With the rocky launch and numerous updates behind us, the grand finale of CD Projekt Crimson’s magnum opus attracts close to. Will Cyberpunk 2077 be recognized within the annals of gaming historical past as one of many all-time greats, or will it stay a tragic lesson in overhyping one thing? Regardless, primarily based on what’s been proven, we couldn’t be extra hyped for Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty. Evening Metropolis was already a blast, however the DLC enlargement is about to propel issues out of orbit. Specifically, these are 10 of the largest causes Phantom Liberty would possibly dwell as much as the hype.
A Spy-Thriller Storyline
The Cyberpunk setting was completely made for espionage tales. Whereas we bought some snippets of genuine spy narratives within the base recreation, there weren’t any really devoted ones. Most of Cyberpunk’s covert escapades got here within the type of Gigs and the way you really performed by means of the sport slightly than a sweeping spy plot. Sneaking by means of illicit hideouts and snuffing out safety cams with a silencer was a reasonably frequent technique for me, nevertheless it wasn’t essentially the core story focus.
That each one modifications in Phantom Liberty. V’s level of contact for the story is an intelligence analyst by the identify of Songbird. She’s going to be a significant character within the story, guiding V all through his psuedo-undercover NUS agent profession. Songbird was talked about varied instances within the base Cyberpunk expertise as some of the adept netrunners round too, so there’s little doubt she’ll show a strong ally.
She additionally has an intimate historical past with Phantom Liberty’s different star of the present, Solomon Reed. How deep these connections are although, and the way they’ll play into the story, gained’t grow to be clear till we will all dig into the narrative ourselves.
Idris Elba’s Character, Solomon
That brings us to Songbird’s relationship curiosity, Solomon Reed.
Solomon is performed by none apart from actor Idris Elba, and if the trailers are any indication, his voice work goes to be phenomenal. CD Projekt Crimson are clearly going full cinematic mode with this character too: The animations we’ve seen from gameplay footage of the brand new character are among the many greatest within the business, and you may see Idris Elba’s mo-cap performances right here demonstrating his excellence.
However we’re not simply excited for the efficiency behind Idris Elba’s character. Solomon Reed can be primed to be one of many extra fleshed-out characters in the whole recreation.
The ultimate trailer to Phantom Liberty reveals us Solomon getting backstabbed by somebody he trusted. It’s unattainable to inform which character is in the appropriate and who’s going to finish up as an antagonist on the finish of the day, nevertheless it’s clear that CD Projekt Crimson is pouring an incredible quantity of effort into this character.
Extra Johnny Silverhand
I don’t learn about you, however Keanu Reaves’ portrayal as Johnny Silverhand was one of many standout points of Cyberpunk 2077.
A number of the most memorable moments within the recreation featured the wise-cracking Johnny being an antagonizing jerk to V. The curler coaster journey between Johnny and V confirmed a real facet to Johnny we’d like to see extra of in Phantom Liberty. The chance is rife for tons of latest memorable Silverhand moments, particularly since CDPR introduced Keanu Reaves again to reprise his position one final time.
Regardless that he’s a grade-A jerk, we can’t wait to hearken to extra rants and quips from Evening Metropolis’s most infamous rocker boy.
A New District to Discover
Exploration is one among Cyberpunk’s biggest accomplishments. The environments appear and feel lived-in and are genuine to the supply materials. When you can’t enter each constructing you see, you possibly can definitely climb them and stroll underneath their seedy underbelly.
Fortunately, Phantom Liberty is primed to supply much more of that. The DLC options a wholly new district east of Pacifica known as Dogtown. This disputed warzone has three subdistricts and its personal territorial gang to deal with, in addition to a slew of latest sights for gamers to partake in. Anticipate many new distributors, retailers, flats, characters, and extra quests than you in all probability have time for scattered all through the big new district.
So as to add to Dogtown, the spaceport on Morro Rock can even be explorable as a brand new zone accessible from the Metropolis Middle district.
Morro Rock is one thing we haven’t seen a lot of within the Phantom Liberty protection, so it’ll be thrilling to lastly discover that island with the large rocket ship we stored getting teased with all through the principle recreation.
New Gigs and Aspect Jobs
As long-time followers might need guessed, CD Projekt Crimson isn’t going to only let the principle story take all of the glory. Aspect Jobs and Gigs are going to be an enormous focus in Phantom Liberty too.
The facet jobs in Cyberpunk 2077 have been simply a number of the greatest content material in the whole recreation, so we’re desperate to see what’s in retailer for Phantom Liberty. All these new characters and factions will inevitably play a task in these facet missions too.
One contractor specifically who by no means actually gave V a lot work in Cyberpunk 2077 was Mr. Fingers. He’s accountable for gigs for Pacifica, and it appears he covers the Dogtown area too. We’ve by no means seen his hideout within the base recreation, so little question we’ll lastly be capable to discover the elusive contractor’s lair in Phantom Liberty.
Extra Wonderful Autos
The big selection of automobiles in Cyberpunk 2077 was one among my favourite points of the whole recreation. The automotive designs and sounds have been so good that they even sparked my curiosity in real-life automotive tradition. We are able to anticipate that very same stage of automotive element to return for Phantom Liberty, after which some added ridiculousness on high.
What we’ve seen of Phantom Liberty’s unique automobiles is already tantalizing. Sports activities automotive producer Quadra is making one other look with this new mannequin seemingly impressed by the basic 70s Plymouth Baracuda.
The brand new Quadra Sport R-7 Vigilante demonstrates simply how cool a fictional automotive could be. The type suits Cyberpunk completely, after which there’s the dealing with and sound. Cyberpunk’s design staff goes out to the easiest of the most effective real-world examples and takes notes and sound samples. We all know that the devs went out and recorded real-world automotive symphonies just like the Lexus LFA to later combine of their sound sales space for the bottom recreation’s Rayfield Caliburn.
However that’s not all. Phantom Liberty options the brand new addition of missile-mounted fight automobiles. In case you’ve ever needed to trigger mayhem in your individual decked-out tank round Evening Metropolis, Phantom Liberty has you lined.
A New Faction to Tackle
The brand new district of Dogtown doesn’t simply run itself, the territorial Barghest is a strong faction able to pounce on any that get of their manner. Barghest is a non-public military of ex-Militech troopers led by NUSA colonial Kurt Hansen. It’s very clear that Barghest would be the hardest of all of the factions but, totally difficult V’s newfound Relic powers.
In addition to the difficult new battles available, Barghest delivers an ideal piece of the espionage pie. Comprised of former NUSA personnel and the strongest thugs Dogtown has to supply, Barghest is entangled on the coronary heart of the battle that V and Solomon discover themselves in. They may find yourself being probably the most story-relevant faction in all of Cyberpunk 2077, and play an enormous position within the tales surrounding Evening Metropolis.
The Relic Ability Tree
Phantom Liberty will lastly allow us to dig into that mysterious locked talent tree on the backside of V’s character menu, recognized solely as Relic.
V’s collaboration with the NUSA permits the latent Relic powers inside to be totally unleashed. Whereas at first look it seems to be like there aren’t all that many perks within the new Relic tree, each can improve V’s abilities previous the restrict.
Becoming the espionage theme of Phantom Liberty is the Emergency Cloaking tree inside Relic. Emergency Cloaking instantaneously forces enemies to lose observe of V whereas invisible, whereas the Sensory Protocol perk slows time if caught whereas crouched. These seem to be small servings of icing on an enormous cake, and also you wouldn’t be unsuitable, however this explicit icing goes a great distance on this occasion.
The perk I’m most excited to check out is Spatial Mapping, which permits V to immediately warp strike to enemies after chaining kills.
There are additionally a number of perks devoted to the arm augmentations you can also make to your self by way of Cyberware, and the Vulnerability Analytics capacity can provide gamers the prospect to decimate enemies with assured crits.
Relic appears to be the ultimate capstone in remodeling V right into a cybernetic powerhouse. Even when it doesn’t actually remodel the gameplay with all-new mechanics, it ought to nonetheless present some enjoyable new toys for gamers so as to add to their toolkits.
Extra Lizzy Wizzy
‘Violence’ is a peculiar and interesting Aspect Job in Cyberpunk 2077, and it’s the one quest within the recreation that includes what could be the wackiest and most deranged character in the whole setting: Lizzy Wizzy.
As Evening Metropolis’s most well-known pop icon, she’s prepared to do something for extra publicity. Flatlining herself on stage solely to complete the live performance off in a brand new chromed-out physique is just one of many stunts she’s pulled.
There was initially purported to be extra Lizzy Wizzy content material within the base recreation earlier than it bought lower, so we’re excited CDPR is bringing her again in preem type for Phantom Liberty.
New Radio Stations
Final however not least, we’re excited to have some new radio stations to hearken to as we drive by means of Dogtown and the brand new environs of Phantom Liberty.
Music is an ambient a part of any immersive online game, however Cyberpunk’s soundtrack represents Evening Metropolis itself. Pop icon Lizzy Wizzy and rocker Johnny Silverhand have been talked about earlier, however there’s a number of different musicians the participant interacts with in Evening Metropolis. Their songs play throughout the totally different themed radio stations, and their adverts are plastered throughout floating neon billboards. The music performed throughout Evening Metropolis is a direct illustration of Cyberpunk’s immersive and lived-in lore.
To display how obsessed CDPR is with Cyberpunk’s diegetic music, they even put out a 45-minute documentary on the making of one among Phantom Liberty’s new stations, Growl FM.
May we get a scorching new single from pop trio Us Cracks? Will the ever-enduring Kerry Eurodine launch his comeback album, perhaps even reference V instantly within the music? Cyberpunk 2077 is a dwelling, respiration world, and maybe nothing helps remind us of this higher than the music enjoying on the radio.