CYBERPUNK 2077: PHANTOM LIBERTY

We played Cyberpunk 2077's expansion at Summer Game Fest

- Morgan Park

Cyberpunk 2077 wasn't always an easy game to love, but one thing I appreciated from day one was that V leaves a relatively small mark on the world. Sure, you cause some mayhem, but the movers and shakers of Night City always (rightly) treat V like a dispensable street punk.

Well, this punk's next mission is to save the president, and my partner-in-cybercrime is Idris Elba. It's an Escape From New York situation that lands V in the middle of this mess-my demo jumped around through the early parts of the story, but the gist is that the local leader of Phantom Liberty's new district, Dogtown, shoots down Space Force One and V is the most capable mercenary around to help.

Dogtown is a new add-on to the Pacifica district, a chunk of Night City that was underutilized in the original game. CDPR describes Dogtown as a ghetto that's been left to rot by the city. The centerpiece of the district is a massive disused stadium that houses a bustling market. It's here that Phantom Liberty's story kicks into gear, and where I was introduced to Colonel Hansen, Dogtown's local warlord who airs his reactionary political talk show on every screen in the district.