Fans of Cyberpunk 2077 have finally received official news regarding its next major DLC, Phantom Liberty, alongside a first trailer and release window for the upcoming expansion. Set to release at some point in 2023, Phantom Liberty sees an expansion to the game's setting of Night City, adding in an entire new district for players to explore. Additional weapons will also be coming to the game, alongside a mysterious storyline for the player character V to get immersed in. However, in terms of setting, it seems like Cyberpunk 2077's latest DLC falls flat of expectations.
The initial announcement of the DLC drew in quite a bit of excitement from Cyberpunk 2077 players, particularly as it was revealed that Keanu Reeves would return in Phantom Liberty as his character Johnny Silverhand. The anticipation could perhaps indicate that Cyberpunk 2077 is overall facing a more positive reputation in recent months, at least compared to when it was first released. The game's launch was notoriously controversial, with multiple major bugs and an overall unstable product leading many to criticize CD Projekt Red's lack of transparency. However, some fans of Cyberpunk 2077 feel that now, a year and a half following its release, the game finally feels a little more complete.
That may be why so many are surprisingly eager to explore the new district of Night City promised with the release of the Phantom Liberty DLC. While the characters in Cyberpunk 2077 were generally well-liked, numerous players hoped that Cyberpunk 2077's DLC could improve its world by bringing it up to the same level of depth as the game's NPCs. Despite the vast size of Night City, it can still feel like a relatively limited setting when compared to the rest of the globe. While adding new areas to Night City is interesting enough, exploring different cultures and fleshing out the rest of Cyberpunk 2077's world would have been a great use of the upcoming expansion.
Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty DLC Could Have Gone Anywhere Else
The new trailer, as posted on the official Cyberpunk 2077 blog, doesn't reveal much about the story of the Phantom Liberty DLC. It does, however, feature player character V pledging an oath to serve the New United States of America. This, plus the new district coming to the game, seems to confirm that Phantom Liberty won't venture beyond Cyberpunk 2077's Night City's location of the western United States. The news may be viewed as disappointing by anyone who feels as though the industry has an over-saturation of games set in America. Post-apocalyptic series Fallout, for example, has faced similar complaints regarding the lack of global exploration and world-building. In such a dramatically different world, it feels like a waste to stick to one continent.
There are near-countless options for other locations Phantom Liberty could have visited instead, and in some cases, there were even bits of in-game evidence that seemed to indicate CD Projekt Red was considering the idea of taking Cyberpunk 2077 to a new continent through DLC. In particular, there was a lot of speculation that upcoming expansions could move to South Korea, allowing them to explore the ghost city of Busan in Cyberpunk 2077. According to in-game bits of lore, Busan was previously one of Korea's most heavily-automated cities. In its present state within the Cyberpunk 2077 universe, however, only scarce signs of life remain. Exploring a mostly-abandoned city left to operate under the radar for decades would have been a far more unique experience than just staying put in America, and hopefully, developers will at least still consider the possibility for later Cyberpunk 2077 content.
Source: Cyberpunk 2077