Remember how many dild*s were originally in Cyberpunk 2077? You couldn’t loot a corner in Night City without picking one up, to the point where CD Projekt Red actually had to patch a number of them out. Lootable dild*s weren’t necessarily a problem on their own, but their abundance was a good example of how Cyberpunk’s grand story could occasionally clash with the cheap shock humor found around it. Phantom Liberty aims to right that dild* misalignment, and after some soul-searching, has seemingly found what kind of Cyberpunk story it wants to tell, and nails it. Balancing the punk-rock verve of Mike Pondsmith’s tabletop RPG with an exquisitely crafted spy story and best-in-class visuals, Phantom Liberty is Cyberpunk 2077 at its best.
Phantom Liberty begins with the President of the NUS crash landing in a self-governed district of Night City called Dogtown, and you’re hired by her Secret Service detail to rescue her. From there you will meet the two most important new characters in the expansion, Song So-Mi, an NUSA hacker excellently played by Christine Minji Chang, and Solomon Reed, a sleeper agent who is brought back into commission portrayed by the iconic Idris Elba.
Elba is again channeling his city-wise American accent from The Wire, only this time on the other side of the law. He’s definitely not phoning this role in either, delivering a thoroughly captivating performance as a secret agent who made me so desperately want to trust him even though he is Night City’s greatest spy, and therefore probably never telling the full truth. Phantom Liberty relies heavily on make-or-break decisions that can’t be taken back, and Reed is part of the reason why those choices become so difficult.
Keanu Reeves also makes a return as Johnny Silverhand. Maybe it’s the years since I last played, but I feel Reeves is actually better this time around, performance-wise. Honestly, I think it’s that he has better material to work with in Phantom Liberty, which requires him to rattle off fewer diatribes about screwing over the system. Instead, the expanded story lets Reeves explore Silverhand’s mournful side, delving into his existence as a failed revolutionary imprisoned in someone else’s body. But more than that, between Elba, Reeves, and Chang, Phantom Liberty does a great job highlighting just how advanced its character animations are compared to some other big-budget RPGs. At the intersection of performance and technology, CDPR has found something in Cyberpunk 2077 that can genuinely move you. Just wait until you meet Reed’s spy associate, Alex.
Phantom Liberty harnesses this wild energy into mature storytelling.
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Overall, Phantom Liberty has a much firmer grasp on what kinds of stories can be told in Night City. It’s a metropolis full of political wheelings and dealings, all manner of crime, and more than its fair share of idiots, and that’s unique in the sci-fi hacker genre compared to the dour and operatic worlds of Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell. Cyberpunk 2077 is grunge and metal, and Phantom Liberty harnesses this wild energy into mature storytelling – something the outstanding animated Netflix show, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, also managed to capture.
Elevated by Elba’s and Chang’s respective performances, Phantom Liberty hits all the things I love in a Cyberpunk story: it hones in on the hopelessness of hyper-capitalism and the dehumanizing effects of technology on our souls, all while using the spy motif to introduce some new themes to the world. How can we trust anyone when every element of the future has been so thoroughly taken over by automated forces of corporations and government? It has more to say than I expected going in, and more than I could have hoped for after my initial playthrough of Cyberpunk 2077.
CDPR has played a wicked trick by infusing side missions with complex moral dilemmas.
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Similarly, CDPR gets a ton of mileage out of its spy premise. There are exciting moments where you’re channeling your best Ethan Hunt from Mission: Impossible, complete with a new face to trick your targets, as well as an entire section that was very clearly inspired by Skyfall. I was curious to learn how an espionage plot could fit into Cyberpunk 2077’s story about varying levels of criminality – from the dingiest streets to the tallest executive corporate suite – but Phantom Liberty reminds us that the government, too, is part of our hyper-capitalist meat grinder, and not much separates a government agent from a streetwise fixer.
It’s serious business, but whenever the storyline begins to feel too heavy you can take on side jobs for Mr. Hands, a fixer whose clientele ranges from kidnapped arms dealers to a doting resident who just wants to rescue her dumb-as-bricks fiance and his even dumber friend. But make no mistake: CDPR has played a wicked trick by infusing these side missions with the same kind of complex moral dilemmas you’re forced to resolve during the main campaign.
What remains just as impressive as it was the first time I played Cyberpunk 2077 is Night City, which is still one of gaming’s great locations. The sense of awe at its scale hasn’t faded, and returning there after three years I find myself with the same level of admiration for CDPR’s grand work. Maybe even more so, given that Phantom Liberty adds an entire new district to the already-packed city. Sure, the idea of an independent Dogtown is a bit confusing if you’re not familiar with the lore, but this lawless Thunderdome proves to be a great setting for Phantom Liberty’s paranoid spy-thriller.
This lawless Thunderdome proves to be a great setting for a paranoid spy-thriller.
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This new area draws visual inspiration from both Las Vegas and Santa Monica: it’s part beach town, part luxury resort destination, with extravagant hotels, glamorous night clubs, and a football stadium that’s been converted into a city center. The line that “the location is also a character” has never been truer than it is here. There’s so much fun in wandering around Dogtown and discovering some hidden storyline or bit of environmental storytelling. It’s almost an anti-Tears of the Kingdom, where the joy isn’t in emergent bits of gameplay but in archaeologically uncovering secrets hidden throughout the area. There was always something magical about exploring Night City’s skyline, and doing it again knowing that no other game since has replicated this feat is just as impressive. This is one game I never want to fast-travel through.
Without spoilers, there’s a specific point in the expansion’s story where it will diverge based on your decisions, leading you down one of two very distinct paths and endings. I played both for this review and found that one certainly feels more “canon” than the other. There’s also an entirely new ending that’s been added to the base game that feels like it might be the de facto true ending, and takes Phantom Liberty’s themes of self-sacrifice and near-future alienation and uses them to wrap up V and Silverhand’s story. I may start an entire new save to experience this story fully, from beginning to end. With all of the impressive changes in Cyberpunk 2077’s free 2.0 update that arrived alongside this DLC’s launch, starting fresh is actually something I’m looking forward to.
I’m finally able to create a true netrunner character.
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On that note, while Phantom Liberty isn’t required to install the 2.0 update, it’s hard to say that the revamped gameplay didn’t positively influence my experience as I played through 20 hours of Phantom Liberty. In particular, the newly reworked skill tree that makes it easier to build your character towards specific playstyles was a revelation. I had always wanted to play my character as a hacking netrunner, but in the 1.0 release in 2020, hacking was a pretty limp tool that let me do little more than distract enemies while waiting for a chance to shoot at them. With 2.0’s revamped cyberware system, I’m able to not only equip more cyberware at once, but the new skill tree makes it easier to enhance both my cybernetic and hacking abilities. I’m finally able to create a true netrunner character, someone capable of getting a group of enemies to point guns at each other if I want them to. Whether you’re pursuing a hacker build, augment-build, or something else, this alone makes Cyberpunk 2077 a much better experience than it was in 2020.
To be clear, these are improvements that all Cyberpunk 2077 owners can experience even without buying Phantom Liberty. The expansion doesn’t include much in the way of exclusive abilities, but does feature some exclusive clothes and weapons. The weapons, in particular, are very much themed after the spy stories Phantom Liberty has taken inspiration from, giving us access to very fun, very powerful stealth tools that will let you infiltrate the deadliest den of thieves without getting caught. If you’re planning on coming back to Night City for another run, I cannot recommend enough that you take a detour to Dogtown while you’re here.
