Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty to introduce new characters, weapons, mods, a new ending, and much more.
In the past week, we’ve learned a lot about Cyberpunk 2077’s future, especially concerning the planned expansion of Phantom Liberty. We discovered that Phantom Liberty would transport us to Dogtown, a hitherto unexplored district of Night City. It’s widely recognized as Night City’s worst neighborhood. The former US Colonel Kurt Hansen rules Dogtown, and he is considered vicious and deceitful.
And he rules Dogtown with the help of his militia, the Barghest group. Space Force One, carrying the NUSA president, a new character dubbed Songbird, and a few others, is shot down by Vargas forces at the beginning of the game and crashes in the middle of the battleground. And now V is tasked with rescuing the President of the new United States of America.
In Phantom Liberty, we meet a few new important individuals, notably Idris Elba’s Nusa sleeper agent Solomon Reed, who, along with newcomers Songbird and Alex, helps V save the President. Songbird’s pledge to assist him with his relic dilemma will reward V for his effort. From what has been revealed about Dogtown, we might infer that it is home to a sizable underground black market, particularly for weapons. Several new shops will sell weapons; some will be cyberware we haven’t seen before.
Phantom Liberty will radically alter the core gameplay mechanics of Cyberpunk 2077, including how you use your equipment and cyberware. Rather than relying on clothes to boost your stats, cyberware will be the norm in the Phantom Liberty. If you go overboard with cyberware mods for V, you’ll take a hit to your stats as a counterbalance. And to clear things up surrounding the rumor that installing too much cyberware will cause V to go into cyber psychosis.
Paweł Sasko, Quest Director for Cyberpunk 2077 and Phantom Liberty, emphasized that this is all about balancing the risks and rewards involved. In other words, we won’t introduce cyberpsychosis with that goal in mind. So, although it’s fine to pretend in a roleplay that V’s becoming a cyberpsycho, don’t hold your breath for future gameplay features based on this premise. Also, the character models have been updated to use a skill-based leveling system rather than a stat-based one.
This means we will finally have true skill trees, meaning that leveling up will grant you access to new attacks and abilities rather than a fixed percentage increase to your stats. Cyberware-wise, you’ve made great strides; for instance, your Gorilla arms have become so powerful that you can now punch NPCs into the air. Now that the Gorilla arms are in place, you can use them to hurl human bodies at your foes. There is now a new one-touch finishing maneuver for the Mantis blades.
The cops are now aggressively on the hunt for you and other gang members, thanks to a brand-new system. Dropships carrying enemies with maximum desired levels will swoop in and assault you in this new system. Rather than the tiny hop you do in the original game, the new anime dodge makes melee combat considerably more fluid. Finally, all of your bladed weapons can be used to actively block gunfire. The AI enemies shift themselves throughout the battle, creating a more strategic and interesting experience.
A genuine vehicle combat system is also possible; while we haven’t seen much of this yet, there were screenshots of it, and some cars will be outfitted with their weaponry, which, again, simply sounds crazily awesome. This ties in with what the Game Director, Gabe Amatangelo, and Paweł said about James Bond and other spy films serving as inspiration for Phantom Liberty in their interview with IGN.
Even more, obviously inspired by James Bond, Paweł reveals that there will be cars with missiles. New automobiles and motorcycles will no longer be advertised via fixed text messages; rather, they will be available on an in-game website. Gabe claims that a new mechanic in Dogtown can install firearms and other accessories in your automobiles.
The same may be said about firearms, featuring various or fewer models with varied statistics. It will no longer be possible to find the same guns multiple times. Nonetheless, CD Projekt RED has not yet confirmed this. The so-called Relic system is something of great importance that we have yet to witness.
Gabe Amatangelo claims that with the help of Phantom Liberty, we could enhance some cyberwar powers and even manipulate or hack the cyberwar of non-player characters. So far, all we know about the Relic system is that Pablo Sasco delivered an example of turbocharging your cyberware by allowing you to fire a barrage of missiles with the missile launcher implant. It sounds like a short-term way to significantly improve your cyber abilities.
It will be intriguing to see how the events of Phantom Liberty affect the game itself. Since you’ve already made tough decisions in the main game, Phantom Liberty players are eager to see how they pan out. Phantom Liberty’s intended role in Cyberpunk 2077’s main story is still up in the air, but if an earlier leak is to be believed, the addition will change one of the game’s existing endings. Even if the rumors are true, the events of Phantom Liberty could provide a wholly different conclusion.
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty is set to release on September 26; on PlayStation 5, Xbox One S, and PC.
