At this point, Cyberpunk 2077 has encountered a bit of a Ship of Theseus problem. Given the massive updates that developer CD Projekt Red has poured into the game, is it even really the same game? The upcoming Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty expansion makes this an even more difficult question to answer after largely replacing the functional guts of the game like one of the setting’s ripperdocs.
Narratively, Phantom Liberty is described as a “spy-thriller” expansion that sees V embroiled in spycraft in order to save the life of the President of the New United States of America, Rosalind Myers. Idris Elba plays a sleeper agent named Solomon Reed. There’s a mysterious netrunner named Songbird that promises to help with the Relic in V’s head. And while the new storyline is at least initially compelling, it wasn’t my main takeaway from my admittedly limited time with an extended demo at Summer Game Fest this week.
