I didn’t buy a PlayStation 5 immediately after it launched, primarily because of the inventory scarcity. Eventually, in the spring of 2021, I caved and scoured YouTube and Twitter profiles for strategies to buy one when retailers put them up for sale and through the stuff I learned there, I was able to secure a PS5 through Target’s website for in-store pickup.
The one actual PS5 game I bought right away was Demon’s Souls, but I didn’t stick with it for very long. Ultimately, the first game that I really sunk my teeth into was Cyberpunk 2077, which had returned to the PlayStation Store not long before I purchased it. Despite the technical disaster that was its launch window, everything that I watched and read seemed to indicate that if you played the PlayStation 4 version on PlayStation 5 hardware you would have a mostly smooth experience. After about 60 hours with it, I was able to confirm that. Large scale, open world games almost always come with some type of technical hiccups, and this was no different, but overall, my experience in playing the game in that state was positive. I considered Cyberpunk 2077 to be one of my favorite games in years because of the story it told and the detailed world that its characters inhabited.
Fast forward to September 2023 and its first and only paid expansion, Phantom Liberty, releases. Not only that, but the week prior a huge “2.0” update to the base game was released that dramatically improved many facets of the game, including vehicle combat and the game’s skill tree. I knew this expansion would be coming eventually and I knew that I would want to play it, so I made sure to keep my save files on my console until I got the chance to play it.
However, when I learned that there were so many dramatic changes to the base game through this update, I decided to make an entirely new character and do a quick run through the game’s main story. It had been over two years since I played the game, so I wanted to make sure the main story was fresh in my mind.
I already loved the base game, but in conjunction with the 2.0 changes and the contents of Phantom Liberty, I feel confident in saying that Cyberpunk 2077 is among my favorite games of the past decade. This review will serve as a review of the package as a whole.
Cyberpunk 2077 is a video game that takes place in a bleak future where powerful corporations dominate the world and humans augment their bodies with cybernetic implants. The protagonist, V, is a mercenary who participates in a robbery to obtain a mysterious chip that holds the digital essence of a famed musician/terrorist.
One of the criticisms often lodged at this game is that there isn’t a lot of “real choice” in the sense that what you do doesn’t impact the end game dramatically. This is technically true; both the base game and Phantom Liberty have moments near their climax where your choices do impact which ending you will get. While I understand that these concerns are not incorrect, a role-playing game is more than just “choice.” It’s about filling the role of a character. Even though, minute-to-minute, your dialogue choices as V may not chance the game’s outcome, they do help define the kind of character that your V is.
Most games that are categorized as RPGs don’t really offer much in the way of choice, but the best of the best help you to feel like you are a character in their world, and Cyberpunk 2077 is dramatically successful in doing that. The writing across the board is very good, and the character arcs for both V and Johnny are incredibly strong and can even be moving at times near the conclusion.
Phantom Liberty actually begins during Cyberpunk 2077, becoming available after you reach a certain point in the game’s story. The expansion’s plot focuses on rescuing Rosalind Myers, the President of the New United States of America, who survives a missile attack on her plane and ends up in Dogtown, an infamously sketchy part of Night City. What comes after things get going is an honest to God great spy story that gets you invested in the new characters established in this story.
The two primary characters that the plot focuses on as things progress are Songbird and Solomon Reed, played wonderfully by Idris Elba. The plot will pull you in multiple directions and by the time you arrive at the critical decision-making points near the climax, you will genuinely struggle with who you should side with, as both sides seem to be well-intentioned, and you can logically justify siding with either side. I won’t go into a ton of detail about the plot and where things go, but I can say that Phantom Liberty includes a new ending for the base game that is far and away the best ending option available. It is emotional and makes everything you spend your time doing in the game worth it. It says something about the character of V, his motivations at the beginning of the story, and his relationships with those around him. It’s just really great stuff that I suggest you try to seek out if it isn’t the ending that you get.
The biggest strength that both the base game and expansion have is Night City itself. It is a huge, dense, and varied environment that is full of people, noise, and activity. City streets are full of chatter as people walk by. Businesses have people looking around and shopping itself of them. Night clubs and bars are loud, often times hosting a crowd of bodies who are dancing together. There are pockets of people gathered in corners talking to each other. As you walk by you can hear excerpts of their conversations. There are different groups of people and types of environments throughout the city and its outer regions. You can’t go into every building, but there are plenty of buildings that you can go into, and with so much activity on the streets around you, the idea of going into every place passes pretty quickly. The city itself, more than probably any other game that I’ve played, is alive. Night City is a central character in the story of Cyberpunk 2077. Above all else, this is probably the biggest accomplishment of the game.
In terms of gameplay, Cyberpunk 2077 offers a wide range of options to suit your playstyle. You can choose to be a skilled hacker, utilizing your cybernetic enhancements to manipulate the city’s intricate network, or a just focus on improving your gun skills, taking down enemies with brute force and firepower. The game’s revamped skill tree system allows you to tailor your abilities and appearance to your liking, even more so than the original game.
While the initial launch of Cyberpunk 2077 faced technical issues on some platforms, the subsequent updates and improvements have addressed many of these concerns. The 2.0 update, in particular, has brought significant enhancements to the game’s mechanics, making it an even more enjoyable experience. A lot of discussion around the game now is based around the idea that the Cyberpunk 2077 we have now is finally the game that was promised prior to its launch.
Cyberpunk 2077 is a game that excels in its world-building and storytelling, and gameplay mechanics with its memorable characters, and immersive atmosphere. With the news that it has surpassed 25 million units sold, it’s clear that CD Projekt Red took the response to their disastrous launch seriously, resulting in one of the industry’s best redemption arcs.
5 Stars: Incredible. A masterpiece that blows me away.
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