Cyberpunk 2077 in its version 2.11 state: 8.75/10
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty DLC: 9/10
Gonna be a long one cause I have lots of thoughts. TLDR: the base game after all the principal updates have been released is as close to excellence as this game was capable of. The Phantom Liberty is not flawless but it's Cyberpunk 2077 at its very best and it gives me hope that the game's sequel can be outstanding.
So technically I haven't done a full playthrough of the base game in its current state. I'm drawing the comparison between my first run through where I stopped just before the ending, playing on PS4 and playing the game in its current state on a high tier gaming laptop (can run mostly ultra settings) . But considering the game is largely the same story wise, I'm just comparing the difference between features and performance instead of overall experience.
Base game: it'd be a lie to say that in CP2077's last set of updates stage that it finally delivered on every promise the early e3 gameplay demos made. But I think it's as close as you could realistically hope for in this current iteration. There will surely be no updates that add deeper branching story consequences based on every character dialogue choice made throughout the play time but you can do worse than 7 endings dependent on player choice, just not as innovative as they made it seem. Combat, while a lot of fun, is not quite as dynamic and innovative as they made it seem.
I'll get the bad out of the way first. First, nothing is going to cure that the core premise is that your main character is doomed to die within weeks to a few months from the end of the first act. It's a narrative choice they stuck with out of necessity but it's one of those things you get in some RPGs like "I have to save the princess but I'll forget about that while I f*** around in the overworld for hours upon hours." CP2077 offers a massive amount of side missions and combat scenarios that if you were to play to completion would make the ticking clock scenario very questionable. The game gives you reminders that you're dying but if you try to experience everything the game offers you'll have plenty of moments to think "wait, I'm still dying right?" I just feel like the story or CP2077 is hamstrung by its own premise in certain respects. It adds stakes to everything but at the cost of open possibilities.
Second sort of bleeds into the first but while non linear missions lend to great freedom for the player, there are some missions that I feel should be locked into doing sooner rather than later. As an example, the first act is an extended tutorial where a character who the protagonist is close to dies. Their funeral is an optional mission. I'm fifty hours into my second playthrough and, realistically, the actual time lapsed would be about a month or more. In that time, the deceased character's mom is still waiting me to roll up to a location so the funeral can start. A bit immersion breaking. Even having the mission fail if I take too long to show up would have been preferable.
Third, as much improvement as they've made to slice of life content to make Night City feel more alive, I do wish there were more isolated events with NPCs to make the world feel a bit more alive. As an example, in the earlier parts of the game there's a conspiracy theorist NPC rambling on about capitalism and corporate control that you can have a conversation with that you can easily miss if you don't walk up to them. But if you do, it's a pretty entertaining conversation. Outside of that instance I haven't found content like that that wasn't tied to a mission of some sort. I think programming in some random events would give the NPCs occupying Night City a little more life even if most of them are on a basic track. And within that, I just wish there were a bit more to do than street races, boxing matches, and...well...sex worker cutscenes in lieu of combat/story content. Like braindances are supposed to be immersive entertainment experiences like watching TV in GTA5 but the only times you get to use any are for story specific investigative work. Wouldn't hurt to have had 5-6 braindances you can access just for entertainment's sake.
Fourth may be expecting too much but there's four tiers of side quest content, in descending order of actual content: Side Missions, Gigs, Cyberpsycho Takedowns, and NCPD alerts. Side missions are like full fledged quests with cutscenes that are just unrelated to the main story (usually) and they're often very good. Gigs tend to have some story background but the gameplay itself usually just involves fighting your way through a building to get to an extraction objective. Cyberpsycho encounters are like mini boss fights with a sprinkle of backstory through a preliminary and post fight text message, and NCPD alerts are just static combat instances where you fight 8 or so NPC enemies and get some money and a short lore note with no context. I wish there were more side missions to add to the world building than the other types of side content that just give an excuse to fight. Night City has been fleshed out more with the string of updates but a lot of the time it can still feel empty. Granted I have the same complaint about GTA5 and RDR2, that after you've consumed enough side content, the open world is just ornamental so maybe I'm still hoping an open world can open up more interactivity when the tech gets there.
Fifth is more of a want for the in development sequel, but I do hope that there can be more side missions with actual independent story threads (e.g. more than one mission). Here there's a small set of side missions with more than one part aside from the side missions involving the main character's four potential love interests. And that bleeds into the sixth gripe I have. Romance. And this is almost not a gripe because most games don't do romance well. CP2077 does it better than most at least with the romances I've tried where there's a set of missions to start a romance but once V gets into the romance with their chosen partner and the relationship starts, it's like it stops dead. The missions are very good but once the line is over, then the relationship itself mostly just becomes cute text messages from your partner to remind you of the relationship and you have a moment with them as you enter the consequential endgame. The 2.1 update did make an attempt to address this by giving you the option to hang out with your partner at an apartment you own but it's pretty half baked. You can cuddle up on the couch and have a short, new, conversation with them. Take a shower together. And go to sleep together (I worded it that way very deliberately) then you wake up and they're just lying in your bed with no dialogue options. I think if CDPR is going to go to all the effort to write the development of very believable feeling romantic relationships, the sequel should either not do that to begin with or give the option to flesh out that relationship and the world around it with real dates and more dialgoues. Some people might skip this entirely, but I think it would be a big boost to the immersive experience.
Seventh is a small gripe but I don't like that there's no third person cutscenes at all and you can only see your character when "turning on" a mirror or riding a motorcycle. Don't get me wrong. I think making the majority of the game first person is a decent enough immersive gameplay choice as it focuses on making you the protagonist and making you experience everything the protagonist does in the first person. But the game has so many options to visually customize your character and they're bottlenecked by either interacting with the few working mirrors available in Night City or by riding a motorcycle. I want to see my character and what they're wearing from time to time. So either, there should be an option to play in third person or there should be the occasional cutscenes in third person.
Despite all that, CP2077 in its current state is an outstanding game that really sets itself apart with a gorgeously crafted and unique open world backed by a really fresh and believable narrative universe, punctuated by great storytelling with cutscene work you'd expect from CDPR. The combat is in the best state it's ever been after the overhaul of the perk system and coming from The Witcher 3 as my all time favorite video game I can say that the combat is more fun while the storytelling is right up to par. The difference is that the flaws I mentioned above weigh a lot heavier considering the years these two games came out and how long CP2077 was in development. I also really enjoy that the story tackles a number of themes and handles most of them with nuance and weight that you don't expect from most video games while still having room for levity without being an overburdened quipfest. The above complaints keep it from perfection, but I think the base game is an excellent title in its own right and while CDPR should remain ashamed of the game that released, they should be proud of what it became after the repairs. I'm hoping the sequel will only innovate on some true strengths and improve on lingering weaknesses.
Phantom Liberty:
I should start by saying the DLC gets to excel the way it does because, from a programming perspective, the new Night City district of Dogtown is not very big and the DLC has you returning to the base game map on more than one occasion. Where the overworld addition is limited, the DLC soars in almost every other respect. The story, as sandwiched into act 2 of the main story (still an independent experience but a story that has to be played before the endgame of the base game to function) as a futurist spy thriller is just outstanding. The premise itself isn't overly complex, but the characters and implications are layered and nuanced with player choice being truly gray and at times, brutal.
While some have a fondness for Keanu Reeves' character in the base game, I don't as I've always felt Reeves' line delivery is best described as trying but failing not to be wooden. He's better here, but bringing in Idris Elba for mocap and voice work was a masterstroke for the only DLC this game is getting. His performance is outstanding. Past that, while Dogtown is small, it's fun to rip through it fighting hordes of ex-soldiers. The gigs offered as expansion content are mislabeled as almost all of them operate like side missions from the base game with fleshed out stories. And a number of the combat scenarios eclipse anything the base game has to offer. I said it already but this DLC is Cyberpunk 2077 at its very best and a very good sign that the game's sequel can be strong. As an added bonus, there's four possible endings to the DLC story emerging from two possible branches that come from a major player choice and one of the offers a bonus ending to the main game that players can opt in to, and it is completely not what you'd expect if you just knew what the ending is on a surface level. In short, it's emotionally brutal. Also while I somewhat knock Dogtown for being small, the design of the open world is so well done at being thematically in line with what Dogtown is narratively supposed to be.
I only knock it off a single point because of a few smaller gripes in comparison to the base game:
1. This is the smallest gripe but the DLC content can easily be used as an exploit for fast level ups, amassing a huge amount of money, and getting discounts for the many purchasable vehicles in the game if you know how to utilize the exploits. While some might feel that's a QOL feature for players who already beat the main game, I feel such exploits are a cheap way to earn things easier than originally intended.
2. The open world lack of interactivity is even more glaring in such a small addition to said open world. Dogtown mostly amounts to a collection of NPC battles (better NPCs than most in the main game so the map can be a fun excuse to play around with your build and combat approach) and locales for new side quests.
3. The DLC hasn't been out for half a year so I won't spoil too much but there's two core characters you can ultimately choose between to "side with" and that choice will open up two narrative paths with very different gameplay combat. One of the two characters is a walking guilt trip/emotional manipulation device before you do or don't side with them and after if you decide not to. Without giving away too much, the character is written as being self centered and manipulative and their backstory is a resounding strength of the story but it's like the game is actively trying to set you up to feel like you're a callous asshole if you don't side with them even when there's very rational reasons not to. The best way I can describe it is when a show/movie/book starts leaning heavily on a character's best traits and emotional connection to other characters just before killing them off. Not the same scenario but more or less the same effect. It's not a huge black mark on the story but when I can feel the presence of a writer in the writer's room trying to come up with a deliberate choice to evoke an intended reaction from the audience I find it immersion breaking, cheap, and distracting. And Phantom Liberty does suffer from that issue unfortunately.
4. Speaking of the two narrative paths, on top of offering unique gameplay finales, one of the two main story paths offers a huge wealth of backstory for one of the two principal characters that adds a lot of context and totally recontexualizes them and their experiences that shape their choices and situation and it's presented in a really strong way. The problem is, I just said that *one* of the two paths offers this important backstory. The other one does not. At all. And it's not like they add more backstory to the other main character as a sort of inverse for a different choice. You just do the mission, learn some things about what it all meant and the DLC story ends but you lack a lot of the context and backdrop the other path offers. Someone who only decides to do the more narratively barren path and feels no desire to load a save and try the other path might never get the full scope of the story. And I think that's a negative. The lesser developed path should have found a different way to present the same information.
5. As an ironic turn, the path with the lack of extra story has the more fun finale gameplay wise. While the path with the better storytelling has a truly disappointing gameplay experience. Without spoiling too much, it's like a pseudo horror sequence where the player has to complete some basic objectives while being hunted by an unkillable enemy. It's unsettling and dread inducing for like the first four-five minutes but after a few failures due to being caught, it just makes trying to beat the damn level tedious and aggravating. The respective endings are fantastic because of their strengths but fail to be GOAT tier because of their deficiencies. It's a shame that both paths didn't strive for a better blend of story and gameplay and while the deficiencies aren't fatal, it does make both story paths imperfect.
Either way, in spite of those flaws, I think the Phantom Liberty DLC deserves to be played by anyone who owns Cyberpunk already, and hell even those who never felt like giving it a try. No game is truly perfect and this DLC has more strengths in its presentation than most AAA titles even attempt these days. It's flawed, but those flaws only keep the experience from gaming perfection or masterpiece quality rather than an experience in wasted potential. The DLC's strengths, in contrast, are monumental and worthy of praise. I can only hope the eventual CP2077 sequel builds on those strengths.
Edit: since people are actually reading this I'd add an additional thought on the DLC. If you go into the game fresh with the DLC purchased, you can and should play the game in the second act and before you're nearing the endgame. But I'd bet anyone who does will feel like they're playing a game within a game. Best compliment I can give it. It feels like a heightened experience where the base game was already strong after all the updates. My complaints about it really didn't detract from how many things the expansion did really well.
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