Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
Night City's first and only major expansion drops V into a walled-off, mercenary-run corner of the city that plays by different rules than anywhere else in the game. Phantom Liberty pairs an espionage plot involving the New United States government with the new skills, gear, and combat systems introduced through Update 2.0, changing more than just the map.
Top 3 Reasons to Play
Phantom Liberty isn't just more Night City content bolted onto the base game – it reworks how the city plays and tells a story built to stand on its own.
A self-contained spy thriller. Idris Elba's Solomon Reed anchors an espionage plot that revolves around the New United States government rather than another gang turf war, giving V a story arc that plays out almost like its own film within Night City.
Dogtown changes how the map behaves. Walled off from the rest of the city and run by Kurt Hansen's Barghest militia instead of a corporation, this district shifts traffic patterns, patrols, and mission structure compared to anywhere else V can go.
Update 2.0 rebuilds the systems underneath it. The free patch that ships alongside the expansion adds the Relic skill tree, an overhauled police response, and reworked vehicle combat, so even players who skip the story missions feel the difference.
Story and Lore
The plot opens when the orbital shuttle carrying Rosalind Myers, President of the New United States, is shot down over Dogtown – the most dangerous, least governed district in Night City. V becomes the one contact capable of reaching her, which pulls them into an FIA operation run by sleeper agent Solomon Reed.
From there, the DLC settles into a tangle of shifting loyalties: Reed needs help from Songbird, a netrunner informant with her own history in Dogtown and a terminal condition tied to the same relic chip lodged in V's head. Johnny Silverhand returns as a supporting presence throughout, and the story leans on the same relic-and-identity themes as the base game rather than introducing an unrelated plot thread.
Two pivotal missions, Firestarter and its follow-up, force a choice between siding with Reed or with Songbird. That decision – and a second one made once the stakes are clear – branches the DLC into several distinct outcomes, one of which unlocks an additional ending for the base campaign itself.
Gameplay and Mechanics
Getting into Dogtown requires progress in the base story rather than a separate unlock screen. Players need to reach the point in Act 2 where the Voodoo Boys questline in Pacifica – M'ap Tann Pèlen, I Walk the Line, and Transmission – wraps up and Songbird makes contact. CD Projekt Red also built in a shortcut: starting a new game and picking "Skip Ahead to Phantom Liberty" drops players straight into a level 15 V with a basic loadout, ready to enter Dogtown immediately.
Once inside, the expansion adds:
- The Relic skill tree, a new progression branch tied to V's cyberware and delivered through the same free Update 2.0 patch
- Vehicle combat, letting V fight from behind the wheel during chases rather than only on foot
- A reworked police and NCPD response system that reacts differently depending on the crime and location
- New iconic weapons and cyberware exclusive to Dogtown's vendors and quests
Pacing-wise, the main Phantom Liberty questline runs about 15 hours; working through its side jobs and gigs alongside it stretches that closer to 25 hours, on top of whatever time a player has already put into the base game.
Characters and Factions
Dogtown introduces its own cast without sidelining the returning ones:
- Solomon Reed – an FIA sleeper agent voiced by Idris Elba, and V's main ally through the espionage plot.
- Songbird (So Mi) – a netrunner informant whose own survival is tied to the same relic technology affecting V.
- Rosalind Myers – President of the New United States, whose downed shuttle sets the story in motion.
- Kurt Hansen – leader of the Barghest militia, the arms-dealer faction that effectively runs Dogtown.
- Johnny Silverhand – voiced by Keanu Reeves, still present in V's head and involved in the expansion's events.
Editions and How to Get It
Phantom Liberty is sold as a standalone expansion for owners of the base Cyberpunk 2077, patched to the free Update 2.0 that ships alongside it. It can also be picked up already bundled: Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition, released December 5, 2023, packages the base game, Update 2.0, and Phantom Liberty into a single purchase, aimed mainly at players who haven't started V's story yet.
Because the expansion was built around current-generation hardware, both the standalone version and the Ultimate Edition are limited to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S – neither ever launched on PlayStation 4 or Xbox One.