Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty Almost Overshadows the Failed Launch of Base Game; First Reviews are Here
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty will launch in a week, but it has already delighted reviewers, despite occasional reservations.
Another moment of truth for Cyberpunk 2077 already is near. Tomorrow the game will receive major update 2.0, and next week will see the debut of the Phantom Liberty expansion, which has already been rated by reviewers. You can find our text at the link below.
Cyberpunk 2077 was undoubtedly a great game, but it's hardly surprising that CD Projekt's futuristic RPG was received rather coldly at launch. Players were disappointed primarily by the technical layer, although they also had reason to complain about the gameplay.
Therefore, fans absorbed the promises of the first (and only) story DLC with cautious enthusiasm. Was it rightfully so?
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty - selected reviews
- GRYOnline.pl - 9/10
- Gamepressure - 9,5/10
- Forbes - 10/10
- GameSpot - 10/10
- Press Start - 10/10
- WellPlayed - 10/10
- GamingTrend - 95/100
- Wccftech - 9.2/10
- XboxEra - 9.2/10
- GamesRadar - 4.5/5
- Push Square - 9/10
- TechRaptor - 9/10
- PC Gamer - 87/100
- Destructoid - 8.5/10
- Everyeye.it - 8.5/10
- Game Informer - 8.5/10
- Metro Game Central - 8/10
- Video Games Chronicle - 4/5
- Attack of the Fanboy - 3.5/5
- OpenCritic - 90/100 (53 reviews)
- Metacritic - 91/100 (PC; 25 reviews) / 87/100 (PS5, 22 reviews) / 88/100 (XSX/S; 6 reviews).
Good news: Phantom Liberty is a great culmination of player adventures in Cyberpunk 2077 (although the fact that it's the end may be a bit of a disappointment). The bad thing is that the current version of the DLC can hardly be called technically perfect.
Visually, there is little lacking in the game and the whole thing works much better than the base game at launch not only on PC, but also on PS5 and XSX/S (Reminder: Phantom Liberty skipped the 8th-generation platforms). Nevertheless, here and there reviewers mention occasional performance drops on consoles and glitches, and the real test for the DLC's performance on different hardware will come with its release. Also, some journalists would have preferred a more "intimate" Dogtown to provide more opportunities for interaction with the game world.
"As a side note: although reviewers are focusing on the expansion, journalists did not fail to praise update 2.0. Some even stated that this is the biggest "transformation" of single player game they have ever seen. However, in the text we focus on the reviewers' impressions of interacting with the DLC - there will still be time to test the update.
Leaving aside the issue, critics unanimously praise basically every element of Cyberpunk 2077's expansion. Not everyone was gracious enough to give the DLC the highest marks, but so far it's hard to find people who do not express positive opinions about the work of CD Projekt Red.
- Yes, it is possible to find individual objections. Not every character in Phantom Liberty enthralled all journalists as much as Solomon Reed played by Idris Elba (for many reviewers he's unquestionably the biggest star of the expansion), but still the actor has a lot of competition among characters in the fight for players' adoration.
- The "brutally" detailed Dogtown also draws praise, very different from the locations from the base game - also in terms of content.
- The storyline is praised in almost every review, and side missions also appealed to quite a number of critics (although, as some journalists write, not all of them perform as well as the main plot).
To sum up, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty is an excellent expansion, after which you can forget the abysmal launch of the base game. It's a little short of perfection, but CD Projekt fans will get everything they appreciated the Polish studio's previous work for.
Nevertheless, it will be the players who will give the final verdict when Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty debuts on September 26 at midnight (on PS5 and XSX/S) and 1 a.m. (PC) CET. They will be able to test update 2.0 tomorrow.
More for You:
- Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty - game guide
- Exciting Polish Video Games Announced for 2023
- September 2023 Releases - New Games Coming, Starfield and Cyberpunk Included!
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Author: Jacob Blazewicz
Graduated with a master's degree in Polish Studies from the University of Warsaw with a thesis dedicated to this very subject. Started his adventure with gamepressure.com in 2015, writing in the Newsroom and later also in the film and technology sections (also contributed to the Encyclopedia). Interested in video games (and not only video games) for years. He began with platform games and, to this day, remains a big fan of them (including Metroidvania). Also shows interest in card games (including paper), fighting games, soulslikes, and basically everything about games as such. Marvels at pixelated characters from games dating back to the time of the Game Boy (if not older).
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