Few video games have had a redemption story as dramatic as Cyberpunk 2077. What launched in 2020 as a buggy, overhyped disappointment has, by years of patches, a significant 2.0 overhaul, and now the Phantom Liberty enlargement, change into one of the vital assured and classy open-world RPGs on PC. This evaluation focuses totally on the present state of the bottom sport mixed with Phantom Liberty, because the two are successfully inseparable at this level.
It is value acknowledging simply how uncommon this trajectory is within the business. Most troubled launches are quietly patched over a yr or two after which left to fade from reminiscence, with studios shifting on to their subsequent undertaking somewhat than persevering with to spend money on fixing a bruised popularity. CD Projekt Crimson as a substitute poured years of extra improvement into rebuilding Cyberpunk 2077 from the bottom up mechanically, culminating within the 2.0 replace and Phantom Liberty enlargement working in tandem to ship the sport many gamers initially anticipated again in 2020. That context issues when evaluating the present package deal, since what you are getting as we speak is meaningfully completely different, and considerably higher, than what shipped at launch.
Story & Setting
Phantom Liberty drops V into Dogtown, a walled-off district of Evening Metropolis run by warlords, mercenaries, and a corrupt peacekeeping pressure. The plot kicks off when the President of the New United States of America crash-lands in hostile territory, and V is recruited by a shadowy FIA agent, performed with icy magnetism, to extract her. What follows is a spy thriller dense with betrayal, competing loyalties, and morally ambiguous selections that not often supply a clear “good” end result.
The enlargement’s central relationship between V and the FIA handler is the perfect written materials Cyberpunk has produced, layering real heat over apparent manipulation in a manner that retains you second-guessing each interplay. The brand new ending paths tie immediately into the sport’s important marketing campaign finale, and with out spoiling specifics, they lastly give V’s story the gravity and closure that the bottom sport’s endings solely gestured towards.
What makes the espionage plot land is how totally it commits to ethical ambiguity. There isn’t any faction right here that is clearly righteous, and each main participant, from the exiled president to the native warlords carving up Dogtown’s territory, operates from a believable, self-interested logic. The writing resists simple solutions at almost each flip, and facet characters you meet alongside the best way, from a washed-up merc clinging to previous glory to a netrunner haunted by a job gone unsuitable, add texture to a district that might simply have felt like a generic warzone however as a substitute feels lived-in and particular.
Dialogue selections carry extra precise narrative weight right here than in a lot of the bottom sport, often locking or unlocking whole mission branches somewhat than simply flavoring the identical scene otherwise. It is a stage of narrative reactivity that CD Projekt Crimson’s earlier work hinted at however not often delivered so cleanly.
Gameplay & Mechanics
The two.0 replace basically rebuilt Cyberpunk’s fight and talent programs, changing the outdated sprawling perk timber with a tighter, extra legible construction constructed round distinct playstyles: Solo, Netrunner, and Techie approaches all really feel mechanically distinct now somewhat than cosmetically completely different. Cyberware is dealt with by a brand new capability system that forces significant trade-offs between mobility, fight augments, and hacking instruments.
Dogtown itself is a masterclass in dense, verticality-driven stage design, filled with facet content material that not often looks like filler. The brand new car fight system, police response overhaul, and relic-vision perk tree all layer extra depth onto an already strong action-RPG framework. Stealth, hacking, and gunplay all really feel viable as main approaches now, which was removed from true at launch.
Automobile fight, largely absent or clunky at launch, has additionally been considerably reworked, letting gamers have interaction in real automobile chases and shootouts whereas driving somewhat than treating automobiles purely as transportation. The revamped police AI means committing crimes in view of Evening Metropolis’s peacekeeping forces now triggers escalating, plausible responses somewhat than the arbitrary spawn-in enforcers gamers criticized at launch. Mixed with the improved perk timber, these adjustments make Evening Metropolis really feel like a residing, reactive house somewhat than a lovely backdrop that principally ignores your actions.
The relic-vision perk tree, tied to the Relic malfunction plaguing V all through the story, introduces a putting visible and mechanical layer throughout fight, letting gamers briefly sluggish time or unleash devastating quickhacks at the price of accelerating V’s personal deterioration. It is a sensible little bit of design that ties narrative stakes immediately into moment-to-moment gameplay, one thing the bottom sport struggled to attain with its authentic perk programs.
World Design & Replayability
Dogtown features nearly as a self-contained mini-city inside Evening Metropolis, walled off, lawless, and managed by competing factions somewhat than a single company authority. The claustrophobic, vertically stacked slums distinction sharply with the neon sprawl of the remainder of Evening Metropolis, and the change of surroundings does so much to maintain the enlargement feeling distinct somewhat than merely extra of the identical map painted a distinct shade.
A number of distinct endings, a number of main branching choice factors, and faction-based facet content material imply a second playthrough with completely different dialogue selections and a distinct construct can produce a meaningfully completely different expertise. Mixed with the bottom sport’s personal a number of endings, Cyberpunk 2077 now gives one of many extra replayable single-player narrative experiences on PC, particularly for gamers serious about seeing how otherwise the story can resolve.
Facet gigs inside Dogtown are constantly higher written than the bottom sport’s early facet content material, typically involving morally grey selections with no clear decision, echoing the enlargement’s central themes of loyalty and betrayal on a smaller, extra private scale. Completionists chasing each facet goal can count on an extra ten to fifteen hours of content material past the primary Phantom Liberty storyline alone, and several other of those elective threads circle again meaningfully into the enlargement’s important plot somewhat than present as disconnected busywork.
Graphics, Sound & Efficiency
Visually, this stays one of the vital putting cities ever rendered in a sport engine, and path tracing (Overdrive mode) pushes lighting constancy to genuinely next-generation ranges on succesful {hardware}. Neon reflections pool realistically on moist asphalt, crowds react dynamically to gunfire and chaos, and the soundtrack, mixing synthwave, industrial, and hip-hop influences, stays one of many strongest in any open-world sport.
Efficiency scaling is beneficiant. Ray tracing and path tracing demand severe GPU horsepower, however the sport runs comfortably on mid-range rigs with settings dialed again, and DLSS/FSR assist ensures a clean expertise throughout a large {hardware} vary. Load occasions are minimal on SSDs, and the sport has been remarkably secure in our testing, a stark distinction to its rocky launch years in the past.
Radio stations, ambient avenue chatter, and the layered city soundscape proceed to be among the most immersive audio design work in any open-world title. Mixed with wonderful HDR assist and a genuinely dense crowd simulation system, Evening Metropolis nonetheless looks like one of the vital convincing digital cities ever constructed, years after the sport’s rocky debut.
Idris Elba’s efficiency because the FIA agent anchoring Phantom Liberty’s plot deserves particular point out among the many voice work, bringing a world-weary gravitas to the position that elevates each scene he is in. Mixed with returning solid members reprising their roles from the bottom marketing campaign, the general voice path right here ranks among the many strongest in any RPG launched this era, PC or in any other case.
Execs and Cons
Execs
- Phantom Liberty is a tightly written spy thriller
- Overhauled fight and talent programs really feel purposeful
- Dogtown is dense, layered, and rewarding to discover
- Beautiful visuals with wonderful efficiency scaling
- New endings lastly give V’s arc actual closure
Cons
- Requires the bottom sport and a hefty obtain
- Some older facet content material nonetheless feels comparatively shallow
- Path tracing is demanding even on sturdy GPUs
Who Ought to Play This
Anybody who tried Cyberpunk 2077 in its tough early state and walked away disenchanted owes it one other look, significantly with Phantom Liberty put in. The enhancements to core programs, from police AI to perk timber to car dealing with, deal with almost each main grievance leveled on the authentic launch. Followers of narrative-driven espionage fiction, within the vein of status spy tv, will discover Phantom Liberty’s central plot particularly rewarding, because it’s structured extra like a tightly paced thriller than a typical open-world facet story.
Gamers who prioritize construct selection and reactive fight programs will respect how totally the two.0 replace reworked the sport’s mechanical basis, giving Netrunner, Solo, and Techie archetypes genuinely distinct playstyles somewhat than beauty variations. The one caveat value flagging is {hardware}: to get the complete visible expertise with path tracing enabled, you may need a pretty latest, high-end GPU. Everybody else can nonetheless get pleasure from a beautiful, well-optimized expertise with ray tracing scaled again or disabled completely.
Ultimate Verdict
It is uncommon for a sport to totally rewrite its personal popularity, however Cyberpunk 2077, bolstered by Phantom Liberty, has finished precisely that. That is now a assured, fashionable, and mechanically satisfying open-world RPG that lastly matches the ambition of its authentic pitch. For those who bounced off it at launch, now’s the time to present Evening Metropolis one other look.
9.1 / 10
Reviewed on PC with path tracing enabled. Roughly 65 hours performed.
Leave a Reply