We are a few weeks away from the launch of Cyberpunk 2077’s huge Phantom Liberty expansion on September 26, the culmination of almost three years of fixes and updates to the game that has transformed it from meme to one of the most fun games of this generation (yes, seriously), and also the best-looking, given its PC-specific visual upgrades like path-tracing.
But Phantom Liberty is also coming with the game’s largest ever update for the entire game, something even non-Phantom-Liberty-buyers will get to experience if they’re just playing the original version. Now, CDPR has fully detailed what comes with and without Phantom Liberty.
Free Updates For The Base Game + Phantom Liberty:
- Redesigned skill tree and perks (we’ve seen abilities like being able to throw people at other people)
- Revamped cyberware and new capacity system
- Vehicle combat and car chases (cars get weapons now)
- Combat AI improvements
- New police system (police chase you, set up barricades and send MaxTac after you)
- UI and UX improvements
- Loot, items and crafting changes
- New radio stations (including one made up entirely of community submissions)
Phantom Liberty Only:
- Dogtown – A dangerous new district (off limits if you don’t purchase)
- Brand-new storyline and characters (starring Idris Elba!)
- New quests, gigs, boss fights and more (Mr. Hands has been seen assigning new gigs, for one)
- Vehicle missions and airdrops – endless dynamic events (GTA Online-style, perhaps?)
- All-new Relic skill tree and abilities (we’ve seen some skills like warping to enemies with Mantis blades)
- 100+ new items – weapons, cyberware, cars and fashion (some of these have been shown in trailers)
- Vehicle missile launchers (interesting you only get these with the expansion, when car combat has been introduced across the whole game
- Level cap increased to 60 (again, I’d figure this would be game-wide)
So, while there are a lot of base updates coming, it does seem like getting Phantom Liberty is the play as you might as well unlock everything, rather than just half of it. If you’ve already beaten the base game, Phantom Liberty will be a must, but if its your first time playing, I suppose you could experiment with the base game before fully committing the expansion. But there are bundles that might save you a few bucks if you want to go all the way.
CDPR keeps reminding everyone that this is the only expansion and last big updates for Cyberpunk 2077 after three years. It’s time for them to move on to new Witcher games, but a Cyberpunk sequel and a new IP are also reportedly in the works. I am also curious if someone is going to buy them up in this current acquisition landscape, but I hope that wouldn’t come with franchise exclusivity in the future.
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