CD Projekt Red isn’t hiding how good Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty is on PS5 and Xbox Series

Over the past few weeks, Cyberpunk 2077 has once again been on everyone’s lips. I came home from Summer Games Fest and immediately started downloading CD Projekt Red’s controversial RPG onto my PlayStation 5 because after what I saw in Phantom Liberty I need a save file ready to go on my console.

A bit of context: At Summer Game Fest, the CDPR booth allowed journalists, creators, and other attendees to choose which version of the game they wanted to play. You can go for PC, Xbox Series, or PS5. Given the myriad issues (both legal and performance) the base game suffered on PlayStation consoles at launch, I opted to test the title on the Sony machine. And I’m very glad I did.

Right from the demo’s opening, where V and his new friend, Songbird, watch a presidential shuttle dramatically drop out of the sky into the grieving, walled district of Dog Town, you can see the work the studio has put into doing this. compatible with game consoles. As Alex has rightly pointed out already, the various patches and updates to the game have made it one of the best console RPGs of the current generation, but now, with all the bells and whistles that Phantom Liberty adds, it looks and feels feel even better. .

For demo purposes, there is a ninja build you can choose from that prioritizes fast movement, instant firefighting, and sprinting. Since I wanted to live out the proper Edgerunner fantasy, this is the VI I chose, and let me tell you… it feels great on the platform. Shooting has been massively overhauled in Phantom Liberty, so it now feels a bit more like a first-person shooter, rather than an afterthought. Aiming down sights and headshots made me think of Bulletstorm, among other things, something the assistant developer on my station agreed with.

Haptic feedback and resistance on the triggers make shooting feel as mechanical as it should, and hot swapping your assault rifle for your pistol results in the exact change in recoil and impact you expect. Shooting in Cyberpunk 2077 will never feel like Destiny, but what’s happening in Phantom Liberty is a marked improvement on what happened in the game at launch.

But why would you want to shoot when you can rip and rip? Doom this isn’t, but the wild, rhythmic chopping and slicing you can do with that wonderful clubland backing track feels amazing. New abilities have been added to his Mantis blades, a new skill tree allows for greater utility when it comes to being mobile in the combat arena, and the addition of cybernetic clothing, which gives him armor, gives him the option to be more aggressive and enter. your enemy’s face before cutting it down to his size.

However, you may not even need to rely on that bit of rechargeable protection; players with time will be able to stop bullets, yes bullets! – if they accumulate enough points in the correct ninja traits. My pre-built ninja V went into a very satisfying pattern of airdropping, dropping on hired goons, slashing them, stopping a bullet in another goon’s head, sneaking up and reaching a vantage point before repeating the whole grim ballet once more. . .

When the DLC drops, you’ll be pleased to know that many of these system-side changes will apply to the entire game, not just the part you have to pay extra for. That’s the real appeal of Phantom Liberty, I think; it recasts the game as Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 and issues a really strong argument for you to boot up the game and start another save file.

But apart from what it looks like to me and the other creators who have had a chance to play it, the fact that CD Projekt Red is here showing off Phantom Liberty on PS5 is a coup. It shows that the developer isn’t afraid of the DLC’s reception on console, it shows that a playable and chrome version of the game already exists, and it shows that the studio is actively proud of it, proud enough to let people in Summer Games Fest and Xbox FanFest play it, at least.

Given that the studio didn’t even let reviewers play the console version before reviews, this transparency we’re seeing in the lead up to Phantom Liberty’s release looks like it could signal a sea change for CD Projekt Red: eager to shake off the The reputation he gained from the failed launch of the base game, his tact and technique with Phantom Liberty may suggest what the developer has up his sleeve going forward, as we move into the new age of Witcher, and what comes next. once it’s done. Cyberpunk 2077 DLC is available.

Cyberpunk 2077 is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Phantom Liberty launches on September 26 and will set you back £24.99.