‘Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty’: Hearts of Chrome

Back in the day, specifically the timeframe between 2019 to the plague era, until its release in December 2020, Cyberpunk 2077 was quite possibly the most anticipated game.

Everyone wanted it.

It looked slick, it looked dark, it looked gritty despite the futuristic setting — a world where people traded flesh and bone and their humanity for that of wires and metal. Seeing the mantis blade slicing through enemies like butter alone made people pre-order Cyberpunk 2077.

Not to mention the fact that the Keanu Reeves was going to be in this game.

Imagine an open-world Role Playing Game inhabiting a universe much like that of Philip K. Dick’s Minority Report or Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

If CD Projekt Red’s massively successful Witcher trilogy was anything to go by, then Cyberpunk 2077 was bound to be a very fun time.

Or so people thought.

The game released and reality hit. There were a massive number of bugs, especially for console editions. Sony even pulled the game out of the PlayStation store. For a lot of people, it was absolutely unplayable. For some, if you did your best to ignore the bugs, it was a solid game. Most times, it did feel like it was still in Early Access but it wasn’t as bad as the public was claiming it to be. A lot of the bugs I encountered while playing it the first time were actually quite funny, though it did break immersion.

In 2020, when I played Cyberpunk 2077, I was disappointed that a couple of quests I wanted to pursue could not be finished due to bugs, but that was that. I was aware that there were patch fixes and I did promise myself that I’d get back to it at a later date, but never did.

In 2022, Cyberpunk 2077 resurfaced once again. This time via Netflix’s anime Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. Studio Trigger’s incredibly stylized 10-episode show gave Cyberpunk 2077 a second wind.

Edgerunners’ storyline was more or less independent from the original game. Taking place before the events of Cyberpunk 2077, Edgerunners gave a picture of what it’s like to be living in Night City. A story of how one single bad day can catapult you into the thick of things. No one is special, no one is built different. No matter what the city takes you, chews you and spits you out, a lump of mangled flesh and chrome.

No matter what, there are no happy endings in Night City, unless going out in a blaze of glory counts. 

Edgerunners incorporated some of the gameplay mechanics into the show as well as a few familiar faces from the games. Meanwhile strategically, in a routine patch fix, easter eggs from the show and references to the show’s characters were added to the game. When players who played the game watched the show, they were hit by a sense of nostalgia as well as intrigue. Is it possible to build a character like David or Lucy in the game? Those who were new to Night City got a taste of the world, the gameplay and the playstyles all at once.

After the final episode of Edgerunners came the exodus.

Edgerunners has a very depressing ending. Miserable and outraged at the Big Bad of Edgerunners, the fans felt the need for punishment.

Which they did. Cyberpunk 2077’s sales skyrocketed as bloodthirsty fans decided they wanted to take revenge on Adam Smasher for destroying their happy ending.    

By now most of the bugs were gone and those that were remaining were hardly a deterrent when it came to delivering Adam Samsher’s end.

And then came the DLC.

Phantom Liberty.

At half the price of Cyberpunk 2077, Phantom Liberty might as well be its own game. It even has its own ending that is wholly separate from the four endings of the main story. It’s a true expansion in every sense of the term.

Phantom Liberty takes place in Dogtown, a lawless district of Night City ruled by trigger-happy militia. You play as V, a merc with a chip in your head that’s a ticking time bomb to your death, all the while being haunted by the ghost of rocker boy and anarchist Johnny Silverhand (Keanu Reeves). In Phantom Liberty, V is thrust into the world of espionage and becomes a government agent for none other than the president of NUSA (New United States of America). Along with ex-FIA agent Solomon Reed (Idris Elba), V sets out to uncover what nefarious figures are pulling the strings here in Dogtown.

You really need to watch your back though, you can’t trust anyone in Night City, let alone Dogtown.

Story-wise, Phantom Liberty delivers. Phantom Liberty is to Cyberpunk 2077 what Blood and Wine/Hearts of Stone is to Witcher 3. There’s so much of the world to explore, secrets hidden in every corner with a well-written story and grounded characters, well, as grounded as you can get in a cyberpunk universe. The story is definitely not the game’s weakest suit. 

There’s no timeframe of when you should ideally play Phantom Liberty in context to the main game’s storyline. The call that leads to Phantom Liberty automatically happens when you reach Act 2 of the main game (or just select skip to Phantom Liberty when you decide to start a new game; you automatically get leveled up to where you need to be).

I started from a pre-existing save file near the beginning of Act 2.

Note, I hadn’t touched this game in ages so it would have been a better idea to start from the beginning but I figured that it’s better to jump in with some prior preparation and gear.

Not the wisest move.

The game began in V’s apartment and there was a slew of calls and texts akin to that of a mailbox you hadn’t opened in over three years. The patch updates from way back when were finally in place (and the quests that were bugged out were miraculously fixed). Along with this, the 2.0 update completely overhauls the system. There’s a brand new skill tree, a ton of new cyberware in the market and a lot more gear than I remembered.

In fact, now the new update has all ripperdocs (the doctors who install cyberware) stocking the same tech. You no longer need to go to specific ripperdocs to get what you want; you can just go on over to your preferred establishment.   

Playing Cyberpunk 2077 now feels like playing a brand new game. A better way to put it is, like visiting a place you haven’t been in a decade or more. Everything feels fresh, alien, shiny and new, yet there’s an underlying sense of nostalgia, of familiarity as you wander the place.

Muscle memory kicks in soon enough and you begin to find yourself moving without making conscious decisions. 

Combat in the game feels very well done. During the first mission in Dogtown as V turns people into human sponges, perforating them without a second thought, enemies actually acknowledge what weapon V uses. It’s wild and adds a lot to the immersion in the game. The new perks and skills allow you to absolutely decimate your enemy making for very fluid combat. They make V absolutely overpowered.

There’s no right or wrong way of playing Cyberpunk. You could play as a tank that always knocks down doors, going in guns blazing, brawns over brains. Alternatively, if stealth is more your style, you could play with a Netrunner build, sticking to the shadows or being inconspicuous in general and casually short-circuiting people or causing cyberpsychosis as you zip through the city in your preferred mode of transportation. Either way, V is invincible.

Speaking of transportation, there is now vehicular combat along with the introduction of vehicular-related abilities. Driving around in Cyberpunk 2077 was never a thing players looked forward to because of how weird the controls were. It never felt smooth — one moment you’re cruising down the street and the next, you’re running someone over or driving through another car because you could not make the turn. Of course, it makes for hilarious results even when characters other than V do the same — a scenic car ride whose silence is interrupted by the crunch of the pedestrians’ heads under the wheel. It is a surreal experience as you sit in the passenger seat and watch Idris Elba drive into a literal wall. It’s a comforting thought to know it’s not just V who has trouble driving through the city. 

In terms of graphics, Cyberpunk has always delivered even while running at the lowest setting. That’s another thing the 2.0 update has brought, updated requirements for running Cyberpunk 2077 on PC. Should your PC not be able to handle it, you could revert to the previous patch. I run it at minimum requirements because I have an ancient set and it still looks breathtaking like the Keanu Reeves meme. The graphics are good and the character models have improved. The environment feels large and lived in.

Cyberpunk 2077, the game itself is a story of hope and endurance. In the beginning, its future was bright. Then things began to look very grim. But look at it now — it’s making its way back to the top. From the game to anime, Cyberpunk 2077 is now getting a live-action adaptation. The journey itself is quite inspiring. There may not be happy endings in Night City but Cyberpunk 2077 is definitely getting one. 

Chrome up choom, you’ve got a city to burn.