebrity cameo. There's depth to his character that takes some time to emerge and the story overall has the same level of nuance and tragedy that I'd come to expect from this world. Night City does not seem like a great place to live (see above photo) and a whole lot of bad things happen, so whatever small victories people are able to claw out for themselves are worth celebrating.

When I talk about this game's recent changes, I suppose I'm not just talking about Phantom Liberty. They also put out an incredibly substantial update that completely overhauls how the skill tree works as well as so many other nitty-gritty gameplay systems. There are new weapons, new types of missions, new animations, perks, and so much more and when taken in toto the version of Cyberpunk 2077 you have access to now is substantially different from even the 1.5 version I played in 2021. It's still the same sort of game so if the launch version seemed not to your style I doubt that'd've changed but it's undergone such a refresh that it's absolutely worth revisiting if you enjoyed it but think you've already had your fill.

Not every game is given the time and support it needs to turn itself around but I'm glad that CDPR stuck with this. There's something pretty special at the heart of this game and Phantom Liberty latches onto and expands upon the best of it.