One Year Ago, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty Put Night City Back on Map

It’s no secret that Cyberpunk 2077 had a rocky launch when it first hit the market back in 2020, with the game being one of the more notable examples of bugs and performance issues putting a damper on player hype. Despite facing an uphill battle after being delisted from the PlayStation Store shortly after its launch due to these issues, CD Projekt Red committed to improving the experience for players. The result of this work came to a head with the release of Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, and the 2023 DLC was the shot in the arm the game needed to propel it into the same league as some of the best RPGs in the modern gaming era.

One year later, it’s clear that Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty is a standout expansion that rivals the likes of CD Projekt Red’s other iconic franchise, The Witcher, with its legendary Blood and Wine DLC for The Witcher 3, which was only recently dethroned by Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree as the highest-rated DLC of all time. Along with the new content included in Phantom Liberty, Cyberpunk 2077 also received its 2.0 update on the same day, overhauling many of the game’s systems that divided players at launch. The combination of these releases gave players who wrote off Cyberpunk 2077‘s initial struggles a reason to give the game a second chance, and it more than made up for the game’s slow start.

Phantom Liberty Made Cyberpunk 2077 Feel Like a Brand-New Game

Cyberpunk 2077’s 2.0 Update Refined its Gameplay

Even without touching the Phantom Liberty content, Cyberpunk 2077‘s 2.0 update completely changed how players approached the game. With changes to the perk system, cyberware, and armor, players had a new way to think about build crafting that felt more focused and emphasized specific playstyles. The addition of vehicle combat and improved police AI also created a new way to play centered on the Carhacker perk and the dozens of in-game vehicles players could acquire, leading to epic high-speed shootouts throughout Night City.

Dogtown Added New Life to Cyberpunk 2077’s Map

As expected of a DLC expansion, Phantom Liberty expanded the areas of Night City accessible to players with the new district of Dogtown, located just southeast of Pacifica. Along with this new region came the new enemy faction known as BARGHEST led by former NUSA Colonel Kurt Hansen. Dogtown also featured a swath of new side quests and jobs provided by the Fixer Mr. Hands, which helped flesh out this district in a way that naturally aligned with the rest of Night City and gave players a great reason to further explore the game’s setting.

Phantom Liberty’s Story Set the Stage for Cyberpunk 2077’s Future

The biggest draw of Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty was the new storyline associated with the expansion that allowed players to take a detour from their quest to remove the Relic chip within V’s head and put a stop to Arasaka. Instead, players were tasked with protecting the president of the NUSA after her aircraft crashed into Dogtown with the aid of Netrunner Songbird and FIA Agent Solomon Reed. Narratively, this story was a drastic departure from the corporate underworld of Cyberpunk 2077‘s base game with players dragged into a broader conflict involving the NUSA government.

However, the main quest of Phantom Liberty took many of the role-playing elements of the base game’s storyline and evolved them into something that Cyberpunk 2077‘s sequel, codenamed Project Orion, could use as a major strength. Players were faced with much more impactful choices throughout Phantom Liberty’s main quest, with several major decisions leading players down completely different branches of the narrative. Certain actions would even unlock a brand-new ending for Cyberpunk 2077 that could have major implications for Project Orion if it is made canon, showing just how important this expansion could be to the future of CD Projekt Red’s franchise.