Phantom Liberty Doubles Down on What Makes it Nice

In the event you’ve managed to do the entire story content material that Cyberpunk 2077 needed to supply and have been wanting an excuse to hop again on and do some netrunning or samurai sword slashing, I’m completely satisfied to say that Phantom Liberty goes to supply you numerous to chase after which some. I used to be dropped into Dogtown, the brand new location you’ll discover in Phantom Liberty, and it’s full of a brand new story, new gigs, airdrops that’ll embody some coveted loot, new Cyberware upgrades within the type of Relics, new perks, and much more I’m in all probability going to find after I return in September.

To kick issues off, when diving again into Evening Metropolis, you’ll obtain a message and a mission from Songbird: Save the President of the New United States. She has crashed and also you’ll have to get her out from behind enemy strains earlier than Hansen’s individuals do. Hansen, the massive unhealthy of Dogtown, doesn’t appear to love President Myers very a lot, and it’ll be as much as you to drag her out of the hearth.

By way of the story, the general feeling I used to be left with after the primary hour or so I acquired to play was considered one of unease. Not due to something bizarre, however just because I didn’t really feel like I might belief any of those individuals. After simply assembly the President I used to be instantly requested if I wished to take an oath. To be truthful, the demo jumped round so perhaps the character will develop on me a bit extra, however I positively was hesitant to belief anybody I simply met on the planet of Cyberpunk 2077. In spite of everything, the final time I did I awakened half useless and buried below rubbish on the dump with individuals attempting to loot my corpse.

That unease wasn’t helped a lot by Johnny Silverhand, who shares some revelations about his previous throughout the mission. What he tells you makes this determination about whether or not or to not pledge your allegiance to President Myers even more durable to make. It was nice to listen to from Silverhand once more after so lengthy, and to listen to his reactions throughout this explicit story path will certainly tug on the ol’ heartstrings as you make your option to one of many new endings solely present in Phantom Liberty.

As a result of your recreation all the time saves simply earlier than you speak to Hanako and transcend the purpose of no return, Phantom Liberty will give you an all-new path towards completion that solely PS5 and Xbox Collection X|S homeowners can play (and PC after all). My favourite ending up to now has been the so-called suicide run, however I welcome the chance to see how all this performs out ultimately.

Solomon Reed, performed by Idris Elba, is an exceptional addition to the solid and he actually brings a gravitas to his position. As I discussed earlier than, that lack of belief extends to him, too, as he’s launched along with his typical poise and no-nonsense supply throughout your hunt for backup, per the President’s orders. His life could not have taken fairly the glamorous flip you’d anticipate as he had rubbed shoulders with a President and for me, that simply made me additional query his loyalty given the circumstances. A personality burned by a strong determine? Yeah, I’m going to expect the opposite shoe to drop in some unspecified time in the future.

The main target of the 90 minutes was totally on this story of Solomon Reed, President Myers, and Songbird. However the mission that caught with me essentially the most was one of many new gigs I discovered in Dogtown. Primarily as a result of I really feel like I performed it incorrect.

There have been a lot extra gigs to dive into, however the one I ended up operating had me attempt to assist a avenue physician who appeared to be trying to make the lives of the individuals on this metropolis higher. You meet him attempting to regulate the cyberware of a citizen appropriately for his or her physique kind, and since I had some expertise in tech I helped remedy it with a dialogue possibility. After that I used to be despatched on a mission to recuperate a physician, and after I arrived, I used to be confronted with an indignant girl who fired a number of rounds into his forearm. In a panic I shot her, and sadly I believe I made the incorrect selection.

That’s as a result of I came upon later that she was mad as a result of this physician had kidnapped her youthful brother and was doing human experiments on his physique. In an try and get him again, she confronted him, however ended up assembly her dying at my hand – all whereas the physician was an entire dick. So in my subsequent playthrough, guess who V can be murdering as quickly as this growth drops?

Usually talking, Dogtown, like most of Evening Metropolis, isn’t essentially the most welcoming of locations. There are lots of advantages for diving into the seedy underbelly of an already seedy place, although. The black market scene, for instance, has a number of enjoyable new toys to mess around with. Like, as an example, new weapons, autos which have mounted machine weapons and rockets so that you can play with, and even cyberware that beefs up your already extremely highly effective assaults. 

For instance, the brand new relic system permits you to energy up your monowire to make it act extra like a whip out of Castlevania – besides it additionally applies an immediate fast hack alongside the bodily injury it inflicts. Your Projectile Launch could be charged as much as ship a volley of missiles at anybody you’ve determined to focus on, versus only one blast. And with a powered-up set of Mantis Arms it is possible for you to to set off one of many new executions within the recreation, after which immediately teleport by way of a lift to an opponent on the opposite aspect of the room to maintain the homicide chain going. These, alongside the brand new perks, have me very excited to min-max a brand new construct.

The very final thing I had the chance to attempt was an airdrop, which is simply one of many world occasions I noticed throughout my hands-on time. You’ll hear a loud growth close by, and when you observe the plumes of pink smoke there can be a shoot out to see who can get the loot earlier than anybody else. Some have higher objects than others, however when you’re in search of a option to gear up with the brand new weapons present in Dogtown, you’ll merely want to chop your means by means of the plenty to get your bag.

Destin Legarie is a Director of Content material Technique at IGN. He likes taking chicken pictures in his spare time when he is not doing Efficiency Critiques for IGN. You possibly can observe him on Twitter if you’d like.