It is really complex to approach Phantom Liberty completely leaving aside what was the case with Cyberpunk 2077: a true unicum in the world of video games that seriously risked jeopardizing the credibility and value of CD Projekt. The Polish team, thanks to the success of The Witcher trilogy, has long been considered by many developers and players to be the example to follow in terms of transparency, communication and competence at work. Until now the circle of trust was broken and the CP2077 case broke out with all its turbulence.
As always happens in these cases, the negativity and force of the criticism overflowed and submerged all the good things about the project, making it seem like the situation was more desperate and problematic than it really was. And CD Projekt, quietly, had the good taste to get back to work, stay out of the debate and completely modify its roadmap to be able to publish small DLC and large patches in the shortest time, all strictly free, to prove it. that at least the good will was there.
All of this also led to major changes to the sustainability of Cyberpunk 2077 which, compared to initial plans, saw its long-term support reduced to a single expansion, exactly the one at the center of this review: Phantom Liberty. An add-on that tries to emulate what was done with the two additional contents of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Hearts of Stone and Blood & Wine, or rather integrate a lot of content, substantial changes in the gameplay and a narrative arc capable of giving new meanings to the game world while maintaining maximum coherence. All at a premium introductory price.
Once this expansion is shelved, the team will move en masse to the next Witcher saga, definitively abandon REDEngine in favor of Unreal Engine 5 and, as far as the Cyberpunk universe is concerned, we won't talk about it again before the 4th. - 5 years with Project Orion, the true sequel to 2077.
Before going into details about what Phantom Liberty is and especially how much we liked this expansion, it is essential to make a couple of side notes. First of all, let's assume that those who are preparing to read the review somehow appreciated Cyberpunk 2077: it is an expansion, it is not intended to reverse the game and its basic aspects, but "only" increase its immensity by offering new motivations to return to Night City. If you are among those burned by the original title or have even realized that the genre and setting are not for you, it is better to look elsewhere. Exactly as we also did during the review of Cyberpunk 2077, we would like to underline that Phantom Liberty will hit the market on September 26 in the versions for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S (PS4 and Xbox One are no longer supported). ), but we are talking about multiplayer mode. We only reviewed and tested the PC version of the expansion.. Having not received a code for the other editions, we cannot express opinions on the matter and therefore cannot offer guarantees about the stability and cleanliness of the console versions. Although, obviously, we would be very surprised if the team had chosen to make the same mistakes.
The story of the ghost of freedom.
As usual, our goal is to try to tell some aspects of Phantom Liberty's narrative arc without ruining the experience, so we will limit ourselves to describing the tone, style and atmosphere of this expansion, but not before explaining it to you in detail. Sign how to access and play this expansion, since according to CD Projekt tradition, the new content is closely interconnected with the base game. For this reason Phantom Liberty requires Cyberpunk 2077 installed and updated to be playable.
Second, how quickly to tackle new content is at the discretion of the player, even if there is a single important prerequisite to unlocking the new narrative line. In case you have a save made during the main campaign of CP2077, in order to receive the call from Songbird that activates the new series of tasks, it is essential to have completed the "Transmission" mission of the base game. This is a turning point located approximately halfway through the second act and sees the implication and subsequent deployment of his V in favor of the Voodoo Boys or NetWatch. The Phantom Liberty story takes place shortly after this plot point and features some references and connections to this part of the main narrative arc.
However, CD Projekt has also thought about those who may have abandoned the game at the beginning or will decide to purchase it during the expansion. In this case, two options are offered: you can clearly start a new game from scratch, follow the flow of the plot, and, when Phantom Liberty is unlocked, evaluate when and how to approach the expansion, perhaps interspersing it with the main mission. Or you can start a new game directly from the expansion. By opting for this option, the player has the opportunity to choose their character's life path and configure it on an aesthetic level, so they are catapulted shortly after the end of act 1 with a level 20 character complete with skills, equipment and Cyberware consistent with progression, with the added possibility of performing a single free respect. Obviously, from this moment it is possible to immediately start Phantom Liberty and then continue with the base game or vice versa, without interruptions and without any content being blocked.
Speaking more specifically about the expansion, the change in tone is radical compared to the style of Cyberpunk 2077: The long series of missions that make up the main narrative line offer a focus strongly anchored in the politics of the world of CP2077. with NUSA, the New United States of America controlled by the ruthless President Rosalind Myers, who monopolize most of the attention on the scene, dragging to the center the militarized faction of the Barghest that controls with an iron fist Dogtown, the neighborhood without precedents administered in an authoritarian manner by Colonel Kurt Hansen. In the middle, a swarm of new characters that will involve V in an intricate story of espionage and counterespionage with a very strong Bondian aftertaste. The references to the 007 films are numerous and the atmosphere benefits greatly from this complete paradigm shift.
There is also no shortage of secondary missions, largely assigned and managed by a new local repairman, Mister Hands, who will have his own specific narrative line, which more closely resemble styles and situations typical of the more classic Cyberpunk 2077.
Wanting to be very didactic, there is talk of 30 new missions - just under half of them related to the Phantom Liberty campaign - which take about fifteen hours to complete, in case you want to be really quick. It took us 22 to complete all the main and side quests, but there is one important element to keep in mind.
Phantom Liberty offers, in fact, two different, very different epilogues whose roots lie in a crucial decision that we will have to make approximately 2/3 of the main mission and which involves two extremely different continuations of the plot in terms of missions, characters and, clearly, the deployment of V. Obviously there will be more secondary ramifications, but it is clear that this aspect alone implies a high degree of replayability to which is added the completely new epilogue also for the base game, which will only be unlocked by making certain decisions in both narrative lines of Phantom Liberty.
CD Projekt really spared no effort in creating a story full of facets that, we cannot deny, we really liked and denotes the great attention to storytelling that has always strongly characterized this developer. Probably opting for a single expansion, instead of the two originally planned, allowed the team to condense all the best, but what we can tell you without fear of contradicting ourselves is that if you were fascinated by the atmosphere of Cyberpunk 2077, With Phantom Liberty you will find a lot for your teeth.
Gameplay 2.0
Separating Phantom Liberty from Cyberpunk 2.0 patch 2077 is objectively impossible. Firstly, because the update is obviously necessary to play the expansion and, secondly, because this update substantially modifies a very long series of key elements of the CD Projekt game. Precisely for this reason we refer you to our article dedicated to all the new features of Cyberpunk 2077 in its version 2.0, to know in depth what awaits you from September 21, even if you decide not to purchase the expansion. Here we'll just focus on the unique features of the expansion and a couple of more general considerations about the new neighborhood and the overall difficulty of the experience.
Let's start from Dogtown, the "armored" neighborhood located a stone's throw from Pacifica with which it shares part of the architectural style and above all that element of abandonment that characterizes this area of Night City. As has been said several times, access to this neighborhood is exclusive to the owners of the expansion and, after an initial mission that serves as an introduction to the area, it will be possible to move freely from here to the rest of the Cyberpunk city. 2077 via fast travel, or through some sort of door/garage that forces you to go through a security scan before continuing - a great way to cover the need to load up new assets.
In terms of size, we are very close to any of the other districts of Night City, although the density is decidedly higher given that here we find several rooms with very rich and "playable" interiors, very large areas in which to fight as well. taking advantage of vehicles (one of the new 2.0 ones) and at least a couple of centers where you can walk around to make purchases and accept new assignments. Everything is very classic and very Cyberpunk 2077, although the 3 years of experience acquired by the team (and clearly with the abnormal amount of comments received) are certainly noticeable in the management of the architecture and access routes. Everything is more believable, coherent and also easier to memorize, as well as more refined. But it is clear that we are not facing a significant or notable turning point with respect to the past: it is the content and stories we experience in Dogtown that make the difference, more than its design.
Another new feature of Phantom Liberty is represented by two dynamic events that are "triggered" when we install the update. The first, which remains confined to the neighborhood, is the airdrop of boxes full of loot that can be intercepted and collected; The second, which is also activated in the rest of Night City, refers to "vehicle missions" or the possibility of stealing specific cars, often highly protected, and then taking them to a repairman and collecting the reward. These are dynamic and practically infinite events that take place taking into account numerous variables regarding what can really happen as soon as we arrive at the place where the activity takes place: it does not mean that each time we have to limit ourselves to extracting the weapon, killing the people who were guarding the box or the vehicle and then escaped.
These are secondary additions and certainly not very influential for game purposes, but they, at least, contribute to making Night City more alive and offering an additional layer of dynamism that is absolutely optional.
Then there are a new branch of all-new talents that goes along with increasing the level cap to 60 (10 extra levels in addition to the 50 in the base game). In reality, the two things are not related, but together they modify some aspects of the end-game of Cyberpunk 2. First of all, the new talents are very few (there are only 2077) and they can only be unlocked by investing Relic points. which can be obtained by completing a couple of main quests and interacting with some terminals hidden around Dogtown. Secondly, these talents contribute to significantly modifying the finishing moves and some abilities of V's arm-mounted weapons along with some aspects of shooting and optical camouflage. The basic idea is that perhaps CD Projekt wanted to expand the more action component of the game and this element is reflected in a good part of the expansion's missions which, while still generously accessible in stealth, offer much more satisfaction if approached with strength and weapons. in the hand.
Does the difficulty change?
Cyberpunk 2077 has undergone a major rethinking of its foundations thanks to patch 2.0 and this refers particularly to the character's abilities and therefore to the way of managing his 5 statistics, and to the installation of cyberware, which is the most characteristic element of the universe created by Mike Pondsmith. These elements are accompanied by a whole series of more or less secondary introductions that enrich the gameplay without changing it substantially: new police interventions or the possibility of shooting while driving, or even piloting vehicles armed with machine guns and missile launchers. All this contributes to making the difficulty curve decidedly wider in its radius and, above all, to offering a less unbalanced middle game and much richer in the choices that the player must inevitably make, since he can no longer maximize all the aspects of your V with the risk of becoming. a superhero full of grafts.
Does the game then become more difficult with stealth or shooting? Or perhaps more layered and deeper in the consequences of the decisions made in terms of personalizing the V itself? It is not easy to answer affirmatively to both questions because, basically, Cyberpunk 2077 remains exactly the same even with the new patch and expansion installed, with its peculiar alternation of hacking, shooting and stealth, which can sometimes be "intelligently exploited". by the player. However, it is clear that now everything is more satisfying, the choices that have to be made during the growth phase are more visible and, as long as very high levels are not reached (say above 40) it is much less easy to feel omnipotent. Clearly, the situation changes as soon as you get your hands on the more advanced Relics and approach the end of the game: in this case, CD Projekt's intention to offer a gaming experience where it is much more difficult to find complex challenges remains clear. or it seems to be. weakened compared to opponents, but sympathy shifts towards freedom of action and the ability to do harm in the world without worrying about the consequences.
All this does not significantly alter the general opinion about the experience: there are many improvements and approaching Cyberpunk 2077 for the first time today, or starting again from the beginning, is certainly a pleasure, but it is clear that the gameplay is not distorted by 2.0 and expansion.
Yet another technical reference point
It probably wouldn't even be necessary to repeat it every time, but why do without it? Cyberpunk 2077 continues to push hard on the technical front and we are here to witness it when it comes to the PC version, the only one we have had the opportunity to try. With patch 2.0, the game is compatible with the new DLSS 3.5, that is, Ray Reconstruction, which significantly improves the quality of reflections and refractions, taking advantage of neural networks and, therefore, the Tensor Cores of all video cards NVIDIA GeForce RTX distributed on the market. The result is extraordinary, as long as the new system requirements are respected and clearly gives its best in Dogtown also thanks to the excessive use of neon, signs, fog and internal lighting that CD Projekt has poured into the structures of Phantom Liberty.
We just leave a side note waiting to delve into some aspects of this DLSS 3.5: at the moment it seems that Ray Reconstruction can only be activated in combination with Path Tracing, which is the maximum level of ray tracing that can be enabled in the game. It is not clear if this is an exception related to Cyberpunk 2077 or if the same will also apply to upcoming titles that will exploit this NVIDIA technology, but it is clear that if this were the case, the lower-performing cards in the 4000 line and especially the previous generations (GeForce RTX 3000 and 2000) would be completely isolated from its use given that, for the moment, allowing route tracing without using DLSS 3 with a frame generator is practically suicide for fluidity. But we are sure this will be discussed at length in the coming days.
The work done on the new models is also extraordinary, especially considering that it is a very vast open world full of characters, activities and interactions. Of course, with the introduction of Solomon Reed, Songbird, Alex, Myers and a whole host of supporting characters, the gap between the protagonists, the supporting characters and the extras we meet on the street is even more noticeable, but it's enough. It is clear how the now defunct REDEngine has really been taken to the maximum with excellent views especially when you reach the highest areas of the city and admire, at night, the light show that the neighborhood is capable of offering.
Finally we feel obliged to also say a few words about the Phantom Liberty soundtrack. Also The expansion is complete and masterfully dubbed into Spanish. with all the voices of the secondary characters performed in an exceptional way and, among other things, with a truly balanced mix, far superior to the work done at the time with Cyberpunk 2077. We would like to make a similar comment for the soundtrack, which is enriched with 3 radio stations (which in fact were also implemented in the base game with the new patch) and approximately 3 hours of new songs and sound accompaniments, including the splendid new main theme of the expansion with very clear references to the main theme. of the most recent 007 films.
Conclusions
Tested version PC with Windows Price 29,99 € Holygamerz.com 9.0 Readers (71) 8.0 your votePhantom Liberty is content that perfectly represents CD Projekt's entire experience and ability to literally expand its games. What Hearts of Stone and Blood & Wine did and achieved for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Phantom Liberty implements it in Cyberpunk 2077. Also helped by a 2.0 patch that turns the base game into a sock. The atmospheres, tone and supporting actors are of the highest level and mark a change, also in style, compared to what we have already seen in the past, while the gameplay, although enriched and renewed, is exactly what the Polish development team had us used to it 3 years ago. Ago and renewed with several free updates. If you loved CP2077, despite its thousand flaws, you shouldn't miss this expansion. However, if you are among its detractors, nothing concrete changes and therefore you can continue shouting at the top of your lungs about its shortcomings and problems.
PRO
- The change in tone and atmosphere offers a nice variation on the theme.
- Dogtown is a condensation of all the most striking elements of Cyberpunk 2077's design.
- The dubbing and soundtrack are extraordinary.
AGAINST
- Despite the numerous additions and changes, the basic gameplay remains the same.
- It won't change your mind about Cyberpunk 2077
- Some missions are too unbalanced in terms of action to the detriment of stealth
