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Released in 2022, Cyberpunk 2077, an action role-playing game (RPG), immerses players in the futuristic dystopian society of Night City. Players assume the role of V, a freelance mercenary whose background varies based on player choices. The narrative intricately weaves V into a dangerous conspiracy surrounding a stolen biochip and the digital ghost of the rocker, Johnny Silverhand.
Storyline
The adventure begins with a heist gone wrong, where V ends up with a biochip designed for immortality implanted in their brain. This chip carries the digitised consciousness of Johnny Silverhand, a rock star turned anti-corporate activist from decades past. As V grapples with their new reality, they are thrust into a power struggle among rival factions and megacorporations, each pursuing their agendas related to Johnny’s continued presence in their mind.
V’s quest to remove the chip uncovers hidden agendas and sinister plots that threaten to reshape the future of Night City. This personal endeavour forces V to make critical decisions regarding their alliances with fellow mercenaries, street gangs, and corporate executives. Their journey is riddled with challenges and moral dilemmas, as V explores the city’s dark underbelly, confronts their past, and makes choices that will determine not only their fate but also the destiny of Night City.
Cyberpunk 2077’s Rocky Start and the Road to Redemption
Cyberpunk 2077 was met with a ton of criticism and disappointment upon launch, mostly due to numerous bugs, poor performance, and weak features on last-generation consoles. This game had been hyped beyond all possibilities, so the delivered product disappointed a great many players, finally provoking enormous backlash resulting in its temporary removal from some storefronts.
CD Projekt Red announced that these issues would be addressed through a series of patches and updates aimed at bug fixes, performance enhancements, and the reinstatement of missing features in the game. With an aim to regain the trust of its player base and enhance the gaming experience, the developers focused on an expansion pack titled ‘Phantom Liberty.’ This expansion was intended to rejuvenate interest and demonstrate CD Projekt Red’s commitment to refining and expanding their ambitious project.
The expansion promised to redefine the Cyberpunk genre entirely. How? Thought you may never ask.
Phantom Liberty’s immersive Night City
Night City has always been at the core of Cyberpunk 2077, often to the extent of being a character in the plot itself. With sterile neon lights hovering over the player, the lens flare marking the cacophony of uncaring citizens buzzing in the background, the game vividly depicts a typical Cyberpunk-genre city. Dogtown, the beating heart of the Phantom Liberty Expansion, reveals a new facet of the capitalist dystopia that is Night City. A militant state. A shift from lawlessness to enforced legality, even within the confines of one’s home. The welcome addition introduces a new cast of characters, deepening connections and inevitably breaking some hearts. The final ingredient for the secret sauce was the banter amongst NPCs, subtly adding layers of story-telling in the mix, even during combat, bringing out a fresh flavour that is rarely explored.
Rich narrative and Richer Characters
The characters are intricately woven into the fabric of the game’s narrative, with motivations and agendas that resonate deeply with the themes of the Cyberpunk genre. Each character is a true realization of how hedonism takes charge when the world devolves into the hands of tech giants cashing in on every basic desire. Dogtown ups the game by causing a tragic but welcome shift, transitioning into a world of government endorsed violence. Dogtown ups the game by causing a tragic but welcome shift, transitioning into a world of government endorsed violence. A violence against virtue. With characters like President Rosalind Myers pulling on the threads of the player’s fate to Solomon Reed, an FIA agent, who turns into a dear friend. A friend, whose heart hangs in the balance against the President’s, and her protege Songbird’s freedom. It is often this tragedy that makes you want to sit down at the end of it all, in your run down apartment within night city, and let the neon blind you for the night.
Cyber-Psychosis (Cyberpunk 2.0)
With the launch of Phantom Liberty, gaming saw what might be its greatest resurgence: Cyberpunk 2.0. Enhanced by innovative mechanics and a reimagined combat system, players could immerse themselves deeper than ever, crafting the ultimate version of their character, V. Central to this evolution are the Relic Tree and the Cyber-Psychosis mechanic, introducing layers rarely explored in Cyberpunk narratives. What happens when augmentation goes too far? When your humanity begins to dissolve into your cyberware, leading to cyber-psychosis—a debuff system that makes it all too real. Those familiar with the Cyberpunk series Edgerunners, which shares this universe and explores the rise and fall of a Street Kid within the gang hierarchies, will recognize the poignant depths of such technological tragedies.
Deeper Builds
One of the biggest boons of Phantom Liberty is how it broadens the array of options available in your character builds, catering to everyone from launcher-armed brutes to netrunning ninjas. The newly introduced Relic Tree has features for it all. This feature becomes available after your initial encounter with Songbird at the start of the expansion, unlocking a myriad of abilities for anyone in possession of the relic. At the right price of course. The price being old Militech data, which gives you Relic Points. While these points are exclusive to the DLC, their effects extend throughout the game, providing unique perks like advanced cyberware arm capabilities and Emergency Cloaking to Vulnerability Analytics. You’ll have options for it all.
The New Ending : A Sad Tomorrow
Apart from everything discussed, Phantom Liberty delivers what I believe is one of the most memorable game endings a player could hope for. V, our ‘merc with a mouth,’ doesn’t meet his end in a blaze of glory, nor does he conclude his journey with a gun aimed at someone else’s head. His story ends with a hospital bed. As a broken soul, who has lost all connection to life in night city, incapable of ever wielding a gun. This sacrifice comes in exchange for silencing Johnny Silverhand, the ghost in his machine, forever. This epilogue rolls the credits with all the relationships V has made bidding them adieu during the two year time hiatus. The same two years he needed to recover from the operation that relieves him of the relic. The last scene involves V fading in the crowd, once a katana wielding god, now just a man, a man who can get beat up by common thugs and not even be able to fight back. The machines are gone, and only the man remains.
So, what’s the verdict, Night City citizens? Has “Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty” revitalized your wanderlust in the neon-drenched corridors of dystopia, or does it leave more to be desired? Dive into the comments with your hottest takes and icy critiques.
And hey, if you’ve got a story to tell that’s too big for the comment box, pitch it to us at editor@mindbrews.in.
Whether it’s a tale of betrayal by a digital ghost or a friendship forged in the fires of Dogtown, we’re here for it. Let’s keep the conversation alive and kicking—much like V’s adventures, your insights are invaluable in crafting the ongoing saga of Night City.
Jargon Junction
Word: Cyber-Psychosis
Sentence within the article: What happens when augmentation goes too far? When your humanity begins to dissolve into your cyberware, leading to cyber-psychosis—a debuff system that makes it all too real.
What it actually is: Cyber-Psychosis is a serious mental condition in the world of “Cyberpunk 2077,” triggered by overloading one’s body with too many cybernetic enhancements. This leads to hallucinations and aggressive behavior, as the line between machine and human blurs.
Jargon Junction
Word: Netrunning
Sentence within the article: Catering to everyone from launcher-armed brutes to netrunning ninjas.
What it actually is: Netrunning is the futuristic equivalent of hacking, where individuals infiltrate and manipulate digital systems and networks. In “Cyberpunk 2077,” netrunners use advanced cyberware to breach security, steal data, and even control minds.
Jargon Junction
Word: Hedonism
Sentence within the article: Each character is a true realization of how hedonism takes charge when the world devolves into the hands of tech giants cashing in on every basic desire.
What it actually is: Hedonism is the pursuit of pleasure as the highest good and primary motive of life. In the context of “Cyberpunk 2077,” it refers to characters who seek pleasure above all else, often influenced by a tech-saturated world where every whim can be satisfied by the latest gadget or virtual experience. This lifestyle becomes a key driver in the game’s narrative, shaping characters’ decisions and interactions.
