If you’ve managed to do all of the story content that Cyberpunk 2077 had to offer and have been wanting an excuse to hop back on and do some netrunning or samurai sword slashing, I’m happy to say that Phantom Liberty is going to offer you a lot to chase and then some. I was dropped into Dogtown, the new location you’ll explore in Phantom Liberty, and it’s filled with a new story, new gigs, airdrops that’ll include some coveted loot, new Cyberware upgrades in the form of Relics, new perks, and a lot more I’m probably going to discover when I return in September.
To kick things off, when diving back into Night City, you’ll receive a message and a mission from Songbird: Save the President of the New United States. She has crashed and you’ll need to get her out from behind enemy lines before Hansen’s people do. Hansen, the big bad of Dogtown, doesn’t seem to like President Myers very much, and it’ll be up to you to pull her out of the fire.
In terms of the story, the overall feeling I was left with after the first hour or so I got to play was one of unease. Not because of anything weird, but simply because I didn’t feel like I could trust any of these people. After just meeting the President I was immediately asked if I wanted to take an oath. To be fair, the demo jumped around so maybe the character will grow on me a bit more, but I definitely was hesitant to trust anyone I just met in the world of Cyberpunk 2077. After all, the last time I did I woke up half dead and buried under garbage at the dump with people trying to loot my corpse.
That unease wasn’t helped much by Johnny Silverhand, who shares some revelations about his past during the mission. What he tells you makes this decision about whether or not to pledge your allegiance to President Myers even harder to make. It was great to hear from Silverhand again after so long, and to hear his reactions during this particular story path will definitely tug on the ol’ heartstrings as you make your way to one of the new endings only found in Phantom Liberty.
Because your game always saves just before you talk to Hanako and go beyond the point of no return, Phantom Liberty will offer you an all-new path toward completion that only PS5 and Xbox Series X|S owners can play (and PC of course). My favorite ending so far has been the so-called suicide run, but I welcome the opportunity to see how all this plays out in the end.
Solomon Reed, played by Idris Elba, is a phenomenal addition to the cast and he really brings a gravitas to his role. As I mentioned before, that lack of trust extends to him, too, as he’s introduced with his typical poise and no-nonsense delivery during your hunt for backup, per the President’s orders. His life may not have taken quite the glamorous turn you’d expect as he had rubbed shoulders with a President and for me, that just made me further question his loyalty given the circumstances. A character burned by a powerful figure? Yeah, I’m going to be expecting the other shoe to drop at some point.
The focus of the 90 minutes was mostly on this story of Solomon Reed, President Myers, and Songbird. But the mission that stuck with me the most was one of the new gigs I found in Dogtown. Mainly because I feel like I played it wrong.
There were plenty more gigs to dive into, but the one I ended up running had me try to help a street doctor who seemed to be attempting to make the lives of the people in this city better. You meet him trying to adjust the cyberware of a citizen appropriately for their body type, and because I had some experience in tech I helped solve it with a dialogue option. After that I was sent on a mission to recover a doctor, and when I arrived, I was confronted with an angry woman who fired a few rounds into his forearm. In a panic I shot her, and unfortunately I think I made the wrong choice.
That’s because I found out later that she was mad because this doctor had kidnapped her younger brother and was doing human experiments on his body. In an attempt to get him back, she confronted him, but ended up meeting her death at my hand – all while the doctor was a complete dick. So in my next playthrough, guess who V will be murdering as soon as this expansion drops?
Generally speaking, Dogtown, like most of Night City, isn’t the most welcoming of places. There are many benefits for diving into the seedy underbelly of an already seedy place, though. The black market scene, for example, has a lot of fun new toys to play around with. Like, for instance, new weapons, vehicles that have mounted machine guns and rockets for you to play with, or even cyberware that beefs up your already incredibly powerful attacks.
For example, the new relic system lets you power up your monowire to make it act more like a whip out of Castlevania – except it also applies an instant quick hack alongside the physical damage it inflicts. Your Projectile Launch can be charged up to send a volley of missiles at anyone you’ve decided to target, as opposed to just one blast. And with a powered-up set of Mantis Arms you will be able to trigger one of the new executions in the game, and then instantly teleport via a boost to an opponent on the other side of the room to keep the murder chain going. These, alongside the new perks, have me very excited to min-max a new build.
The very last thing I had the opportunity to try was an airdrop, which is just one of the world events I saw during my hands-on time. You’ll hear a loud boom nearby, and if you follow the plumes of red smoke there will be a shoot out to see who can get the loot before anyone else. Some have better items than others, but if you’re looking for a way to gear up with the new weapons found in Dogtown, you’ll merely need to cut your way through the masses to get your bag.
Destin Legarie is a Director of Content Strategy at IGN. He likes taking bird photos in his spare time when he’s not doing Performance Reviews for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter if you want.
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