Editor’s notice: CD Projekt Red offered IGN India early entry to Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty for this evaluate.
The much-awaited Cyberpunk 2077 growth, Phantom Liberty is all set to launch on September 26, 2023. As reported beforehand, the discharge of this DLC will formally mark the tip of content material in addition to story updates for the sport. This is as a result of CD Projekt Red, the corporate behind the sport has determined to concentrate on the sequel to the sport after Phantom Liberty rolls out. CD Projekt Red has already clarified that there are technical causes behind limiting the variety of Cyberpunk 2077 DLCs to 1.
Phantom Liberty, the primary and final DLC to the sport, together with Update 2.0, has reworked the sport and has introduced it ever so nearer to the sport that followers have at all times needed.
The growth comes with Cyberpunk 2077 Update 2.0 that brings numerous new and free updates for the bottom recreation. I’ve already lined these modifications in my first impressions which you’ll learn right here. As for Phantom Liberty, it provides an entire new spectrum of particulars, quests, gadgets, weapons, automobiles and rather more.
Ahead of its launch, IGN India received the prospect to play and full Phantom Liberty DLC. After spending days with the sport, right here is my full evaluate of the Phantom Liberty DLC with what followers, new and outdated alike, ought to anticipate from CD Projekt’s swansong for Cyberpunk 2077.
Narrative-driven and layered storytelling
As we already know, Phantom Liberty’s storyline revolves round Dogtown, a totally new space in Night City that’s near Pacifica however couldn’t be additional aside from it (and the remainder of Night City). Cyberpunk 2077’s story revolves across the protagonist V and his relentless pursuit to treatment themselves from a relic that’s host to Keanu Reeves’ character Johhny Silverhand however is slowly killing V.
I’ll be forthcoming after I say that the narrative is among the most necessary elements I look ahead to in any recreation, particularly on this case since it’s a paid growth. Phantom Liberty is a narrative-driven growth that urges you to suppose, select, and act. It is gripping from the beginning, and the depth hardly ever ever drops, apart from these cinematic moments you get with Reed, Songbird, or Johnny.
The major story and Phantom Liberty each supply a continuation of that pursuit and like CD Projekt Red has talked about earlier than, it’s an growth that’s welcoming to present and new gamers. For those that are contemplating shopping for the sport together with its growth, I can pretty say after finishing the sport, that the promise from builders holds up. You don’t must essentially full the sport or make vital progress to get a style of the brand new DLC. You’ll nonetheless need to undergo the primary storyline’s preliminary missions up till the purpose the place you do find yourself with the relic in your mind. Reaching that time within the recreation shouldn’t be taking gamers greater than 15 hours max, to get there.
Once you begin the Phantom Liberty storyline, you get caught up in an advanced spy-thriller story revolving round new characters akin to Solomon Reed (Idris Elba), So Mi or Songbird, Kurt Hansen, and Rosalind Myers who’s president of the New United States of America. You rush to rescue the president from Dogtown’s kingpin Hansen on this story, whereas hoping to discover a technique to treatment your self because the biochip is slowly killing you.
Phantom Liberty options
This can even lead you to be engrossed find what occurs subsequent, and it could simply make you neglect about what else Dogtown has to supply. The new growth comes with a number of recent automobiles, and style equipment too. The style facet has by no means me a lot in Cyberpunk 2077 and it’s partly because of the recreation being a first-person shooter. As you hardly get to see your character, besides once you look within the mirror or in the primary menu, I merely didn’t discover sufficient motivation to verify these out. The new replace has additionally modified how armor works. Earlier, armor capabilities had been linked to the garments you had been however they’re now tied to your cyberware and understandably so. This is one more reason why clothes felt even much less necessary for me to discover.
As for automobiles, there’s an entire new aspect quest for stealing autos, one that’s limitless and dynamic. You’ll preserve working into new automobiles to steal for El Capitan, a fixer from Santa Domingo, and preserve incomes eddies in Cyberpunk, lengthy after each the primary story in addition to Phantom Liberty quests are over.
Talking in regards to the gameplay, its fight, and the brand new perks and options at hand, I used to be deeply impressed. The whole growth is graciously rewarding relating to highly effective weapons, tech, and upgrades. The gigs in Dogtown pay out rather more than these round Night City, and you may anticipate to select up numerous new weapons throughout the primary storyline itself together with legendary pistols and a preem sniper rifle which you’ll see in screenshot.
Relic talent tree
The Relic perk is locked behind the DLC and provides a brand new set of abilities to unlock. I discovered the perks too inclined in direction of those that want melee assaults, and since I’m extra of a gun-blazing gamer, I didn’t care as a lot about progressing in direction of unlocking the mentioned perks which enhance a participant’s Mantis Blade, Gorilla Arms, and extra. However, there’s something for everybody, even in these restricted variety of new relic abilities, like the flexibility to detect vulnerabilities of an opponent and goal it for extra injury. If you’re a participant who likes to rise up and near your enemies to get rid of them, the brand new Relic abilities are price your time. Existing gamers would possibly discover the restricted choices underwhelming however there are numerous new skills within the new talent tree to benefit from.
Side quests
Mr. Hands, the fixer V is aware of from Pacifica, is an enormous a part of the Phantom Liberty story and that’s the place a lot of the 17 new aspect quests on this DLC stem from. There is numerous selection in these quests and whichever ones I accomplished weren’t easy. Choices had been at all times necessary in Night City, and the aspect missions go away an enormous affect on the gameplay expertise, and as is the case with Cyberpunk 2077, penalties of these selections inevitably arrive, both in type of affecting your relationship with different characters, or opening up newer aspect quests to tie up unfastened ends.
Vehicular fight and cyberware capability
Vehicular fight is a brand new technique to tackle opponents, however all through my playthrough of Dogtown, the occasions within the story barely led me to a state of affairs the place I needed to resort to The function provides a brand new dimension to gameplay fight, and it appears it’s higher suited for many who begin the sport from scratch since there can be much more alternatives to discover it.
There can also be a brand new cyberware capability restrict launched, which can also be obtainable with Cyberpunk 2.0 replace. This limitation has added extra worth to the alternatives I had at my disposal, and to fine-tune my construct accordingly. It is a change that can also be lore-accurate for the reason that cyberware put in has an adversarial influence on the thoughts and physique of an individual on this high-tech, low-life world.
Minor flaws
There are barely any complaints at my finish after taking part in this fully contemporary model of a recreation I already love. Now, this doesn’t essentially imply the sport is solely bug-proof. During considered one of my playthroughs, I received to some extent the place I by chance bumped into hassle with the police however they simply weren’t chasing after me. The needed stage was immediately cooling down, at the same time as I used to be firing bullets by the cops who weren’t remotely occupied with catching this cyber psycho. This bug, nonetheless, just about fastened itself after a while, and it’s a thriller as to what triggered it. You can anticipate a patch coming from the builders that may repair such minor points and iron out no matter points that will crop up post-launch.
Since we’re on the subject of minor flaws, I hoped for extra selection out of Idris Elba’s Solomon Reed. He is a soldier and a person of ideas. While these are noble qualities, anybody who spends a few hours taking part in Cyberpunk 2077 would know the way twisted the sport’s world is. This is to not say that Reed will not be able to making robust selections. In reality, the alternatives we make within the recreation straight have an effect on these made by Reed which suggests there are not any linear pathways for Reed as properly. However, the overall storyline just about has Reed on a persona loop which did get a bit redundant after a while within the story. Regardless, it’s comprehensible Johhny Silverhand is simply as cussed together with his ideology and I like his character nonetheless, identical to Reed.
DLSS 3.5
Cyberpunk 2077 has at all times been a demanding recreation for PC gamers as the sport provides superb particulars of an enormous world which requires numerous CPU and GPU energy. Cyberpunk 2077 can be introducing full Ray Tracing, DLSS 3.5, and Ray Reconstruction on September 21 alongside the replace 2.0 launch. We’ll be digging into the efficiency of Cyberpunk 2077 on an Nvidia RTX 4080 GPU in our detailed protection for a similar quickly. However, from my transient expertise with these new settings, a spot referred to as Night City positive seemed nice throughout the day.
Value for cash
The major story of Phantom Liberty took round 15 hours for me to finish I did a few aspect missions, took out the time to routinely improve my weapons, put in newer cyberware, and extra. There continues to be a plethora of aspect missions that Dogtown has to supply, and once you add all of it up, you might be simply over 20+ hours of the primary story and aspect missions from Phantom Liberty. Given that numerous video games on the market supply a major storyline price 12 hours of your time, it’s admirable that the growth provides an entire new story for gamers to finish.
There is sufficient worth provided by Phantom Liberty and its limitless occasions, 17 aspect quests, 13 major story missions, new characters, storylines, gadgets, weapons, and extra. For each new and outdated gamers, Phantom Liberty is a must-buy for Cyberpunk 2077 to expertise the sport in all its glory.
Just like in the primary story, Phantom Liberty is full of selections that may drastically change the end result of missions and the ultimate ending as properly. Yes, the DLC provides a number of endings and it provides a a lot larger depth to the occasions that place on this DLC. Night City is a metropolis of nightmares disguised as goals, and that has at all times been the driving issue for Cyberpunk 2077 and it doesn’t change with Phantom Liberty.
I agree with the builders that Phantom Liberty DLC is welcoming to new and outdated gamers, however it’s really deeper than that. Cyberpunk 2077’s growth will not be merely a brand new quest to finish and get good rewards from. It may be very a lot an integral a part of this contemporary recreation that might really feel incomplete with out Phantom Liberty. If Cyberpunk 2077 pursuits you, Phantom Liberty is a must have, and must-play facet of it. There is so much to do in Night City, and with Dogtown thrown into the combo, you are getting greater than weapons and fancy automobiles, you are getting a totally new recreation by way of story, gameplay, and expertise. CD Projekt Red retains advising present gamers that it will be a good suggestion to play the sport from scratch. I performed Phantom Liberty and the brand new replace for round 16 hours to see what it has to supply. Prior to it, I performed Cyberpunk 2077 alone for over 35 hours the place I’m but to finish the primary story. So, being within the footwear of an present participant, I’m satisfied to start out once more as a result of it really isn’t the identical recreation I picked up. Cyberpunk 2077 has by no means seemed, felt, and performed higher. This is certainly Cyberpunk 2.0 and Phantom Liberty has breathed new life into this incredible RPG.
