One month before its release, a mission briefing around the eagerly awaited extension of Cyberpunk 2077baptized Phantom Libertyis required.
Almost a year after its first official announcement, and roughly three years after the release of the original game, Phantom Liberty will be the one and only extension for Cyberpunk 2077. And given the latest news, it promises to be a way for CD Projekt RED to offer a definitive version of this dystopian future inspired by Mike Pondsmith’s role-playing game.
What release date and on what platforms?
As stated in the introduction, Phantom Liberty will officially be released on September 26, at a price of 29.99 euros with us. Contrary to Cyberpunk 2077the expansion will only be available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
After the long setbacks of CD Projekt RED with the original game on PS4 and Xbox One, the Polish studio has indeed taken the regrettable but sensible decision to target only the new generation consoles this time. This will allow us to give substance to this final chapter of our adventures with V and Johnny Silverhand in Night City… while waiting for a possible new opus.
This was particularly seen when CD Projekt RED raised the PC requirements on Cyberpunk 2077in preparation for Phantom Liberty. The already high graphics bar of the original game should therefore be raised a notch higher when the expansion arrives, in particular with the Ray Tracing: Overdrive mode, mainly intended for the monstrous RTX 4000 thanks to the help of DLSS 3. see if portable console/PC hybrids like the Steam Deck or the ASUS ROG Ally will be able to keep up.
A thrilling spy story
With The Witcher 3, CD Projekt knew how to show its know-how in terms of writing and strong extensions, both in form and content. According to the synopsis of Phantom Libertyhis story should in any case be able to hold us in suspense as much as that of Cyberpunk 2077.
Note, however, that this will not be a sequel to the original game’s ending, but rather an alternate path to achieve it. After a key moment in the main plot that we won’t divulge, V will be contacted by a sponsor for a high-level spy mission.
It will be a question of saving neither more nor less than the president of the New United States of America, held somewhere in Dogtown, a disreputable district of Night City, if there is one. During this hectic job, which is conducive to twists and turns, we will meet many charismatic interlocutors. One of them is Solomon Reed, an FIA agent played by none other than the equally charismatic Idris Elba.
It will thus be up to V, and by extension to the player, to unravel the intertwined threads of this intrigue that CD Projekt RED will weave, to choose who to trust in a proverbial nest of vipers, and to try to accomplish his objective. by all means. After all, this is a matter of V(ie) or death…
Increased gameplay
In addition to a new original story of which CD Projekt RED has the secret, Phantom Liberty intends to bring many increases on the gameplay compared to Cyberpunk 2077. The Polish studio also split an explosive trailer illustrating this point during the opening ceremony of Gamescom.
The original game’s talent tree system has been completely revamped to offer brand new skills to try out. So this should interest even veterans of Cyberpunk 2077 who feared having nothing new to eat at this level.
V should be able to deploy all his power by making fire, energy or melee weapons speak, in particular thanks to a new talent tree codenamed “Relic”. There we will find the most powerful skills to make our character a real augmented war machine.
But the gameplay improvements don’t stop with on-foot combat. We can indeed indulge in muscular chases by driving vehicles loaded with weapons of all kinds, or even use our hacker skills to put virtual spokes in the wheels of our pursuers. This is part of a total overhaul of the behavior of the police, which should finally deploy their full potential.
New features that will also benefit the original game
A large part of these gameplay contributions will also be accessible even for those who will not acquire Phantom Liberty. Along with the release of the expansion on September 26, patch 2.0 will be deployed on Cyberpunk 2077.
And it will well deserve this name synonymous with a brand new version, since the redesigned talent trees, combat vehicles and the overhaul of the police force system will be part of it. What potentially make you want to go on a trip to Night City again, and why not embark on this exciting new mission promised by Phantom Liberty.
In any case, we are waiting for this expansion on our side, and there is only a short month of waiting left before we can once again abandon ourselves to the dystopian wonders of Night City, in the company of V and Johnny.
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