Cyberpunk 2077’s Phantom Liberty expansion finally got a release date and an action-packed trailer, revealing details about its espionage-focused story. The expansion’s new trailer was revealed at the Xbox Games Showcase, held Sunday, and the game is slated to drop September 26, across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series S/X. The add-on brings you to Dogtown, a previously unexplored, walled-off district in Night City, so you can embark on a high-stakes spy mission to save the President of the New United States of America (NUS). This new allegiance was hinted at in the first teaser for the expansion last year, also marking Keanu Reeves’ return as Johnny Silverhand.
The trailer for Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty opens with the protagonist V suffering some jitters, which she claims is a sign of her imminent death. “There’s gotta be a way outta this,” Silverhand assures her, referring to a possible solution to how much Cyberware her body can handle. This is a completely redone system that adds a max capacity for how many new body modifications your character can take, with a VGC report noting that the systemic changes almost demand a new playthrough. CD Projekt Red has also added an Edgerunners perk that lets you surpass those bodily limitations while taking penalties on your overall health. It’s quite similar to the cyberpsychosis seen in the Netflix anime Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, where installing too much Cyberware eventually makes you go berserk.
Just to be clear, Phantom Liberty won’t lean into the psychosis aspect but rather simply implement it as a high-risk-high-reward element. “We are not going as far as the introduction of cyberpsychosis though, have that in mind,” creative director Pawel Sasko said in the interview. Coming back to the trailer, we’re introduced to a new character Songbird, an NUS intelligence analyst, who’s aware of the bomb ticking inside us and claims can save our life. But there’s a catch — we need to get inside the gated community of Dogtown for an espionage mission. We then cut to the district, where President Rosalind Myers’ aircraft has crash-landed, turning the heads of its residents who intend to hold her hostage. In retaliation, a group of Sleeper Agents are deployed onto the field, which also includes Idris Elba’s (The Suicide Squad) character, FIA Agent Solomon Reed.
“Stay sharp, we are in the wolf’s den now,” Reed warns us, as we make contact with President Myers, before getting plunged into a chase sequence against a giant laser-firing spider-mech. “Someone ratted us out,” V says adamantly, which seems to be the crux of Phantom Liberty’s story — there seems to be an imposter. The trailer then devolved into a montage of action sequences involving some gunplay and V starting to lose control of her basic motor skills, upping the stakes for her survival.
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty releases September 26, across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series S/X. Pre-orders are now live across all platforms, costing Rs. 1,499 on PC and Rs. 1,745/ $29.99 on console.
