Review: PHANTOM LIBERTY offers a solid story while update 2.0 offers a welcome refresh

At the end of September, CD Projekt Red was released Phantom freedomthe DLC expansion for Cyberpunk 2077. If you’ve ever talked to me, you know that I really enjoyed the base game and when I could play it on Google Stadia, it was a fantastic experience. Since Stadia shut down, however, I’ve had to switch platforms to the Xbox Series All thoughts below are my own. you can play Phantom freedom now on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S (affiliate link).

Before we get started, let’s lay some groundwork. I liked it Cyberpunk 2077 since launch. Unfortunately, I never got around to finishing it until earlier this year, when I was able to play it from the beginning on the Xbox Series Shortly before the launch of Phantom freedom, Cyberpunk 2077 I got the 2.0 update which changed a lot. Below you will find a review that is a mix of thoughts regarding Phantom freedom DLC and free update 2.0 changes.

Overall, I think both updates are solid. The changes in version 2.0 helped Night City feel a little more alive overall, and things like the skill tree felt a lot more streamlined. In the meantime, Phantom freedom offers a texture of different feelings that is 100% worth it. The game has certainly come a long way since its admittedly disastrous launch.

What I don’t like about the new one Cyberpunk 2077? For starters, I’m still not a big fan of the driving in the game. Using a controller is better than a keyboard, but it’s still not my favorite experience. I don’t like how something extra has been added to the driving experience to make it a little more focused. They’ve added combat, vehicle-to-vehicle combat-specific perks, and there are some missions that seem designed to highlight the upgrades. If you like the guide and all the updates, I’m happy for you. I just don’t like it.

One huge change that concerns me has to do with the armor of your V. Originally in Cyberpunk 2077, your clothes sometimes provided armor and other bonuses. With the 2.0 update, your armor is completely tied to your Cyberware and it is very rare for clothing to be non-cosmetic. On the one hand, I think it makes sense that your Cyberware is your main source of armor. However, wearing a leather biker jacket should give me a little boost over a crop top. Clothing was also interesting because you could modify certain parts of it to further customize your build, but now you don’t have the same kind of control. There was already the Wardrobe feature (courtesy of update 1.6) that let you change the appearance of your clothes without changing your stats, so now the clothes just seem useless. Especially since this game is first person and therefore you only see your V in very rare circumstances.

Another change I’m not a fan of is that you can’t remove weapon mods. You can remove parts like scopes, but mods cannot be removed. This forces players to try new weapons, but it also sucks because if you find a weapon that you really click with, you won’t be able to update installed mods.

My final observation concerns the Stamina system. I love that running no longer costs stamina. It makes crossing much smoother. However, they made it so that shooting the gun drains stamina instead. Stamina was already drained by using melee weapons, which makes sense, but it seems strange that firing ranged weapons would drain stamina. The push and pull of ranged weapons has always been about ammo consumption. To be honest, I don’t know that I’ve ever noticed a problem with my stamina being depleted during a firefight.

While these changes aren’t my favorite, I still had a lot of fun while playing the game Phantom freedom. One aspect of Phantom freedom what I think would have made a huge difference would have been giving V a damn flashlight! There are so many very dark areas that you have to go through during the new story and you have no flashlight or anything to help you see. There were some areas where I got lost just because I couldn’t make out certain ledges or other parts of the environment simply due to how dark the area was. It could easily be part of your Cyberware to have a flashlight in your fingers or whatever or just have night vision as part of your eye parts.

These are really my main complaints. I’ve already said that I like the new design of the Perk system, but I also like the simplification of the skills that have been reduced to five and the possibility of collecting progression fragments to improve your character. I also love the new system for health items and grenades. Instead of having a stock of items, you go into your inventory to select which item from each category you want to equip and then each has a series of charges that recharge over time. In my experience, I had 3 charges of my healing item and 2 charges of grenades as max. I really liked this rework.

When it comes to Phantom freedom Specifically, I really like the story. It’s billed as more of a spy thriller story and I think they did a really good job. Even the credits look like they belong in a spy thriller film. I don’t want to spoil too much, but it seemed like V got sucked into something like that The Bourne identity. You end up in contact with a high-level netrunner who works with NUSA President Rosalind Myers and get sucked into a giant mess without knowing who you can really trust and who is just playing him. There are also 4 possible endings, half of which can affect the ending of the main game. The key choices you have to make seem enormous. Unfortunately, I forgot to save just before the first of the key choices, so I can’t say how good those two endings are, but the two I got are solid. The last two missions are extremely intense and lean heavily on the thriller aspect bordering on horror. In fact, there’s one section it seems heavily inspired by Metroid Dread (a huge compliment from me because I love that game). I also really like how they explored the backstory of one of the new characters in the ending I got. It’s delivered everywhere in a way that feels more engaging instead of just a dump of information. There are definitely info dumps here and there throughout the expansion, but the way one particular character was handled was so cool.

I want to post the disclaimer for my game Phantom freedom I created a new V and chose to start it at Phantom freedom content (another feature that I really appreciate). After I finish it though, I definitely want to load up my main V and play the DLC with her and choose the other endings.

As a final note, I ran into a couple of bugs, but they were nothing major. First there were a couple of scenes where the subtitles were doubled for some reason. Secondly, there was a driving section where I was pulling into a parking lot and it seemed to visually stutter. Finally, during a big boss fight, I ended up inside the base of a giant statue and couldn’t get out or hurt the boss, but they ended up killing me (I still wouldn’t have won). I know the team is working on fixing some bugs, some of which have already been fixed, so you may not encounter them.

I really liked it Phantom freedom. The narrative is very well done in my opinion and involves you. Combined with many of the changes brought by the 2.0 updates, I highly recommend giving Cyberpunk 2077 does. It really feels like a completely different game compared to launch and it’s been a lot of fun playing with the new content.