In the lead up to its release, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Cyberpunk 2077 occupied a unique space in my mind. It wasn't just that it was a heavily hyped video game. I had been majorly excited for video games before — even twice that year, as I eagerly awaited 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Half-Life: Alyx and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Last of Us Part 2. Cyberpunk 2077 had the added burden of being heavily hyped and released after a🎐 year of pandemic-induced isolation.
It wasn't healthy, but as that terrible year wound a tortuous route to its end, Cyberpunk took on an inflated importance in my mind. Sure, not being able to see anyone in person was bad. But at least, at the end of the year, I'd get to play Cyberpunk. It was a promise of next-gen escapism at the time I needed it most (and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:CD Projekt Red's marketing took every opportunity to fuel the hype).
I think we all know it did not fulfill its promises. The game's first and only expansion, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Phantom Liberty, can't make Cyberpunk 2077 into the game that I imagined either. Nothing could. But it does make the game the best it's ever been, improving on much of what held it back at its much maligned launch. I can confidently say that Cyberpunk is now good. Just not, ya know, "pin all your hopes and dreams on it" good.
For most of the improvements, you don't even need to buy Phantom Liberty. The 2.0 Update, which arrives a few days before the expansion, is free for anyone who owns the game, and it pretty thoroughly takes the whole thing apart to put it back together again. Though CD Projekt Red hasn't addressed my biggest issue — the buildings of Night City remain, by and large, window dressing instead of vectors for exploration — it adds enough that you won't have nearly as much time to fixate on its remaining shortcomings.
It can take some time to see the vision, though. Update 2.0 radically reworks the game's skill and perk system, which caused some growing pains when I first booted up the game. If you start past a certain level, like I did, you'll need to completely respec your character. I didn't realize this at first and, instead, was wondering why my character was extremely overencumbered. It took a few minutes, but I figured it out and the changes to the skill tree are one of the best things on offer here.
Speccing into Body opened up some cool new perks, like the ability to regain HP by running around which helped me finally knock out the Beat on the Brat boxing tourney from the main game. When paired with my new ability to dash a bunch of times in a row, this encouraged a hyperactive, kinetic playthrough that perfectly matched my preference for the game's katanas. The DLC adds a new Relic branch to the skill tree too, opening up several new abilities to further customize V. All of this goes a long way toward making Cyberpunk 2077 a more dynamic and exciting game, even if you're just playing missions that were there since launch.
The missions that weren't there since launch don't make the best first impression, either. This roughly 20-hour long expansion begins with V getting an invite to Dogtown, an area of the map that was locked off until now. Answering the call will get V caught up in Call of Duty, as the DLC kicks off with a lengthy series of linear action missions that find V sneaking into the district, sprinting after a crashing plane, fighting a giant robot, and rendezvousing with Rosalind Myers, the president of the New United States of America, and Songbird, a hacker who reaches out to V through her construct. This action-packed opening sounds exciting in theory, but it keeps you from seeing what the game will actually be for about two hours, and in practice, it's a lot of boring first-person platforming and mediocre shootouts. The expansion ends on a similarly weak note with a frustrating cat-and-mouse sequence that goes on way too long and leaves little room for roleplaying.
In between, though, there’s plenty of good stuff. Once the game opens up, you quickly find that Dogtown has a lot to offer. It still has the same problem as the base game — that many of the doors don't open and skyscrapers that loom over the exterior space are often closed off entirely on the interior — but Dogtown's smaller surface area means that the space is significantly better used. You get to know the map well by the end of the expansion, and it's smartly designed with memorable buildings (like a black and neon green pyramid) that you can use as landmarks as you drive around.
And Phantom Liberty offers you more reasons to care about how well you can navigate the space. Once you reach Dogtown, you have the option to start doing missions in which you escort cars back to a garage, and receive a better payout depending on the speed of your delivery and the amount of damage the car takes along the way. There are a bunch of these, and it's a smart way to highlight new vehicular combat that has been added in 2.0.
In the original game, you could drive your car, or you could fight, but they were completely separate mechanical experiences. Adding vehicular combat means that there's always the possibility that violence might break out which adds weight to exploration. Toss in the significantly more robust police system, and you have much more tomfoolery to get up to in the open-world that isn't directly tied to a quest or gig.
The story content is generally pretty good, too — especially the new ending Phantom Liberty adds to the main game, which I won't spoil except to say that I found it surprisingly moving. I was happy to see Keanu Reeves' Johnny Silverhand, and enjoyed the opportunity to hear his cynical takes on each new mission. Though Johnny returns, Solomon Reed, a local fixer played by Idris Elba, is the biggest addition to the cast. Most of the main missions have you working with Reed in the same way you worked with Takemura in the base game, and waiting in between as he sets up the next job — a conceit I've always liked as it gives you a future goal and sense of urgency in the main story, while building in time to explore side content.
On both fronts, Phantom Liberty's missions are largely solid. I especially enjoyed two quests involving a pair of high-rolling French twins, and one in which V gets to assume the identity of a heavy from out of town. There's some tedium in spots, like a mission where you need to escort Reed with a sniper rifle from a distance and that cat-and-mouse level near the end, but there's also plenty to like. There are a lot of new side gigs, assigned to you by the recurring Mr. Hands, and many of these — like one where a guy gives you drugs before telling you a story, allowing you to vividly experience his tale, playing as one of the characters in the retelling — are worth seeking out. Mostly, the missions keep you moving along at a nice pace and show off what the game does well.
That's crucial, because with the 2.0 Update, the game does a lot well. It still isn't an all-time great RPG, but there are fewer hiccups keeping you from enjoying the many things it succeeds at. Phantom Liberty is good, but 2.0 is the rising tide that lifts all boats. It makes Cyberpunk 2077, unambiguously, worth the trip.
168澳洲幸运5开奖网: 🔴 Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom💮 Liberty
Reviewed on PS5.
- Top Critic Avg: 89/100 Critics Rec: 99%
- Update 2.0 radically reworks the skill system, making the game more dynamic and exciting.
- The world has much more going on, which makes the game feel significantly less empty.
- Dogtown is small enough that its locations become memorable over the course of your playthrough.
- The added ending is moving and worth seeking out.
- Memorable main missions and side quests expand on what the game does best.
- -Phantom Liberty takes a while to get going, with a Call of Duty-style cinematic opening that fails to highlight what the game does well.
- There are some tedious quest moments.
- The climactic mission is a frustrating cat-and-mouse sequence that goes on way too long and leaves little room for roleplaying.