As Cyberpunk 2077 approaches its third anniversary, the beleaguered blockbuster is getting a send-0ff to immortalize its unlikely turnaround. CD Projekt Red announced an Ultimate Edition for the sci-fi RPG on November 21 that includes this year’s Phantom Liberty expansion and the massive 2.0 overhaul patch. There will even be a physical copy for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S owners.
Phantom Liberty Is Undoing One Key Thing That Cyberpunk Got Right
Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition will come to “next-gen” consoles and PC on December 5, and give players the chance to experience the open world story and years of fixes and upgrades all in one place for $60.
“This new release is the perfect way to experience every story of the dark future; it also contains the free Update 2.0, which overhauled many of the game’s systems, introducing dynamic skill trees, high-octane vehicle combat, and enhanced enemy and police AI — as well as adding new weapons, vehicles, and clothes,” CDPR wrote in a press release.
Game of the Year editions became something of a joke in the industry many years ago, but if any release deserved to get repackaged that way, it’s Cyberpunk 2077. Once pulled from the PlayStation Store for being so busted on PS4, the game is now pretty close to what players had hoped for based on years of trailers and E3 hype. Phantom Liberty, starring Idris Elba as FIA sleeper agent Solomon Reed, is the type of high-quality expansion fans have come to expect from the studio behind The Witcher 3‘s Hearts of Stone and Blood and WineDLC. The underlying gameplay has also markedly improved.
But the real significance of the new Ultimate Edition is that Cyberpunk 2077‘s definitive 2.0 version will now be the one included on physical discs for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S players. The Xbox version will even include the entire Phantom Liberty expansion incorporated into the base game. (PS5 owners will have to download it during installation.) That means that even in the actual year 2077, when the video game servers will have likely long since shut down, anyone who still has an ancient console and the Ultimate Edition disc will still be able to experience Cyberpunk 2077 in its complete form.
Lots of games have managed to engineer live service-style redemption arcs these days, but very few get to see them memorialized in physical form. Now if only the Netflix spin-off Cyberpunk: Edgerunnerscould get a physical release as well.
Unlike Panam, Judy, and Kerry, River is the one companion you have to go out of your way to meet. Finding the Night City cop and helping him sort through a local mystery that weaves in and out of his family life makes for one of the most interesting breaks in Cyberpunk 2077’s usual action. Expect a little combat and chatter, but also light adventure game mechanics and some pretty horrifying Night City lore.
This questline does, however, unmask Cyberpunk 2077’s weird, inconsistent framing of cops and law enforcement, even weaponizing the ACAB saying in a particularly tacky lift that I’m not wild about. But if nothing else, these quests offer, for your inspection, a layer of the game’s inherent worldview that’s worth examining and dissecting.
Cyberpunk 2077 players have discovered a new arcade cab hidden in an abandoned church just outside Night City. This new arcade machine, added as part of Cyberpunk 2077’s free 2.0 update, lets you play a Doom-like retro shooter starring Keanu Reeves’ character, Johnny Silverhand.
Cyberpunk 2077’s Phantom Liberty DLC Probably Won’t Change V’s Fate
Cyberpunk 2077’s 2.0 update and its massive Phantom Liberty expansion have added a lot of new content and features to the already-huge first-person RPG. But who cares about that stuff? (Editor’s note: A lot of people, actually.) Personally, I’m more excited to see that even in the horrible dystopian future of Cyberpunk 2077 people are still making and playing Doom clones. Some things never change, I guess.
To play this new arcade machine, you’ll need to go into the badlands outside Night City and head south to find a lone, abandoned church just north of a protein farm, which is also a fast-travel point. So if you’ve already unlocked the farm for fast travel, feel free to zip over to save yourself a drive into the badlands.
Regardless of how you get there, enter the church, and on the right you’ll find an Arasaka Tower 3D playable arcade machine.
Arasaka Tower 3D is very clearly an homage to classic id Software shooters like Wolfenstein 3D and Doom. You play long-dead rockerboy Johnny Silverhand fresh off his historic bombing of one of the world’s most powerful megacorps’ headquarters as he tries to escape the tower, blasting numerous guards as he ambles—surprisingly slowly—toward freedom. Aside from the lack of speed the gameplay looks surprisingly retro, including the fact that you can’t look up or down, as was the case in many classic ‘90s shooters. The full game is about 10 minutes long or so and includes five levels complete with secret doors.
Do you think people in the Cyberpunk 2077 universe have modded Arasaka Tower 3D to death and got it running on ATMs and other weird devices, like how Doom is playable on just about anything in our world today? I hope so. I hope some nerds have made it fully open-source at this point and created whole new levels for it, too.
I guess once you’re done playing Araska Tower 3D you can go and play the rest of Cyberpunk 2077, including the new expansion. I hear it’s like Doom but you can look up and down now. Wild stuff!
Cyberpunk 2077’s Phantom Liberty expansion has its own self-contained conclusion, but depending on your choices throughout the story, you can unlock an entirely new ending for the base game, too. You just have to make certain choices to get it.
Cyberpunk 2077’s Phantom Liberty DLC Probably Won’t Change V’s Fate
If you’re worried about missing the ending but don’t want to outright spoil the story trying to unlock it, good news: We’re going to tell you which dialogue choices to make without getting too into concrete details about what’s going on in Phantom Liberty. We’ll show images of critical points and attempt to vaguely describe any decisions you have to make, but won’t describe the story itself. If that arrangement sounds good and you want some guidance on reaching Cyberpunk 2077’s new conclusion, read on. If you’re worried about even no-context references to certain events, turn back.
Phantom Liberty has a major diverging point in the quest Firestarter. Your decision here will put you on one of two routes that are drastically distinct from one another and reveal different things about its new characters. You can still access Cyberpunk 2077’s new ending from either of these routes, but you will have to make certain decisions within them to reach it. Once you see one route through to the end, it’s really worth loading up an old save to start a fresh run to try the other, too, as this will give you the greatest understanding of Phantom Liberty’s story.
All that being said, the branching point is well-signposted, and you’ll know it’s coming before you get there. The decision that puts you on one Phantom Liberty route or another happens in this scene:
Screenshot: CD Projekt Red / Kotaku
Here, you’ll get two dialogue options that each correspond to one of two actions. Either route can unlock the new ending, but depending on your subsequent choices, you might lose out on that ending entirely. And hey, maybe there’s some good role-playing material to work with by not pursuing it. But assuming you want to at least see the ending and decide if you want to keep it as your canon conclusion, read on for what you have to do in each route.
To keep things as spoiler-free as we can, we’ll just label each route by V’s dialogue option as opposed to the actual action that takes place.
“One more second…”
This route is much more straightforward in how to unlock the new ending. Without divulging specifics, the only thing you have to do in this route to unlock the new ending is ensure that Songbird lives. There’s a specific decision point near the end of this route that will determine the netrunner’s fate, and as long as she survives, you will be able to see the new ending.
“I’m with you.”
Conversely, it’s a bit trickier to unlock the new ending in this route, and it’s especially difficult to explain how to unlock it without spoilers. But if you go with this decision, you’ll have to play through the expansion’s final quest and essentially turn heel at the very end. Idris Elba’s character Solomon Reed will engage you in conversation after a climactic battle, and you have to agree to a deal he proposes.
Both these routes, regardless of the decisions you make within them, will bring you to Phantom Liberty’s credits sequence, after which you’ll be put back into the open world. But if you made the specific decisions within either route that unlock the new conclusion, wait for Reed to contact you, meet up with him, then follow the quest objectives to see the new ending. This means if you follow either of these paths, you will end your Cyberpunk 2077 playthrough with the new ending. That also means you’re reaching a point of no return and the game’s final credits will roll.
If you don’t make the Phantom Liberty choices that unlock the new ending, you’ll be put back onto the base game’s main path and will have to follow it through to one of the original endings.
What happens if I unlock Phantom Liberty’s new ending before finishing Cyberpunk 2077?
Phantom Liberty’s new ending is different from the other endings in Cyberpunk 2077, as it will essentially wipe the rest of the game off the table so you can see its new conclusion. This is part of why I recommend finishing Cyberpunk 2077 with one of its original endings before seeing Phantom Liberty’s, because taking the new Phantom Liberty ending will end your playthrough before you’ve experienced large swaths of the main game. Plus, the new ending is much more centered on the expansion’s characters than it is the bulk of 2077’s cast, so it definitely has a weird place in the continuity.
If you do play through Phantom Liberty before finishing Cyberpunk 2077, especially the companion quests (Kerry, Judy, Panam, River), you will miss out on some character beats in the new finale. Thus I also recommend at least seeing their storylines through before you head into Phantom Liberty’s finale.
Next week sees the long-awaited launch of Phantom Liberty, CD Projekt Red’s one and only expansion for the controversial and divisive Cyberpunk 2077. If you’ve got an existing save game, you can jump into the expansion as long as you’ve complete the main game’s Voodoo Boys questline.
Phantom Liberty Is Undoing One Key Thing That Cyberpunk Got Right
But just because Phantom Liberty’s new, story-driven missions become accessible then doesn’t necessarily mean you should play them right away. The best time to jump into Phantom Liberty is a bit more complicated, and based on how you’re coming into Cyberpunk 2077 years after its initial launch. But no matter what your existing relationship with the game, here’s a breakdown of how and when to dive into this spy thriller of an expansion.
You should play through all of Cyberpunk 2077 before Phantom Liberty
I tackled Phantom Liberty with a near-completionist save. I’d already gotten Cyberpunk 2077’s original ending, made my peace with it, and was able to examine the expansion through the lens of it being a new, standalone story that was complementary to the main quest rather than a part of it. I think this is the ideal way to play through the new expansion for a few reasons, the biggest being that it helps you contextualize Phantom Liberty’s story within the larger narrative of Cyberpunk 2077.
Without getting into spoilers, Phantom Liberty adds a new ending to Cyberpunk 2077, and while it ties into V and Johnny Silverhand’s story, the new conclusion takes a lot of characters, plotlines, and events off the board to make it happen. You won’t see a lot of stories wrap up properly if you opt for Phantom Liberty’s new ending, and if you don’t have the broader understanding of how it fits into things, you might feel a little let down by the lack of closure and clarity in those other storylines. The new ending itself is substantial and stands tall as one of the game’s most interesting finales, but it’s best seen and understood in context.
Plus, seeing companion storylines like Kerry’s, Judy’s, Panam’s, and River’s through to the end elevates the new ending, so if you haven’t yet completed those questlines it will lessen the impact of some moments. Kerry specifically doesn’t show up until Act 3, so if you jump into Phantom Liberty as soon as you can, you will miss out on some of the new ending’s most meaningful moments.
Don’t skip to Phantom Liberty when prompted
If you’re jumping back into Cyberpunk 2077 and starting a new playthrough to see Phantom Liberty, it will give you the option to skip straight to the expansion. While that is convenient and probably a fine option for players with minimal investment in Cyberpunk 2077’s storylines, it will make a story decision for you and you won’t have all those established relationships, nice equipment, etc. If you’re really eager to just hop in and see what’s going on the option is there, and I give CDPR credit for thinking of it, but it’s probably not the experience you want for $30 of your hard-earned money.
Phantom Liberty Is Undoing One Key Thing That Cyberpunk Got Right
NoName, written by Edgerunners creator Rafal Jaki and manga artist Machine Gamu (Gachiakuta), is a supernatural manga series where the meaning behind people’s names gifts them powers associated with their meaning. For example, its main characters, two detectives named Ralf and Ursula, have the power to control wolves and transform into giant bear, respectively.
Pretty sweet, right? Well, not exactly, because the world of the dark manga series is governed by the Nordic Name Bureau—a kind of police state that maintains order by assigning names to newborn babies. In doing so, the NNB takes agency away from its citizens, deciding what powers they’ll grow up to have and, effectively, what socio-economic class a person is destined to exist within for the rest of their lives. The first chapter of NoName is available to read for free on Manga Plus Creators.
NoName’s first chapter follows Ralf and Ursula—employees of the NNB—as they accept a job from a charismatic politician named Bodil to look into the whereabouts of his wife and son, who shares his name. After a bit of sleuthing, they discover that the situation isn’t what it initially appeared to be; Bodil’s wife, Kara, left to free herself and her child from Bodil’s abuse.
Bodil, whose name translates to human commander, forcibly used his powers on Kara, whose more common name gave her weaker powers. In addition to some truly awful physical and sexual abuse, he also used his powers of mental influence to convince her that she wanted to keep their child. (Basically, his powers work like Zebediah Killgrave’s from Jessica Jones.) It’s also revealed that Bodil used his political influence with the NNB to have his son inherit his name, and with it, his terrible power.
While most manga series center their power systems on arbitrary scales that vary depending on things like the power of friendship, training, or birthright, NoName’s unique premise of placing power in a person’s name, having that process strictly policed, and having it all depend on a child acknowledging their name for the powers to manifest, has my mind racing with the narrative avenues and thematic possibilities the series could explore in future chapters.
I won’t spoil how NoName’s first chapter ends, but I will tell you that its original power systems, coupled with its enthralling political overtones, make it one of the more intriguing manga reads of the year.
Cyberpunk 2077 has certainly had a long, strange journey from being totally busted at launch to reasonably playable today. Debates rage on as to whether it can ever deliver on all the pre-launch hype CD Projekt Red generated, but soon the game will get another chance to impress with the one-two punch of a sweeping version 2.0 update and the September 26 launch of its only paid expansion, Phantom Liberty. But which upcoming features are free, and which will require you to shell out for the DLC? We can finally shed some light on that.
Phantom Liberty Is Undoing One Key Thing That Cyberpunk Got Right
That’s because today the game’s official Twitter tweeted a graphic that lays out, in no uncertain terms, which changes will be available as part of the game’s 2.0 update, and which will require buying the Phantom Liberty expansion. As of this writing, the 2.0 update doesn’t have a release date, but it will launch before the $30 Phantom Liberty does on September 26. Generally, the patch looks to be mostly systemic and quality-of-life changes, whereas the expansion is bringing new content on top of those sweeping fixes and tweaks.
So, which new features will you get for free, and which are only in the paid DLC? Read on.
Features in the free Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 update
All PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S Cyberpunk 2077 players will enjoy the following new features for free, whenever the 2.0 update hits. (Unfortunately the PS4 and Xbox One received their last major patch with last year’s version 1.6 “Edgerunners” update.)
Redesigned skill trees and perks
When we played Phantom Liberty during Summer Game Fest, CD Projekt Red spent time extolling the many coming quality-of-life changes, like a cleaner, more readable UI. But more systemic gameplay changes, including redesigned skill trees and a complete overhaul of the cyberware system, seem like they’ll change the game up in more significant ways.
The redesigned skill trees, based on my time with them in that demo, feel like they’ll help to craft a more defined playstyle for your V. The character I played in the demo was melee-based, with powerful hand-to-hand finishers and the ability to deflect bullets. That’s only one of the planned new skill trees, and it’s unlike anything in the base game right now. Needless to say, you’ll want to respec when the 2.0 update launches.
Just one caveat to note: The new “Relic” skill tree, about which more below, will only be included in the paid expansion.
Revamped cyberware and new capacity system
Now only is your basic character build evolving, but also how you augment it. The revamped Cyberware system allows you to basically put your tech augments into overdrive to make them more powerful, but that will come with drawbacks if you’re not careful. While it won’t quite reach the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime’s portrayal of cyberpsychosis, you can expect some more risk and reward in how you augment V after patch 2.0.
Vehicle combat and car chases
In Cyberpunk 2077 you spend a lot of time driving around Night City, but the base game doesn’t let you do much else with all the cars and bikes you collect. The 2.0 update is adding combat sequences—V can fire a sidearm out the window, or operate a turret built into the car—as well as more car chases in the open world. The game already had a few chases, but only in pre-scripted sequences. This new system seems to make them a naturally occurring event within the world.
Combat AI improvements
Cyberpunk 2077 was pretty much a straightforward shooting gallery most of the time, but the 2.0 update aims to make its combat more dynamic by overhauling enemy AI and tactics. This will include things like making enemies better at taking cover and giving them new melee attacks that make them more lethal up close.
New police system
The 2.0 update claims it will make the punishment for your crimes more severe than a simple firefight and a possible car chase, with the threat scaling depending on the severity of your crimes. This includes giving cops heavier artiliery to deal with you depending on how bad you’ve been. If you keep racking up violations and reach the maximum “Heat” level (think GTA), you’ll have to face a MaxTac miniboss encounter. If you’ve seen Edgerunners, who already know why that’s very bad news.
UI and UX improvements
Cyberpunk 2077’s original UI is a bit hard to read. It’s stylized to look like a HUD a cybernetic-enhanced mercenary might have, but that’s not exactly easy on our real-life human eyes. The 2.0 update is revamping it to be a bit more sleek, clear, and not as disruptive.
Loot, items, and crafting changes
The 2.0 update is also bringing new loot and equipment, as well as changes to the crafting system which lets you make new weapons, clothes, and other items for you to carry around Night City.
New radio stations (including Community Radio Station Growl FM)
While you’re engaging in all that car combat, Cyberpunk 2077 is also getting new radio stations to listen to, which will also include one made up of songs from the community chosen as part of a contest earlier this year.
CD Projekt Red
Features only in the paid Phantom Liberty DLC
All that 2.0 update stuff sounds pretty good, but that won’t get you all the new content and features. You’ll have to shell out 30 bucks if you want to enjoy the following new additions to Night City.
Dogtown – a dangerous new district
The bulk of Phantom Liberty takes place in Dogtown, a new area near Night City’s Pacifica district. You won’t be able to access the new space without buying the expansion, and you also won’t be able to reach it until you reach the Pacifica section of the main game. So be sure to get that out of the way before September 26.
Brand-new storyline and characters
All those systemic changes are fine and well, but the big draw of Phantom Liberty is the spy thriller storyline featuring Luther and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 actor Idris Elba as new character Solomon Reed. Naturally, this will only be available if you buy the expansion.
New quests, gigs, boss fights, and more
Alongside the main quest, Dogtown will be home to other quests, fights, and other antics for V to get up to in Phantom Liberty.
Vehicles missions and airdrops – ‘endless dynamic events’
With the 2.0 patch’s overhaul to vehicles, naturally Phantom Liberty will be looking to highlight those changes. This will include new missions, including airdrops, which are meant to be endlessly replayable, according to the devs we spoke to at Summer Game Fest. We’ll see about that.
All-new Relic skill tree and abilities
Part of the story in Phantom Liberty centers around a character named Songbird, who claims that she can save V from the Relic in their head that is slowly killing them. Part of this includes unlocking the Relic’s potential, thus opening up a new skill tree that is only upgradable using Relic Points found in Dogtown.
100+ new items – weapons, cyberware, cars, and fashion
If you weren’t already overwhelmed by all the loot and such you can collect in the base game, Phantom Liberty is giving you more loot to put in your pack. This includes new fashion, so I will be serving lewks throughout Dogtown while doing spy shit.
Vehicle missile launchers
No car chase or vehicle combat overhaul is complete without mounting an explosive onto the front of your car.
Level cap increased to 60
Cyberpunk 2077’s level cap right now is 50, so on top of respeccing your V with the new skill trees, you’ll be able to gain another 10 levels while you fight your way through Phantom Liberty’s new story and quests.
It seems like CD Projekt Red is going all out for Phantom Liberty, which makes sense considering that it’s the game’s only planned expansion for Cyberpunk 2077. The studio is working on a sequel as well, but that game is likely a very, very long way away.
Ever since John Wick and The Wire actor Lance Reddick suddenly and unexpectedly passed away earlier this year, Destiny 2 fans have been wondering what would become of his iconic character, Commander Zavala. Today, Bungie announced that veteran actor Keith David, beloved for his video game work in Halo and Mass Effect, will take over in 2024’s The Final Shape expansion.
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“Lance’s iconic voice led us through the most intense moments in Destiny’s history and his impact on our Guardians, our community, and Bungie as a whole will never be forgotten,” Bungie announced on August 10. “Keith David, a prolific actor on the stage and in television, film, and games, will assume the English language voice of Zavala in The Final Shape and beyond. Separately, Lance’s existing lines in-game will remain untouched for the upcoming release.”
David’s appeared in a ton of movies, including The Thing, Platoon, and Nope. But he also has a long history of voice acting in games where he’s best known for his performances as the Arbiter in Halo 2, and Captain David Anderson in Mass Effect. “I am honored to continue the great work of Lance Reddick as Zavala. Lance captured the character’s sense of integrity so wonderfully,” he said in a press release. “It is my intention to continue that work.”
“One of the great qualities of Zavala that really attracts me is his integrity…and his sense of family,” said David. “And I thought Lance [Reddick] captured that wonderfully. And it is my intention to continue that work and continue to bring that kind of integrity to the role.”
Reddick was beloved within the Destiny 2 community not only as a great talent but also a massive fan of the game himself. He was found to have been playing shortly before his untimely death, and players flocked to the sci-fi MMO’s main social hub to pay their respects in the days that followed. Bungie has promised that The Final Shape, where David will first make his debut as the new voice of Zavala, will be the climactic expansion campaign and raid players have been waiting for as the live-service loot shooter finishes up its first big story arc, a conclusion 10 years in the making.
Update 08/10/2023 6:29 p.m. ET: Added video commentary from David.
