Cyberpunk 2077âs one and only expansion, Phantom Liberty, is coming out on September 26. If youâve already beaten the original game, or have replayed it after some of the course correcting patches, youâre probably set, but if youâre still killing time in Night City and have yet to actually see the credits, you might be wondering what parts of the game might be tied into the expansion. According to developer CD Projekt Red? You should spend some time in Pacifica.
Cyberpunk Quest Director Pawel Sasko spoke to Kotaku, and alongside guiding us through the early hours of the Cyberpunk 2077 expansion, explained a bit about how Phantom Liberty fits into the full gameâs world. The expansion takes place in Dogtown, a new, somewhat sequestered location in the Pacifica region. The story content will be entirely new, Sasko says. But understanding Pacificaâs place in the universe and parsing the specifics of Dogtownâs isolation will help enrich your experience with the expansion.
When and how can I start the Phantom Liberty expansion in Cyberpunk 2077?
Phantom Liberty is only accessible once you reach Pacifica, which you canât do until you begin the gameâs second act and Johnny Silverhand is implanted in your head. Depending on your playstyle, this can take around 10 to 12 hours of playtime. But if you beeline right through you can cut that playtime in half. So if youâre planning on starting a new playthrough for Phantom Liberty, be sure to start it before the expansion comes out, because you wonât be able to just jump right into it from the start of the game.
âSo to even start Phantom Liberty,â Sasko said, âyou need to get to Pacifica and to get to know Placide and Mamam Brigitte and then talk to Alt.â
This Cyberpunk 2077 questline includes the quests Mâap Tann PĂšlen, I Walk the Line, and Transmission, all of which take place in Pacifica and involve the faction called the Voodoo Boys, who are members of Night Cityâs Haitian community that moved to America after climate change eradicated Haiti about a decade prior to the events of Cyberpunk 2077
Will I be able to understand Phantom Liberty if I havenât finished Cyberpunk 2077?
While playing through Cyberpunk 2077 will probably make parts of Phantom Liberty better, CD Projekt Red also designed the expansion to be standalone enough that it could work for anyone, regardless of how far they were into the game on a specific save file. According to Sasko, this also came from a desire to make Phantom Liberty tonally distinct from the base game, as it leans into spy-thriller stylings.
âWeâve been designing Phantom Liberty in a way that it works just because of how different it feels when it comes to [its] spy vibe,â Sasko said. âWe were designing it for the players that just barely started the game or players who have like 2000 hoursâŠsome of the players, you know, [do] spend this much time with [the game]. So this is all to say, I think really just as soon as youâre in Pacifica, you should be able to kick it in and play it.â
Phantom Liberty is set to launch on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S, and it will skip last-generation consoles
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