Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty is an exhilarating spy action thriller

Phantom LibertYou are Cyberpunk – 2077’s final shot to get it right.

Following a much-publicized launch back in 2020 marred by significant bugs and the conspicuous absence of several promised features, developer CD Projekt Red has worked to optimize the game’s performance and realign some of its finer details. The past is not a thing of the present, but Phantom LibertyAnd the accompanying version 2.0 patch comes pretty close.

Phantom Liberty is an unmistakable bullseye, an explosive spy-thriller adventure that not only opens up a host of opportunities for replayability and rewarding moment-to-moment excitement, but a fitting swan song to protagonist V’s laborious journey from the gutters of Night City to the heights of legend.

The expansion, which becomes available shortly after the “Transmission” gig in Act 2 of the main campaign, opens with V being contacted by Songbird, a mysterious netrunner working for the Federal Intelligence Agency and a right-hand advisor to Rosalind Myers — the president of the New United States of America. The president’s plane has been remotely hijacked and is set to ground in Dogtown, a militarized section of Night City’s Pacifica district ruled by Kurt Hansen, a former Militech soldier turned warlord and his private army of Barghest mercenaries. Songbird offers V the cure for the Relic prototype chip, which threatens to destroy their minds and cause them to die. In exchange, Myers must be rescued from the crash scene and returned safely to Washington.

Nothing, however, is simple in Dogtown, and from the moment you manage to sneak your way into Night City’s most fortified and inhospitable compound (second only to Arasaka Tower), you find yourself caught in a web of tangled allegiances, volatile personalities, and opaque motivations. You can’t trust anyone. Who shot down the president’s plane? Songbird can you really have a second life? These questions propel Phantom Liberty The grand finale is near.

Image: CD Projekt Red

Dogtown’s environmental design is one of the most impressive aspects of the expansion. Dogtown, which has been walled off for seven years from Night City, feels like an entirely different city, ruled by a mogul who is obsessed with power and holds a tight grip over its residents. Dogtown, an exuberant sprawl of decay and greed, is a vibrant nightclub built inside a neon-lit pyramid. It’s a contrast to the poverty of Pacifica, which lies just beyond its borders. Dogtown has a haunting ghost that is the promise of the future that was shattered by a ruined economy and by the pernicious desires of politicians, power brokers and thieves.

Dogtown has a plethora of colorful, cunning characters with weapons that are as deadly as their attitude. Mr. Hands, the anonymous “fixer” for Pacifica, makes a reappearance, offering you a steady stream of mercenary gigs alongside your mission to take down Hansen. Dogtown’s status as an autonomous zone free from the taxes of Night City’s various megacorporations means that the region has cultivated a bustling black market for cutting-edge weaponry and military-grade cyberware.

You can intercept any of Hansen’s cargo drops throughout the city, which are marked by a plume of red flare smoke and filled with troves of high-level weapons and shards that upgrade V’s inventory capacity, among other stats. You can also accept vehicle-hijacking missions on behalf of Muamar “El Capitán” Reyes that net generous rewards. You will see both of these randomly during your playtime in Dogtown. The emergence of these opportunities and others creates a sense spontaneity in a sandbox that is otherwise very focused.

Dogtown is the ideal setting for Phantom Liberty’s taut spy-action storyline. Although it initially borrows heavily from John Carpenter’s sci-fi action film Escape to New York, it later morphs into an espionage-heist thriller by way of James Bond meets Michael Mann’s You can also Heat up. Carpenter looms over the expansion’s musical score as well, with a thrumming synth track that recurs as an ominous leitmotif beneath the danger, grime, and squalor of Dogtown. It’s a morally dubious interzone rife with exploitation, desperation, and deception, the perfect place for a spy like Idris Elba’s Solomon Reed to be holed up in.

Image: CD Projekt Red

Reed, a seasoned FIA saboteur who lives in Dogtown in the role of a sleeping agent is undoubtedly one of most notable and unforgettable characters. Cyberpunk 2077, Keanu Reeves’ Johnny Silverhand included. Elba is a living symbol of a man who has a sordid past of infiltration, betrayal, and wetwork.

Songbird is also fascinating, voiced in this case by Christine Minji Chang. Her guarded demeanor, and her extraordinary hacking abilities, give the impression that she is a character who has mastered multiple factions, while advancing her personal agenda. At one point Phantom Liberty’s plot bifurcates according to your decision during a pivotal make-or-break moment, opening up one of two parallel paths with their own unique missions and opportunities. All of this builds to an exciting climax.

Image: CD Projekt Red

Yes, Phantom Liberty offers multiple endings separate from the main game’s originals. Given the length and variety of choices in the final act, I wasn’t able to see every one of these endings during my time with Phantom Liberty so far — but I can say that the ending I chose was a satisfying conclusion to my particular playthrough as V, a beautiful albeit bittersweet finale that ruminates over the question of what it means to be a “legend” while living on to build a new life in the aftermath.

Mike Pondsmith was the originator of TTRPG. Cyberpunk – 2077While playing through, I often found myself thinking of the game. Phantom Liberty. “Cyberpunk isn’t about saving humanity,” he said. “It’s about saving yourself.” In Phantom LibertyIn some form or other, we all want to be saved. That goal of freedom may come at the cost of another’s. Cyberpunk 2077’s expansion forces you to consider, as V, the price you’re willing to pay in order to survive, and all the choices and paths you might have taken otherwise. In other words, it’s the perfect incentive to start a new game.

Phantom Liberty: Cyberpunk 2077 The game will be available on September 26 for PlayStation 5, Windows PC and Xbox Series X. The PC version was tested using CD Projekt Red’s pre-released code. Vox Media also has affiliate relationships. Vox Media earns commissions from affiliate products, although this doesn’t influence the editorial content. Find out more about affiliate links. additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.