Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty review
Content for this review was captured on Playstation 5
Spoiler Warning: This review contains heavy spoilers for Cyberpunk Phantom Liberty. If you have not played the expansion and don’t want to know the story events beforehand, please play the game first and then return to this review.
There’s little that hasn’t been said about the initial release of Cyberpunk: 2077, and many people will never forgive developer CD Projekt Red for how it was handled. However, despite this, Cyberpunk has seen a resurgence in popularity owing to the success of the Edgerunners anime and years of updates to the base game. Then, in September of 2023, CDPR released Phantom Liberty. This story expansion would introduce a new location, characters, and opportunity for V to kick Soulkiller, the biochip engram that’s slowly killing them, to the curb. This is the only expansion that’ll be released for Cyberpunk, so it begs the question: does it do enough to rewrite the game’s legacy?
“This is one elaborate haze…or a fuckin’ lifeline.”
Phantom Liberty is a spy thriller that sees V working with FIA agents Solomon Reed and Alex Xenakis, along with NUSA president Rosalind Meyers, to save legendary netrunner Songbird from the clutches of the story’s main antagonist, Kurt Hansen. While the events of this story are pretty disconnected from those of the main game, V’s goal remains the same: do whatever is necessary to stop Soulkiller from killing them. So, they'll oblige when Songbird claims she can help them with that goal in exchange for helping her save the president of the NUSA.
Push and Pull
The best aspect of this story is the constant push and pull V contends with throughout the mission to save Songbird. Reed and Meyers both want to save her but for different reasons. The former isn’t always clear about his intentions, though. He took Songbird in as a protege under the guise of protection, feeling responsible for her safety and success as an agent. At the same time, however, Reed reports directly to Meyers, who has her own motivations, creating a conflict of interest that we’re never quite sure Reed has worked out in his mind.
To Meyers, Songbird is a tool to reach beyond and manipulate the black wall. Meyers says she wants to save her, but it’s clear that it's so she can continue to use her as a weapon. When Songbird makes it clear that she wants to be free from Reed, Kurt, and the FIA towards the end of the game, it’s hard to blame her. But we’re still left wondering, should we help Reed, who only seems to have good intentions, or do we help Songbird free herself based on her promise to help rid us of Soulkiller?
I wasn’t able to decide who to help or who to betray until I was forced to. At no point in the game was I able to definitively make up my mind, and that’s a testament to the strength of the writing of this story and these characters. While I was always a fan of the core games writing, this push and pull is what I’ll remember this game for when I look back on it in the future.
Born in the NUSA
If you’re a fan of the lore surrounding Night City, Phantom Liberty is a must-play experience. Through learning about the backstories of each character, our eyes are opened to the bigger picture regarding Night City’s place in the broader NUSA picture.
For example, President Meyers is known for her ambitious goal of reconnecting the United States through the “Unification War.” Night City was an essential piece to that puzzle, which is why Reed was sent there to establish a spy network. Not only this, but we learn that Kurt Hansen was sent to take Night City and make it into an NUSA stronghold through Operation Midnight Storm. He failed to take the city but still managed to capture the eastern part of Pacifica, turning it into what we know as Dogtown.
The choice to flesh out the lore of Night City this way makes Phantom Liberty feel more immersive and broadens the scope of the entire game. So, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to theorize that CDPR may have done this to set up a sequel where the NUSA as a whole is involved. (But this is just speculation.)
Where’s Johnny?
One major thing I felt was missing from the Phantom Liberty story was Johnny Silverhand’s involvement. He’s certainly present, but I couldn’t help but feel he was relegated to the sidelines most of the time. As he does in the base game, he comments on our decisions and is happy to give his opinion whenever possible. For example, if you decide to swear an oath to the FIA, he’ll jab at you relentlessly for it. But besides this, and a couple of other examples of him weighing in with his opinion during critical moments of the story, I couldn’t help but feel his presence, or lack thereof, was a waste of an opportunity.
For example, when V first meets Songbird's hologram outside the Dogtown gate, they learn that she can not only see Johnny but also interact with him. She even goes so far as to mute him so she can talk to V alone through the biochip. Since Johnny and Songbird both exist in cyberspace, perhaps Johnny could have played a more significant role in the search mission to find her. Of course, Johnny has no netrunning skills to speak of to make this happen, but it’s fun to imagine how that could have impacted the story.
Regardless, I still really enjoyed the moments when Johnny was involved, like when he tells V that he can relate to Reed’s obsession with fighting for a cause. Or when he draws a parallel from Reed and Alex’s tumultuous relationship to his past relationships, foreshadowing what may happen between them. Johnny also has a lot of interesting input throughout the story about working for military and government establishments.
He explains that once the establishments have their hooks in you, they’ll never let you go free. Through this dialogue, Johnny essentially frames the reality of Songbird’s situation before we can even come to grips with it ourselves. I think this is a higher and more engaging level of writing than what we saw in the base game that really captures the quality of Phantom Liberty’s storytelling.
A Face In The Crowd
Whether we live out the rest of our days waiting for the Relic to take our life, decide to upload our soul into the Mikoshi servers, or end things on our own terms, the base game endings always felt unresolved. But among the various new endings offered in the Phantom Liberty expansion, one in particular feels like it could be as close to a true resolution as we’re meant to have.
As I mentioned earlier, the push-and-pull storytelling of Phantom Liberty is so good that I couldn’t make a decision for the ending until the last minute. During my first play-through, I opted to help Songbird to see if she would keep her end of the promise to help rid V of Soulkiller.
By choosing to help her escape, you’re forced to fight your way out of the stadium and through the Night City Space Port Security to get to a rocket meant to take you to the moon (a nice call back to the Edgerunners anime). Only, she reveals to you that the cure she stole was a single-use solution and that she never really meant to help you. She would board the rocket alone and leave you behind. I wasn’t about to stand for this betrayal, so I turned her in to the FIA.
The continuation of the push and pull here is done exceptionally well because, naturally, you would believe that the ending is decided once you choose who to betray. But the reveal that Songbird never really intended to help you adds a twist at a point where I didn’t think there could be any more surprises. At this point, I had to ask myself, “Is this rollercoaster ever going to end?”
From here, Reed helps V get the surgery to remove the biochip from their head, wiping Johnny for good. The consequence of this is that V can no longer use combat implants, meaning the merc life they once knew and loved was gone. This point is illustrated during the “A Face In The Crowd” ending, where we’re shown how V can’t defend themselves from two low-life thugs trying to rob them. Misty then helps V come to grips with being an average person.
This is the true ending because of the way it connects everything to the base game. We get closure with most of the major story characters in ways that we didn’t before, which makes the story’s closing feel complete. But the fact that V moves on with their life, leaving everything they know behind, allows us as players to close the book on the story as well.
Hands The Man (Behind the Curtain)
Side missions also saw a welcome improvement in Phantom Liberty. As good as they are though, I’m not referring to the actual side gigs themselves. Gigs such as “Treating Symptoms,” “Waiting for Dodger,” and “Talent Academy” highlight the quality bar CPDR has set for side missions throughout the entire game. Still, I’m referring to the larger side story at play throughout the expansion: assisting Hands to dethrone Hansen from his role as leader of Dogtown and establish political influence from the shadows.
You’ll start by doing your standard Cyberpunk side gigs (which are truly never simple affairs) to help hands establish a presence as a fixer in the area. At one point, he trades blueprints to the Black Sapphire in exchange for you doing said side gigs.
After Hansen is killed, Hands will make his move by tasking you with one final gig: go undercover as world-renowned assassin “Aguilar” and persuade Hansen’s accountant, Jago, from attempting to become Dogtown’s next leader.
Whenever I was doing the main story missions, I was on the edge of my seat, waiting for Hansen to make a move. So, while I didn’t always want to do the gigs Hands threw my way, I was willing to do many of them, knowing they would eventually have an exciting impact. It’s a testament to the depth and intricacy of the story writing in Phantom Liberty.
Dogtown does what it sets out to do
Dogtown sets itself apart as the most dangerous and lawless place in Night City. When Kurt Hansen became the self-proclaimed leader of the Pacifica district, he ran it like a true arms dealer would, using any and all available resources to help bolster his arms deals with other countries. We get a glimpse of this during the “Firestarter” mission as we walk through the Dogtown stadium, where we’re given a tour of Hansen’s weapon production.
Dogtown is introduced to us in three opening sequences - sneaking in through the border, walking through the underground market, and through the mission to save President Meyers after the SF1 crash.
The border scene introduces us to The Barghest, Hansen’s Dogtown enforcement squad. As we watch the Barghest screen people trying to get through the border, we hear Hansen on a loudspeaker warning those trying to enter about the rules in a dictator-like fashion, showing how the ideals of one man completely control this community.
After sneaking in through the border, we’re introduced to the underground market, which illustrates the pure density and detail that went into crafting these environments. We’re also introduced to the false sense of community perpetuated by Hansen here, as we see kids selling weapons, people in rags struggling to survive, and the remnants of a war-torn stadium, all while Hansen spouts propaganda over a loudspeaker.
Then, the mission to rescue President Meyers gives us our first boots-on-the-ground moments on the streets of Dogtown. The decision to combine this with a high-stakes, action rescue mission forces us to confront this new space head-on. But what do we make of this space beyond the introduction?
Dogtown is a truly unique space
Phantom Liberty achieves what we all hope for open-world expansion areas: for them to have unique properties you can’t find anywhere else in the base game. In other words, if Dogtown were just more of Night City, it would’ve fallen short of its purpose. Thankfully, this was far from what it turned out to be.
When I think about Dogtown, I think of the unique, dynamic world events and enemy types baked into it. The Barghest soldiers and biped mechs on street corners, ready to take you down if you act out of line. The Relic skill tree terminals that allow you to harness the power of the biochip through unique ability upgrades. The border scanner that scans you in and out of Dogtown, and how it’ll show “no entry” if you try to enter while the NCPD is hunting you down. All these things make Dogtown feel alive and like it’s something you can be a natural part of.
Dynamic events like the “Hansen drops,” where care packages occasionally fall from the sky out of nowhere, are a thrill to participate in. You’ll have to fight through Dogtown residents and Barghest soldiers to get to them. These fights feel like a competitive multiplayer shooter where everyone is rushing to steal the same objective. Once you make it to the drop, you’re rewarded with a hefty amount of loot if you can crack the hacking sequence.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the Chimera, a terrifying spider mech that you fight alongside Meyers in an attempt to escape The Barghest. I was relieved when this thing was on my side but was utterly confused about how I was supposed to take it down when it turned against me. It probably could have given even Adam Smasher a run for his money.
Dogtown is also a microcosm of Night City itself, with places like The Black Sapphire serving as a mecca for the rich and important to flock to. But like the neighborhoods outside of The City Center or Corpo Plaza, the streets outside of The Black Sapphire are a different world from what’s inside. You can see the dividing line of where Hansen’s investments stop when you exit this building by simply looking at the surrounding environment.
We always hear about “corpos” holding on to all the wealth, leaving everyone else dry, but it’s always framed abstractly. In Dogtown, we can put a face and a name to the wealth disparity. This seemed like an intentional choice by CDPR to lean into what it’s like to exist in Night City. Either you’re making it or not, and there isn’t much grey area.
So, when we look back at Dogtown, these are the things we’ll remember it for because they serve as the foundation for what makes this space work. The things that help this new area achieve its purpose for existing besides being the playground for the Phantom Liberty story to take place in. In this regard, CDPR have achieved this goal with great success and have shown true evolution in location design. In addition to this, Dogtown is breathtaking to take in owing to the power of next-generation path tracing and DLSS 3.5.
New Tech, New V
One of my favorite things about Phantom Liberty is how it implements new tech to help bolster the spy thriller aspect of the story. And what kind of spy thriller would this be without cool undercover missions to use this new tech in? Enter the Behavioral Imprint - an implant that changes the user's appearance, voice, and biometric makeup. It’s so effective that even security scans read you as the person you’re impersonating.
During the later part of the “You know my name” mission, you’re tasked with helping Alex capture the data needed to create behavioral imprints of Aurore and Cassel, the pair of twins that Hansen plans to buy the neural matrix access codes from. This is a tense mission where you have to navigate a conversation with them in a way that keeps them engaged long enough for Alex to complete her scans but not so engaged that they become suspicious of your intentions. This part of the mission is RPG conversational decision-making at its finest.
The surgery you have to install the behavioral imprint is also tackled in a new way. Typically, when you have cyberware installed, it involves a quick loading screen, and you’re done. CDPR does a great job of highlighting the importance of this particular implant by having us sit through an actual surgery, making the typically hands-off upgrade process feel much more immersive. It’s a welcome improvement I hope to see continue should the next Cyberpunk include it.
During the “Firestarter” mission, we put the behavioral imprint to the test by using it to infiltrate the Dogtown stadium and rescue Songbird. By impersonating Aurore and Cassel with the imprint, we’re able to fool Hansen and the Barghest with little trouble. That little trouble comes during the couch conversation as he casually brings up facts from our past. It’s a tense part of the mission where we must refer to our info card to answer questions carefully to avoid arousing his suspicion.
The creative implementation of this tech into this expertly crafted undercover mission shows us that CDPR didn’t want to rest on their laurels when creating an authentic spy thriller. They had the characters and the story, but they also made sure to go beyond just making the standard undercover/stealth missions we’ve come to expect from games like these. They made something truly unique by iterating on the existing cyberware system to create one of the most memorable missions of the expansion.
Cyberpunk: 2077 - 2.0
Revisiting the question of whether or not Cyberpunk has created a new legacy with Phantom Liberty, we can’t fully answer that without discussing the 2.0 update. CDPR spent years updating the game with free patches, but no update was as substantial as the 2.0 patch. In this update, we see significant changes to the perk and skill trees, weapon balancing, NPC behavior, and other stability fixes. Still, there are a few specific updates that help Phantom Liberty shine and feel more feature-complete.
Car Combat
When I first got into a vehicle modded for car combat, I felt like I had just climbed into a tank. This is a bit of an exaggeration, but the point is that you’re made to feel powerful stepping into one of these. The smaller vehicles will have hood-mounted machine guns, but some of the bigger vehicles will include rocket launchers as secondary weapons. Engaging in combat with these vehicles feels very satisfying since you can easily mow down tons of enemies at once with them.
Car combat doesn’t make its way into any of the main expansion story sequences, but you’ll make consistent use of it with the newly added car recovery side gigs. Courtesy of Mumar “El Capitan” Reyes, you now have the opportunity to steal back stolen vehicles you find in the open world marked with a green steering wheel in your mini-map. You’ll find a good number of these cars in Dogtown, and they’ll always require you to leave the district with the car and make it back to Mumar’s garage without sustaining too much damage. You’ll either need to escape from vehicles using car combat against you, or you’ll use it yourself to survive. The addition of these gigs, along with the newly implemented car combat, help the expansion feel more immersive and connected to Night City.
The New Police System
CDPR has now added the highly requested “5-star wanted” system. In Night City, the NCPD will hunt you down until they lose you, similar to the classic GTA police system. However, if you break the rules in Dogtown, you’ll instead be haunted by The Barghest. Dogtown’s smaller and more dense sandbox makes it harder to escape, but a lot more fun to do so nonetheless.
The Relic Skill Tree
The rebalancing of the perk and skill trees has had a profound impact on the entire game. However, these changes are taken further in the Phantom Liberty expansion. Songbird, through her mysterious connection to the relic, gives you the ability to add and upgrade skills to the biochip. You can upgrade these skills by finding hidden Militech terminals around Dogtown that contain upgrade points.
Adding these terminals is a great way to entice players to explore the new expansion area. So, when I think about the Phantom Liberty story and the Dogtown sandbox, I can’t help but feel that they would both feel incomplete without these updates. Regardless of general opinion, these changes give a solid incentive to jump back into this game.
So, has cyberpunk been redeemed?
Whether or not you decide to give Cyberpunk another chance is rightfully up to you. Still, regardless, if you choose to jump back into the game through the Phantom Liberty expansion and the 2.0 updates, you will have an exceptional experience. The extraordinary story writing, exciting cast of new characters, creative implementation of new tech, and impressive new Dogtown sandbox make Phantom Liberty a must-play experience. But does this mean a new legacy has been written for Cyberpunk: 2077?
When I look back on this game in the future, I won’t think about the tumultuous launch. I won’t even think about the years of updates CDPR provided to chip away at making this a better game. I’ll think about how playing through Phantom Liberty felt like Cyberpunk: 2077 had finally reached its potential. It’s a game that feels feature-complete and shows potential for the future. We won’t close the door on this game and forget about it; instead, we’ll look forward to what it may become in its next iteration. So yes, in the end, Phantom Liberty has indeed done enough to rewrite Cyberpunk: 2077’s legacy.