Review of Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty – neons that devour

Neon lights, fast cars, people pumped up with cybernetic serapets. Fast money, fast lives, quick deaths. Despite everything that happened three years ago surrounding the release of Cyberpunk 2077, one thing couldn’t be denied: Night City had its own atmosphere. Some scenes were filmed and narrated in such a way that they stuck in the brain and did not allow us to forget. And the desperate residents of the big city carried with them charisma and countless tragic and interesting stories. The same thing returns in the DLC subtitled Phantom Liberty.

• Platform: PC, PlayStation 5 (review version), Xbox Series X/S.
• Release date: 09/26/2023
• Developer: CD Projekt Red
• Publisher: CD Projekt Red.
• Genre: Action RPG
• Czech localization: yes
• Multiplayer: no
• Download data: Full game, 89.73 GB (PlayStation version).
• Playing time: from 15 to 25 hours.
• Price: 799 CZK

One would expect this to simply be an “add-on” to the full game. A closed story that will not have much impact on the life of the main character or, in my case, the heroine V. But it’s as if the developers from the CD Projekt Red studio decided to show what they intended their game to be like from the very beginning. . How they imagined certain elements – from combat to more natural participation in decision making in missions and dialogues.

There is no point in remembering all the problems that accompanied the release of Cyberpunk 2077 almost three years ago, not that they should be forgotten, but too much has already been written about them. Phantom Liberty responds to (legitimate) complaints and criticism and fixes a number of bugs along with a patch that improves the experience even for owners of the base version of the game. The extension itself is a masterpiece. It’s not perfect, but it gives the feeling that if the creators weren’t limited by time and money, all of Cyberpunk might look something like this.

It may sound vague, but perhaps the biggest advantage of the Phantom Liberty is its completeness. By genre, theme, setting and relationships that V will build in these few hours.

The whole thing looks like a spy movie mini-series from a cyberpunk future. The main character starts out as a “girl for everything”, but gradually gets drawn into the intrigues of the secret services and the struggle for power. Even when the mysterious online woman Songbird offers her a job, everything looks suspicious. Someone has hijacked a plane with her and the President of the New United States himself on board and plans to land it in Dogtown, out of the reach of the police, let alone the NUSA government. Of course, the mesher doesn’t expect V to help her out of the kindness of his heart or out of patriotic ideals. But he offers what you’ve been hunting for all game: a cure for the Relic that’s been messing with your head.

But suddenly someone shoots down the plane. Both the President and Songbird are in danger, and so are your chances of… well, not dying. Perhaps you didn’t think everything would go according to plan?

Secret Agent Solomon Reed is truly one to take your breath away.

Here comes another character that has been teased in trailers and posters. A man who, after Keanu Reeves in the role of rocker Johnny Silverhand, was played by another famous Hollywood actor. And no offense to Reeves himself, but Idris Elba as secret agent Solomon Reed is truly breathtaking.

Live and survive

President, Songbird, Reed and Silverhand. Quite quickly you will find yourself in a sort of square trap, with one strong personality at each corner. Are they simply explaining their point of view and trying to get you on their side, or are they manipulating you? Are they sincere in their intentions or do they lie and walk over corpses all the time? Fortunately, everything is never black and white, so while uncovering individual clues related to the failed assassination of the head of the White House, you are also piecing together information about those who are accompanying you.

Basic cyberpunk was not characterized by freedom of decision-making. You often found that dialogue choices didn’t result in significant changes to the plot. In Phantom Liberty, at least at first you feel déjà vu, but gradually you find a “rhythm”. Conversations touch on topics such as loyalty, pragmatism, and the desire to survive regardless of the consequences. Is there a situation where we really have no choice? Are we responsible for someone we helped create? What does it mean to live and what does it mean to survive?

The game asks you to answer big questions, but it wraps it in a thin veneer of cool. And if you’re true to your character, you can create a compelling story full of twists and well-written dialogue. The moments where you actually decide V’s fate and branch out her story flow with the rest and don’t stray in any way.

You might like some of the characters. You may hate them because of their excuses or hypocrisy. The creators took great care to have long scenes full of believable conversations that tend to have an adult tone and easily draw parallels to real life where you’re probably not an American spy.

It is possible that some of these conversations will take too long, as the pace is truly inconsistent. Several times I was surprised at how long it took me to fire my gun. On the other hand, many of the slower passages intersperse exciting quests with original content that reminds us of what video games can be when they set themselves higher goals and don’t settle for simple quests. The highlight for me was a mission that could easily have been a cyberpunk version of James Bond. Swimming in toxic water, shooting enemies in a sniper’s nest, a party full of gambling and intrigue, and at the end a mind-blowing musical number with a touch of kitsch. It’s here again: scenes and missions that are memorable and won’t let you forget.

“Save” the car

If you’re tired of the regular action, Phantom Liberty also offers a number of side quests. Mr. Zruchney in Dogtown has orders, and he will be pleasantly surprised that some of them are difficult and require you to make decisions. Other side quests will let you remember some friends or partners in Night City, so, for example, you can exchange a few messages with ex-cop River and save some bad guy’s ass together.

In the area, which is controlled by a gang led by the ruthless Colonel Hansen, you can also find special orders for “abandoned” cars that your famous businessman El Capitan would like to “rescue”. It probably won’t surprise you to learn that you actually steal cars. These are repetitive missions where you drive from Dogtown back to the heart of Night City while shooting yourself from your car.

If you’ve dreamed of playing a nimble ninja, you’ve never had a better option.

Yes, in Cyberpunk you can now shoot from cars or motorcycles. This is one of the new items included not only in the Phantom Liberty expansion, but also in the entire mentioned patch. The chases and shootouts with gangsters aren’t particularly challenging, but they’re entertaining and a bitter reminder of how much some of us wanted them back in the base game.

The skill tree has also undergone significant changes, although many of you may not be happy with the fact that after loading a saved position you will find that your skills are reset. But if you’ve ever dreamed of playing as a nimble ninja, there’s no better option: some new abilities help you dodge, others add stylish Mantis features. Netizens, on the other hand, can take advantage of something called overclocking, where after running out of RAM from using too many hacks, you can continue to short circuit and let enemies explode in your pockets, but your health will gradually decrease. .

The changes also finally included stylish fancy dress costumes for V (rated by me) or rocket launchers on cars (rated by other, normal players). Armor now depends less on your clothing and more on cyberware, although wearing a military helmet with a few extra goggles doesn’t hurt. Three new radio stations were also added, one of which was created by DJ Idris Elba, called Impulse. She is excellent, without irony.

But not everything was successful. The developers boast about the changed behavior of the police, and this is a problem that has been with the entire game from the very beginning. Once upon a time, the Night City police were completely unfazed by a brutal murder. In other cases, you were found on the abandoned roof of a skyscraper. Now their aggression is more or less good, but like other enemies, they tend to arrive at the crime scene in endless waves, get killed and buy into piles of bodies. Until you realize that “something is probably broken.”

But if you were expecting some kind of educational article about technical problems, then I have little for you, except for the not so refined artificial intelligence of the enemies. Phantom Liberty never crashed on PlayStation 5, and I only had to reload it once when Reed’s sniper rifle got strangely stuck. Some characters sometimes had unrealistic shadows or unintentionally passed through textures, but gone were the humorous moments when I flew off a motorcycle almost into space three years ago after an accident. On the contrary, given the vastness of the world, it is incredible how smoothly the expansion proceeds. Or what range of emotions you see on the face of spy Reed.

It’s a cliché, but if you haven’t played Cyberpunk 2077 yet, now is the time. The game is in the best shape it can be and also offers a great spy thriller style storyline. In the end, you can say that you have become friends. Or someone who used you, lied to your face, and then kicked you out. The atmosphere of Night City is back.