Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty — N.U.S. Blues
Review
The first few hours of Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty felt railroaded and frustrating to play through. I felt like putting a bullet in President Myers myself, instead of protecting her as I should. The quick time events were annoying. My cyberware were way over capacity, and I couldn’t see a ripper to fix it. Fighting a mega robot called Chimera and hearing Myers talk tough, I felt bored more than challenged.
Then, after finally going through all the motions and taking out the bosses and goons, you land in Dogtown and start walking around; it feels like a walled-off favela. You follow the airdrops and tough it out against the Barghest militia. Eventually, you see a massive billboard showing the face of Kurt Hansen, the man who runs Dogtown like a cyber fiefdom. This took me back to old cyberpunk tropes from the 80s.
Is cyberpunk retro now? Blade Runner itself had a neo-noir retrofuturistic aesthetic, which inspired Mike Pondsmith’s creation of Night City in 1988. All iterations of the cyberpunk genre that endured for the past thirty years or so have always looked to the past in order to reinvent the future. Phantom Liberty follows suit and preserves what made the genre endure, enhancing the base game’s aesthetic in meaningful ways.
Dogtown Denizens
What sets Dogtown apart from Pacifica is not just the different architecture; it’s also the feeling of being disconnected from Night City. You have to go through a heavy-security gate to go back to the city (unless you fast travel), and you wonder if the gate is there for protection or simply to wall off the residents. The people you meet along the way all seem to be escaping something or someone.
That’s where the storyline clicked for me. It was interesting to see how people were forced to leave Night City and hide in Dogtown, and how their past continued to follow them. Making NPCs captivating is what CDPR writers have always done best, from vendors to random dialogue in the streets and fleshed out gonks in gigs or side jobs. You start to care about these characters as an organic part of Dogtown.
Airdrops & Bodydrops
The airdrops add an ominous atmosphere of collapse amidst struggles over resources and chrome. The flares get louder as you follow the red smoke towards the Barghest goons patrolling around it. You have to take them out; it’s difficult to reach the drop by stealth. The higher level goons can be bullet sponges, but my netrunner could find and exploit their vulnerabilities. It all depends on your play style.
There is, however, a contrast in a side job like “Balls to the Wall,” which might be the best use of an NPC from the Barghest ranks, Paco. You can decide to save his ass from his boss, Kurt Hansen. At the same time, V seems not to care about dropping dozens of Barghest bodies. Life is cheap in Night City and cheaper in Dogtown, but you can still choose to help out some funny characters, and even do drugs with them.
Antagonist Development
In “Balls to the Wall,” you also get a more intimate view of Kurt Hansen as told by Paco while high on a designer drug. This works like the segments where you play as Johnny Silverhand in the base game. Playing as your antagonist adds some depth to the narrative, but it can be skipped. It’s one of those side jobs with NPCs that players might overlook if they focus only on the main quest.
Mr. Hands is another fleshed out character in the expansion, whereas in the base game he was extremely reserved. Talking to a fixer and drinking tea with him as I visit his apartment added more to the sequence of gigs and side jobs, and made for a more dynamic quest structure. El Capitán’s arc in the carjacking side jobs was even more surprising and compelling, even if I am not a huge fan of all those GTA-style quests.
Trust Issues
I did not trust Pres. Myers and Solomon Reed because I don’t trust governments in general, and especially not the N.U.S.A. government in Phantom Liberty. The whole affair of saving and protecting a president felt wrong to my character, and Silverhand constantly reminded me of his own, very negative, experience as a soldier. But I went along for the ride because I was curious about the twists and turns along the way. And in that, I was not disappointed.
The web of lies and half-truths that becomes apparent in the final act reassured me of my choices and suspicions. No one in your crew of spies and agents trust each other, so why should you trust them? That is the layer of moral ambiguity that Phantom Liberty brings to the table, which definitely added more dimension to V’s search for a cure and for redemption as a would-be legend of Night City.
Cyberpunk 2080s
The overall narrative casts a light on the decline of the N.U.S.A. and the alternate history of a multipolar world. This worldbuilding was part of the development of cyberpunk as a genre as much as the futuristic themes and technology. Some side jobs and gigs refer to new city-states and collapsing states and nations; all of which points to the overall dystopian atmosphere of the 80s, when cyberpunk came to life. The future of Cyberpunk as a series will likely be tied up with this period for a while.
Phantom Liberty offers almost as much bang for your buck as Blood and Wine. There are recurring carjacking jobs and airdrops to keep you playing once you conclude the main quest, but it was the small details that captivated me the most: like observing Voodoo Boys saying “V” in binary code. That and Idris Elba’s voice complimenting my op management—it felt like I’d earned the respect of Stringer Bell himself.
Disclosure: Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty was reviewed on PC with a GOG copy purchased by the reviewer over the course of 40 hours of play time. All screenshots attached were captured during the review process.
Rating: 8.5 / Recommended.
The Good
Fully realized new district of Night City;
NPCs are more fleshed out and developed;
Variety of side jobs and gigs;
Challenging bosses and mobs;
Immersive level design.
The Bad
Railroaded first act;
Some predictable plot twists;
A few glitches and crashes.
Gallery
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty is available on Steam, GOG, Epic Games Store, Xbox, and PlayStation. More information is available on the official website.