CD Projekt Pink has just a little of a knack for crafting DLC adventures. The Witcher 3 was once blessed with two remarkable expansions, and the Polish developer can now upload Phantom Liberty to its checklist of extremely top of the range tours. Cyberpunk 2077’s first (and ultimate) growth is an emotional rollercoaster, and lines one of the most perfect, maximum memorable moments and missions in all the RPG.
Phantom Liberty unlocks as soon as you might be completed with the Pacifica storyline within the base sport’s marketing campaign, so you’ll be able to take it on reasonably early if that is your desire (or you’ll be able to get started it chilly from the principle menu). Then again, as a result of its penchant for callbacks to characters and occasions from the principle tale, we are tempted to mention that it is best loved as a late-game adventure. What is extra, various tough boss fights and fight encounters counsel that it is best to return supplied; the recent environment of Dogtown feels find it irresistible’s constructed for avid gamers who know what they are doing.
A brief name with a mysterious girl named Songbird is all it takes for V to become involved. The preliminary hours see our cherished merc blast his or her manner via a chain of linear missions, every of them pushing giant set items and strangely cinematic chaos. It is a barnstorming get started — like the hole scenes of a just right motion film — and as soon as it is over, you might be unfastened to discover Dogtown right kind.
Necessarily bring to a halt from the remainder of Night time Town, Dogtown is dominated by means of Barghest — former squaddies who merely caught round following an deserted invasion of the bigger town. Unfastened from the regulation and unwilling to reply to to the officers of its neighbour, Dogtown nearly feels post-apocalyptic out of doors of a handful of places that cater to the district’s elite. Given its loss of political positioning, it is also a spot the place Night time Town’s key avid gamers seal their dirtiest offers — and that more or less stuff ties immediately into the growth’s well-paced plot.
CDPR has dubbed Phantom Liberty a “secret agent mystery” and that description finally ends up being beautiful correct. Past the explosive opening, the tale slows issues down and regularly introduces a forged of intense characters. This comprises the grizzled Solomon Reed (performed by means of Idris Elba), who finally ends up stealing the display with a usually charismatic efficiency, filled with the type of cynical swagger you would be expecting from a semi-retired undercover agent.
Teaming up with Reed, V is tasked with digging beneath Dogtown’s dusty floor and uncovering the plans of its overlord, the intimidating Barghest commander Kurt Hansen. A internet of intrigue and deception is instantly spun between the entire central characters, and there are moments of authentic ethical battle as V falls deeper and deeper into the rabbit hollow. It is an regularly gripping narrative, and the impressively various challenge design holds up all the way through the growth’s 30-ish hour runtime.
That stated, there may be one explicit phase that feels just a little… misplaced. It is indubitably inventive in thought, and tasty in execution, however with out spoiling anything else, it sticks within the thoughts as a result of how essentially other it’s in comparison to the remainder of Cyberpunk 2077. It most likely drags on only a little too lengthy, however it isn’t sufficient to distract from in a different way engrossing storytelling. And sure, there is a brand new finishing to V’s story that is unlocked via Phantom Liberty.
However if you wish to take a ruin from stated tale — which does take on some heavy issues now and then — you’ll be able to all the time take a excursion of Dogtown. The hellhole is kind of the similar dimension as one in every of Night time Town’s different districts, however it is densely filled with crowd pleasing landmarks and gameplay alternatives. There are a selection of extraordinary aspect quests to trace down, whilst dynamic occasions upload some spice to exploration.
Arguably one thing that is lacking within the base sport, those never-ending dynamic occasions pop up on a common foundation, offering an not obligatory function. Airdrops are unique to Dogtown, and principally provide you with an excuse to homicide a host of punks and take hold of the loot for your self. In the meantime, carjacking jobs are unlocked all the way through Night time Town by way of a facet quest, with everybody’s favorite mullet-sporting fixer El Capitán asking you to klep a close-by automobile and power it to a safehouse in a single piece.
Each actions inject some further existence into Cyberpunk 2077’s global. The carjacking duties particularly can lead to a few brilliantly worrying automobile chases, which naturally highlight the auto fight machine that is a part of replace 2.0.
Shifting directly to extra minor inclusions, Phantom Liberty boasts quite a few crunchy new guns and funky clothes pieces. Contemporary cars also are up for grabs — some come supplied with fixed armaments — and there may be even a brand spanking new ability tree that takes good thing about the relic chip that is caught in V’s head. The tree does not have many branches, however it might probably a great deal strengthen the skills of your selected cyberware, doubtlessly pushing your persona construct to a complete new degree. All of this makes for an overly rewarding DLC on the subject of V’s development.
Conclusion
Phantom Liberty is regularly Cyberpunk 2077 at its easiest. A gripping narrative entire with nice characters provides every other size to the open global RPG, whilst the principle challenge and aspect quest design stays most sensible notch all the way through. It is a super growth that delivers a really memorable enjoy.
