In the shallow sea of content that is Night City one can find a substantially deeper trench that is Dogtown and the Phantom Liberty story line.

I've always been rather disappointed by the main game and found it imperfect and unfocused. The majority of quests consist of shooting here and then running there, never once does it attempt to even entertain the idea of your actions having future consequences. The tone of the base game flip flops between attempting biting commentary and drama to almost inappropriately comedic side quests. The story itself doesn't serve any favors as it has very little to say. What? That V must learn to accept their demise? That V must learn to work together with an otherwise unapproachable and unsympathetic Johnny? We are left to be strung along like a fool as we go through melodramatic dialogue with an almost contemptible (and might I add, monotonous and uncharismatically acted) rockerboy into our ultimate demise.

Contrast this with Phantom Liberty, which offers what I can only call a more developed and mature approach to a cyberpunk story. A more focused and more refined environment for the story to take place in with characters that really sell their performances. Elba's performance as Reed frankly blows Reeves's Johnny out of the water, at times it was almost jarring how well acted Reed is only to then be immediately contrasted by Johnny. Songbird herself is difficult to not sympathise with as the player is left to witness her tragic story throughout the expansion. The story itself seems to also have much more to say than the base game's, it poses two conflicts to the player, that of loyalty to others vs loyalty to oneself; and how one should address their own past. Maybe its my own life experiences but the themes and message of the story seems to resonate with me more than whatever the base game can say. Beyond the story, the quests in Dogtown are substantially better than anywhere else in Night City, offering entertaining moral conundrums at the end that do in fact have repurcussions on the player.

All I can say is that this expansion is what I expected from cyberpunk 2077 and it's almost sad to think that this might just be lightning in the bottle. I would say that the game is worth buying solely to experience Phantom Liberty alone.

In the shallow sea of content that is Night City one can find a substantially deeper trench that is Dogtown and the Phantom Liberty story line. I've always been rather disappointed by the main game and found it imperfect and unfocused. The majority of quests consist of shooting here and then running there, never once does it attempt to even entertain the idea of your actions having future consequences. The tone of the base game flip flops between attempting biting commentary and drama to almost inappropriately comedic side quests. The story itself doesn't serve any favors as it has very little to say. What? That V must learn to accept their demise? That V must learn to work together with an otherwise unapproachable and unsympathetic Johnny? We are left to be strung along like a fool as we go through melodramatic dialogue with an almost contemptible (and might I add, monotonous and uncharismatically acted) rockerboy into our ultimate demise. Contrast this with Phantom Liberty, which offers what I can only call a more developed and mature approach to a cyberpunk story. A more focused and more refined environment for the story to take place in with characters that really sell their performances. Elba's performance as Reed frankly blows Reeves's Johnny out of the water, at times it was almost jarring how well acted Reed is only to then be immediately contrasted by Johnny. Songbird herself is difficult to not sympathise with as the player is left to witness her tragic story throughout the expansion. The story itself seems to also have much more to say than the base game's, it poses two conflicts to the player, that of loyalty to others vs loyalty to oneself; and how one should address their own past. Maybe its my own life experiences but the themes and message of the story seems to resonate with me more than whatever the base game can say. Beyond the story, the quests in Dogtown are substantially better than anywhere else in Night City, offering entertaining moral conundrums at the end that do in fact have repurcussions on the player. All I can say is that this expansion is what I expected from cyberpunk 2077 and it's almost sad to think that this might just be lightning in the bottle. I would say that the game is worth buying solely to experience Phantom Liberty alone.