Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty

Cyberpunk 2077 is unlike any other game before it, but that’s mostly for reasons I’m sure CD Projekt Red would like the collective existence of humanity to forget, or at the very least forgive (I feel like most people are at least willing to grant the latter at this point).

But controversy aside, Cyberpunk 2077 is now a fun and enjoyable experience, and it really does have a lot to offer, and even more for the player to see and do (at least, on the right hardware it does). It’d be tough to deny that, if nothing else, Night City is one of the coolest open-world metropolitans in recent gaming.

So now that CD Projekt Red has stopped the bleeding for the most part, it seems the development team can shift its focus to delivering DLC content we all assumed would more closely follow the game’s 2020 release. And they’re doing just that with Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, releasing at some point in 2023. Better late than never, I suppose.

Earlier today (September 6, 2022), CD Projekt Red revealed a minute-long trailer for the Phantom Liberty expansion, which is set in a new area of Night City. The trailer confirms that players will again be stuck playing as the main game’s protagonist, V, although whether this takes place during (or before, or after) the main quest isn’t clear.

And with V comes everybody’s favorite human wooden-block smokeshow, Keanu Reeves, reprising his role as the incredibly unlikable Johnny Silverhand.

Cyberpunk 2077 - Keanu Reeves

In the trailer, we hear V pledging allegiance to someone, while we get a glimpse of what looks like a secret service agent lying dead on the floor, bleeding on the seal of the President of the New United States of America. If I had to speculate, I would posit that there’s a threat to the government, probably to the aforementioned President, and V is joining the Secret Service in order to thwart this plan — or perhaps to bring it about (which would be arguably more interesting).

Along with the new storyline and new segment of Night City, there will more than likely be some additional miscellaneous content, like clothing, vehicles, and perhaps even new songs for the radio stations. But that is merely speculation on my part.

I personally enjoyed my time with Cyberpunk 2077, even back when it was a struggle to get it to run even on my PS4 Pro, and I’m still enjoying to this day, on my third fresh start (now on PC). And heck, one of these days I might actually finish the game — but I make no promises.

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty

I will say, though, that I am a little disappointed the Phantom Liberty DLC isn’t switching things up by offering players a different character to play instead of shouldering us with more of V’s (and Johnny’s) story.

The fem V is by far the better version of the character, but even she is kind of a nothing burger who’s not very interesting or even all that likeable. And although I love Keanu, I never vibed with his stilted performance as the dirtbag Johnny Silverhand.

Being able to see the world through the eyes of a different character — and better yet, hear dialogue from what I would hope would be a less douchey character — would’ve been cool and refreshing and could’ve offered a far different experience, such as a cabbie caught up in a murder mystery, or a boxer down on his luck and in debt to the one of the fixers. Something more pulpy to fit the tone of Night City.

Or, if CDPR really wanted to further the adventures of V, they could allow players to spend more time with Jackie Welles via a handful of missions that take place during the montage sequence earlier in the game. Getting to experience that part of this blossoming friendship would be cool to see, rather than just blasting through it. Considering Jackie is arguably the best character in the game, it only seems right to give us more of him, seeing as how little we actually got.

But that’s just me.

Regardless, I am still excited to see a new side of Night City, if for no other reason than to find out where the heck it’s been hiding all this time. You can check out the Phantom Liberty trailer below while you wait for Update 1.6 to download.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x