![]() ![]() The "save the President" plot actually resolves itself pretty quickly in favor of a deeper conspiracy, and you're subsequently free to come and go between Dogtown and Pacifica as you please, but the DLC really doesn't have you doing much in Night City proper aside from running quick errands like delivering procedurally spawned cars for its new, literal grand theft auto minigame. It makes sense that Dogtown's physically siloed off from the rest of Night City, but I found myself wishing it was either better-integrated into the main game, or even more of a hostile, alien, alternate zone. I felt like Harvey Keitel swooping in to save the day as the Wolf in Pulp Fiction, and the entire thing had this slapstick absurdity from beginning to end that I adored. My favorite tasked me with helping out a pair of hapless chucklefuck detectives caught with their proverbial pants down in Dogtown and panicking for their lives. A rescue operation for an underworld doctor gets complicated by his history of unsavory practices in one gig, while another sees you infiltrating the youth sports academy of the future, specializing in cybernetically enhanced 12-year-olds. Phantom Liberty's gig additions firmly fall into the latter camp, and I loved each one. Many are simple but enjoyable "go here and kill everyone as fits your playstyle" deals, but some of them felt more like full-on side stories with voice acting, a twist, and maybe even a gameplay curveball. I always enjoyed Cyberpunk's smaller side quests or "gigs," too. CD Projekt really is in the same league as Naughty Dog or Sony Santa Monica when it comes to delivering draw-dropping moments, but sets itself apart with the RPG choice, consequence, and interactivity I crave. Set pieces like that roulette table or the tense lead-up to the point of no return just popped for me. Phantom Liberty's main quests are a series of real dingers-I was wondering how it would stack up post-Baldur's Gate 3, but CD Projekt makes a case here for more cinematic, bounded RPG design. ![]() The Darkest Timeline had me feeling like my stomach had a lead weight in it from the point of no return to credits rolling, and by the end, the bastards got away with everything. From chatting with my coworkers, though, the other option sounds at least bittersweet, and my RPG perfectionist drive to get the best ending possible is conflicting with just how good that bad ending was. The path I chose was way more gut punches than triumphs, so I think I picked the "bad" ending. The main players in Phantom Liberty all think they're doing the right thing and that they don't have any other options, all while expecting you to back them up, and that eventually shakes out into one of the toughest choices I've had to make in an RPG: you have to betray someone, and both ending paths feature their own triumphs and gut punches. Reeves' Johnny Silverhand is back for the ride too, and while he seems to be a bit of an acquired taste (former PCG editor James Davenport dubbed him "John Prick"), he makes for a great asshole Greek chorus in Phantom Liberty.ĬD Projekt makes a case here for more cinematic, bounded RPG design. They've both got priors with Songbird, a brittle, emotionally compromised hacker with the strange ability to jack into your Keeanu Reeves-inhabited brain relic who also claims to have a cure for that bad boy brain rot. Idris Elba is a real treat as Solomon Reed, a reluctant killer roused from deep cover to "serve his country" even though he hates Myers' guts and was burned by his own agency years ago. Meanwhile, Cyberpunk 2077's 2.0 update, free to all players, has reforged the original looter shooter gear deluge and "+5% poison resistance"-style perks system, giving us a more solid RPG whose under-the-hood systems better compliment its shooting, slashing, and stealthing. It doesn't reinvent the game as a whole, but it's a fantastic final outing for V and Night City, as well as one of the best individual stories CD Projekt Red has told to date. Phantom Liberty is an extra-refined bite of Cyberpunk 2077-an expansion pack's expansion pack. Maybe I am cut out for this superspy stuff. ![]() At the last minute I chose a particularly inflammatory and insulting dialogue option and my handler pre-emptively chewed me out over the radio, but the little freaks absolutely ate it up. The centerpiece of the soiree mission was a long, tense dialogue puzzle where I had to earn the trust of a pair of deliciously awful French twins while playing high stakes roulette. I had to engage, provoke, and eventually befriend the international con artists all while I watched my FIA (Cyberpunk future CIA)-provided funds dwindle away.
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