The city of neon gets a glow-up thanks to DLC and its update 2.0.
It’s an impressive thing, watching a game make a complete 180° in public perception – ESPECIALLY when it’s positive. The pantheon of games to make this journey is small, though No Man’s Sky is probably the most common example. After an undeniably bumpy introduction, the CD Projekt Red team has put in the work over the past three years to give Cyberpunk 2077 the glow-up it too deserves… culminating in the revolutionary update 2.0 and new Phantom Liberty DLC.
It’s hard to talk about Phantom Liberty without also discussing the game’s big update; a lot of what you’ll do in Dogtown is entrenched in the changes to the game’s mechanics brought by the update itself.
Update 2.0 is available free to all players, offering game-wide revamps, a new skill system, a reworked cyberware and equipment structure, and an overhaul of the enemy AI – but for many past players, Phantom Liberty will be a re-introduction to a game that’s very different to the way they left it. That was just how I entered the reborn Night City of Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 – my save file tells me I tied a bow on the main game’s campaign a year ago, almost to the day.
On top of the usual awkwardness of reacquainting yourself with a game’s controls, a character I’d forgotten about texted to inform me that my body got a firmware update… and had been reset to factory settings because of it. This was Cyberpunk’s way of telling me that it had rewritten its cyberware and gear mechanics so completely, that it just gave back all my perk points and told me to rebuild myself from scratch. It was almost comforting to know V found himself in the same shoes as me, relearning how to interact with the world around him all over again.
After deciding who I was as a person for the second time, a tip-off led me to meet a mysterious contact near the entrance to the newly-added Dogtown zone in Night City. It’s not long before our new friend Songbird reveals her identity as a secret agent, and drops the bombshell that the president is about to crash out of the sky nearby. What follows is an extended first mission that sees you infiltrating Dogtown, tracking the President in the currently-crashing Space Force One and then rushing to save her from the oppressive leader of the independent state of Dogtown, Colonel Hansen.
While I was not a fan of the initial stealth segment (this is not a fun way to re-learn the game) or the platforming-in-the-dark portion — even the 2.0 update couldn’t introduce a flashlight button to Cyberpunk 2077 — everything that followed was a madcap adventure that sold me on everything Cyberpunk had always aspired to be. While I won’t spoil the specifics, I will say that this initial intro mission to Phantom Liberty culminates in an extremely cool and cyberpunk-ass boss battle, with multiple phases and twists that far outclassed any boss I ever fought in the original game. Period.
Not long after this was the introduction of Solomon Reed, the star player of the DLC as portrayed by the talented Idris Elba. The translation of Elba’s likeness into the game is perfect, and immediately recognisable. Perhaps it’s the familiarity of knowing how he moves and emotes on the big screen, but the facial capture is especially impressive for Reed; there is legitimate, capital-A Acting happening here.
Every scene with Reed impressed me with the complexity of how he moved, shifted his posture and gave extra nuance to his dialogue just from subtle changes in his expression. Finally, an implementation of AI (Artificial Idris) that I can give my full support!
Once unleashed in Dogtown, what you’ll find is a microcosm of the greater Night City. While the area itself is a lot smaller, it’s densely packed with activity and curiosities in a way the greater city isn’t. There’s always something new to do nearby, NPCs carrying out little vignettes or the allure of a fresh supply drop to keep you running about to see what else is in store for V. Main story missions weave in and around Dogtown, meaning you’ll sometimes spot a familiar location in a new context – at one point I was surprised to find a rave going on in a shopfront where I’d been stealth-killing goons only a few hours earlier.
In an odd way, moments like this highlight how fast-paced and unsentimental the Night City life is. Slowly building up an understanding of how it all slots together – while causing chaos in your quest to save the President and help Reed and Songbird out – really makes you feel like the master of your Dogtown domain.
Along with everything else on offer, you’ll find hidden caches of Militech combat data that allow you to unlock Phantom Liberty’s brand-new Relic perks. Early on, Songbird works some tech-magic on the Relic biochip (also known as the home of Johnny Silverhands) in your head, turning the ever-glitching Relic tile on your perk screen into a fully-functioning set of upgrades.
Using their own, separate Relic points, these upgrades allow you to further customise your character build with preem upgrades to iconic weapons like the Mantis Blades and Monowire, or adding extra weak points to target in combat. These upgrades really do make an impact on the power of your various implants, making tracking down those Militech boxes all the more tempting.
While it took V and I a second to re-find our feet in the new and improved Night City, everything after that was a blast. New additions like vehicle combat add exciting new variety to missions, and more major enhancements like the revamped cyberware system make you feel more in control of your post-human body.
The mere fact that clothing choices can now be based on what you feel like wearing, instead of just wearing whatever random fashion-disaster combination gives you the most armour, shows that CD Projekt Red worked hard to make the game FUN in every way it could be. Add to this an exciting spy-thriller story full of interesting characters I’ll actually remember, and you’ve got a hell of a DLC on your hands.
If this is the finale of Cyberpunk 2077’s redemption arc, it’s a damn impressive one. I’m excited to see what a sequel built from the ground up with these lessons learned will be like, but until then I’ll keep poking around Night City to see what’s new.
Cyberpunk 2077 is available now on Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, PS4 and PS5. Expect Phantom Liberty on those same platforms — sadly minus last-gen consoles — from 26 September.
Cyberpunk 2077′s Phantom Liberty DLC was reviewed using a promotional code on PS5, as provided by the publisher. Click here to learn more about Stevivor’s scoring scale.
 |
Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty26 September 2023PC PS5 Xbox Series S & X |
This article may contain affiliate links, meaning we could earn a small commission if you click-through and make a purchase. Stevivor is an independent outlet and our journalism is in no way influenced by any advertiser or commercial initiative.
