Monday, September 4th 2023
Cyberpunk 2077 Update 2.0 and Phantom Liberty Features Detailed
CD Projekt Red outlined some of its ambitions for Cyberpunk 2077's upcoming Phantom Liberty expansion at Gamescom Opening Night Live, but there was a bit of confusion within the audience regarding how new feature sets will pan out alongside the release of Update 2.0 (for the base game). The free batch of improvements and content is scheduled to arrive just before the launch of Phantom Liberty on September 26, across PC and modern consoles. The Polish video game developer has sought to clarify these details with the publication of new information. They recommend that you: "check out this handy infographic (see below) about the main features coming to Cyberpunk 2077 together with the Phantom Liberty expansion—and the ones that will be added to the game in the free Update 2.0!"
The Gamescom Phantom Liberty presentation included a preview of a revised police behavior system, but this appears to count as an improvement bundled with Update 2.0: "Take a look at one of the new features coming to Cyberpunk 2077 in the free Update 2.0 for the base game, which will be available on current-gen consoles and PCs: a revamped Police system! We rebuilt the system on clear, simple rules: criminal activity is punished, runners are chased and cyberpsychos are flatlined, no questions asked. All features in the system are designed to support clarity and the simple but expanded prevention loop." CDPR's infographic lists a new location as well as additional storylines, characters/enemies, quests, weapons and enemies being reserved for their ($29.99 RRP) DLC campaign.
Included in Cyberpunk 2077's free Update 2.0:
Phantom Liberty exclusives:
Sources:
Eurogamer, CyberPunk, CyberpunkGame Tweet
The Gamescom Phantom Liberty presentation included a preview of a revised police behavior system, but this appears to count as an improvement bundled with Update 2.0: "Take a look at one of the new features coming to Cyberpunk 2077 in the free Update 2.0 for the base game, which will be available on current-gen consoles and PCs: a revamped Police system! We rebuilt the system on clear, simple rules: criminal activity is punished, runners are chased and cyberpsychos are flatlined, no questions asked. All features in the system are designed to support clarity and the simple but expanded prevention loop." CDPR's infographic lists a new location as well as additional storylines, characters/enemies, quests, weapons and enemies being reserved for their ($29.99 RRP) DLC campaign.
- Redesigned skill trees and perks
- Revamped cyberware and new capacity system
- Vehicle combat and car chases
- Combat AI improvements
- New police system
- UI and UX improvements
- Loot, items and crafting changes
- New radio stations (including Community Radio Station Growl FM)
Phantom Liberty exclusives:
- Dogtown - a dangerous new district
- Brand-new storyline and characters
- New quests, gigs, boss fights, and more
- Vehicle missions and air drops - endless dynamic events
- All new Relic skill tree and abilities
- 100+ new items - weapons, cyberware, cars, and fashion
- Vehicle missile launchers
- Level cap increased to 60
21 Comments on Cyberpunk 2077 Update 2.0 and Phantom Liberty Features Detailed
I mean, reworked everything that even remotely pertains to, well pretty much the whole progression and combat system. I guess they got the memo by now, what they had initially was absolute horseshit and patching barely improved it since.
My first playthrough (1.0~1.2) was broken from the moment I started using a Katana, terrible balance. Shopping was exploitable so no game economy to speak of either. Progression was a joke with the better half of all skills utterly pointless and some subset brutally OP. City activities were utterly nonsensical...
I can get into this one more time. Better be a proper game now instead of a rush job of random stats and enemies.
System requirements are also gonna increase (even CDPR stated it) so I'm expecting my 6700 XT to stop being killer at 1080p.
Your machine, though, is better balanced, yet I got some concerns about your CPU. Not much but still.
And once again - there's so much hype around Phantom liberty, that they may be setting themselves up for yet another flop.
I bought it 2.5 years ago in its first Steam sale and I have 5.2 hours played. Not because I don't want to play it, but because I didn't want to spoil the potential enjoyment by playing it in an unfinished state.
The only question is whether I buy the expansion and play through the whole thing with the expansion, or just play the original game, as it should have been at launch in 2020.
I'm pretty sure the current game is enjoyable enough, but most of the 2.0 changes coming at the end of this month are eagerly anticipated by even the most die-hard CP2077 fans.
I've never jumped on the hype train for the game so my expectations weren't that high to begin with so no complaints from me about that.
I guess I will pick up Phantom Liberty as soon as I can tho I don't plan a full new playthrough just the expansion itself.
Since I don't plan a full playthrough anytime soon I've looked up all of the possible endings and there are at least 2 that I would be okay/content with to be honest.
Don't want to spoil it for anyone so I won't say more.:)
I don't trust CDPR at all though, so I plan on waiting a few days before installing the patch to make sure there's no game-breaking bugs. There's also a good chance it will wreck performance on my rig but only time will tell.
Look at the Witcher 3's next-gen update where they managed to utterly tank performance for seemingly small visual gains whilst adding in a non-trivial number of new, game-breaking bugs that took several more patches and hotfixes over the course of the next 3-4 weeks. It's now in a good place, but if you wanted to replay Witcher3 on the first weekend of the next-gen update you were in for a frustrating time that could certainly try the patience of even the most loyal CDPR fanboy.
From a technical aspect, I had less bugs in 1.0 than I did in my 1.6 replay. They at least fixed the cops teleporting behind you in closed hallways/rooms, but they still just teleport into the area instead of showing up in vehicles or something that makes sense. The cops are also relatively over-powered as units in comparison to other NPCs you'll get into fights with. They do a lot more damage. The car physics are still broken with cars handling oddly and the perceived sense of motion not lining up with the displayed speed. The entire city still seems lifeless, though they've reigned in the NPCs sameness/deja vu spawns and reduced the amount of NPCs disappearing as soon as they turn a corner.
The game is never going to be what they promised. There's fundamental flaws in its bones that are never going to be addressed by any amount of patching.