Phantom Liberty Review – So Mi's Choice

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty on PS5

DLC expansions are tough to do proper these days. People anticipate an increasing number of from these add-ons, particularly after they tout themselves as constructing upon the story and world of their base recreation. These expectations solely climb when stated DLC is for an enormous hit with a infamous growth cycle, as is the case with Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty.

Fortunately, I can safely say that Phantom Liberty does proper by its base recreation after which some. It expands on what got here earlier than it in some narratively attention-grabbing methods, and CD Projekt Red managed to stuff much more gameplay choices into the combo to a powerful diploma of success.

Granted, this won’t appear obvious proper off the bat. The DLC’s story kicks off when the participant receives a message from an unknown Netrunner named So Mi, AKA Songbird. She guarantees a chance to avoid wasting V from their loss of life by the hands of the Relic, however wants them to assist her save the president of the NUS after their airplane crashes within the disputed Night City district of Dogtown.

This doesn’t precisely go off with no hitch, and the participant is rapidly dragged right into a determined battle for survival alongside sleeper brokers on the beck and name of the NUS. As the reality of why the President crash landed emerges, V will might come at odds with these sleeper brokers or enlist them as allies; and, if their fortunate, discover a new technique to escape their premature destiny.

While this all sounds lots intriguing, it doesn’t fairly nail its first impression. The story takes a bit to get going, and the gameplay tied to it isn’t all that partaking. As a consequence, it may really feel like a little bit of a slog getting by what would appear like improbable set items on paper.

Fortunately, the identical can’t be stated for the remainder of the principle story and facet content material in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty. Its narratives begin to increase into one thing extra attention-grabbing, with diverse mission sorts and powerful character writing buoying each the core content material and its facet tales.

The DLC’s deal with choice-making solely elevates issues additional. Across its predominant missions and facet missions, there are a selection of impactful choices gamers are tasked with finishing up. These run the gamut from figuring out a personality’s destiny to siding with a selected character to find out what new ending to the bottom recreation’s story one unlocks. Most all of them pressure the participant to actually take into consideration how they, personally, need to resolve a state of affairs, and weigh what rewards imply essentially the most to them.

It is usually a little intense, however results in far more impactful moments the place it appears like one has made a reliable affect on the story. More than as soon as, I wanted to set down my controller and thoroughly weigh which determination I needed to make due to how it could have an effect on my V’s fame and general narrative. There wasn’t at all times a clear-cut good or dangerous alternative, and it got here right down to what I believed was the correct plan of action.

What’s extra is that the participant’s actions within the base recreation open up much more choices for these decisions. Taking the time to construct up connections with different characters can lead to them serving to you obtain a greater consequence for components of the DLC, and permit one’s previous decisions to really feel extra necessary because of this. It’s a small contact, however one which makes the DLC that rather more enjoyable to dig into and turn out to be immersed in.

And this isn’t even pertaining to the second to second gameplay. While it won’t be exceptionally totally different from what gamers would discover within the base recreation, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty differentiates itself simply sufficient to really feel like a recent expertise.

New character customization components like unlocking skills from the Relic Perk tree, in addition to new duties like fights for airdropped provides, assist to construct upon the standard gameplay loop of working, gunning, and looting as one explores Dogtown. They likewise give the participant extra incentive to take their time and see the sights between predominant story missions, taking over enemies or fixing puzzles to trace down new weapons and doubtlessly unlock a brand new Relic Perk Point.

All of this will probably be very true for individuals who play the sport after the two.0 replace. The reworked perk system and refined mechanics add a welcome quantity of polish to the general expertise, albeit at the price of among the balance-breaking methods gamers might make use of within the unique recreation. A hulking Berserker with Gorilla Arms remains to be simply as viable as a stealthy Netrunner, however gamers might want to know the way and when to make use of their rerspective skills correctly.

As a consequence, the general recreation — and particularly the DLC — feels extra cohesive, and forces gamers to dedicate extra effort to correctly utilizing all of the instruments the sport gives them with. In a method, it lastly brings the expertise to the extent that was promised so a few years in the past, providing up the most effective first-person RPG experiences round and doing proper by the cyberpunk style.

Rounding all of this out is the audio and visible presentation. Graphically, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty is gorgeous to have a look at. Character fashions are rendered with a powerful quantity of element, and the totally different settings gamers could make their method by gleam, shine, and crumble in a method that’s exhausting to not be enraptured by. This doesn’t change when the sport ramps up its motion both, as all the pieces retains its luster alongside crisp and easy framerates.

However, it’s exhausting to not level to the audio as one of many recreation’s true highlights. The music and sound results are past spectacular, enfolding gamers into the expertise with completely timed chords matched by the satisfying ring of gunfire and explosions.

The voice performing particularly is prime of the road, and Idris Elba’s efficiency as agent Solomon Reed is a lower above. It stands proper alongside Keanu Reeves’ efficiency as Johnny Silverhand, and works to make the general expertise that a lot simpler to fall into anytime his character is on display.

There’s not far more I can say about Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty apart from that it succeeds at what it tries to do. Though not instantly excellent, it hones and improves upon the bottom recreation in a method few different DLC expansions might hope to. Newcomers will discover a full bundle of a recreation to dig into, whereas long-time followers can stay up for a crowning glory that makes the entire expertise that rather more worthwhile.