Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty Earns Higher Review Scores Than the Game Itself

Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty DLC is being showered with praise.

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty is out performing the base game in terms of reviews. Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the most infamous games of all-time. It took seven years for the game to release following its initial reveal and in that time, CD Projekt Red promised a very ambitious game unlike anything had done before. The marketing was really incredible with flashy trailers, big E3 showings, and the surprise reveal of Keanu Reeves being cast in the game. However, once the game launched, fans were very disappointed. The game was missing things from the very promising demos and was outright broken for many. The PC version was relatively solid, but it was an unmitigated disaster on console. It was such a problem that PlayStation delisted the game, mass refunds were issued, and it took months for the game to be in a relatively stable state.

Now, nearly three full years later, Cyberpunk 2077 is getting its first and only expansion: Phantom Liberty. The new expansion comes alongside a free update that dramatically overhauls Cyberpunk. It has been met with high praise from both fans and even haters of the game as it reworks things like the perk system, cyberware, police, combat, and much more to make it all a much better game. On top of that Phantom Liberty itself adds a brand new storyline that is bound to impress fans of the main game. It's one of CD Projekt Red's best stories to date and has been so well received, it has better reviews than the base game. Over on Metacritic, Phantom Liberty has a higher average score than the base game. Across all platforms, the game has between an 88 and a 90. The base game, however, has between a 57 and an 86. It's worth noting that the lower scores come from the last-gen consoles which were plagued with bugs. The current-gen consoles have a 75 (PS5) and an 87 (Xbox Series X|S). Still, regardless of how you compare them, Phantom Liberty has better scores across the board which is super impressive.

Phantom Liberty Review

ComicBook gave the game a 4 out of 5, noting that some of the base game's problems carry over and are in addition to some existing issues in Phantom Liberty, but still praised it for its story and more. "While some of Cyberpunk 2077's issues still linger, and the new content isn't without its own flaws, CD Projekt Red has done a commendable job at making me like a game I previously had disdain for. Phantom Liberty continues to prove CD Projekt Red has a deft hand for high-quality storytelling and has now shown it can provide strong RPG gameplay to match. As CD Projekt Red moves on to the next Cyberpunk game, it has a strong foundation to build off of which should hopefully result in a noticeably improved sequel should all the right lessons continue to be learned."

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty will release on September 26th.