“I have a theory which I suspect is rather immoral,” Smiley went on, more lightly. “Each of us has only a quantum of compassion. That if we lavish our concern on every stray cat, we never get to the center of things.” – John Le Carre, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
I love Le Carre. I was first introduced to him as a tween through the cassette audiobook of The Constant Gardener, one of his finest post-Cold War novels. Heck of a way to be introduced to spy fiction beyond Bond. It worked. His prose—clear and elegantly merciless—sticks in the head and the heart. His characters and their struggles across his titles command attention in failure, in grace, and in living. He is one of the writers to have set the standard for spy fiction, and he is a personal favorite.
So when I say my run through Phantom Liberty, Cyberpunk 2077‘s newly released expansion, reminded me of Le Carre? I do not say that lightly. Released alongside the massive 2.0 update—which fundamentally re-works 2077‘s character-building mechanics and fulfills a great deal of the promise dashed by 2077‘s original launch—Phantom Liberty is an enjoyably challenging and distinct piece of gamecraft and storytelling. Its which-way-is-up spy tale bounces off with 2077‘s primary fight-for-your-life story in neat ways. Its best moments (both scripted and emergent) match the likes of the main game’s graveside conversation with digital ghost Johnny Silverhand (Keanu Reeves) or stayover at the impromptu “Independent California Motel” alongside exiled nomad Panam Palmer (Emily Woo Zeller).
For those starting 2077 from the beginning, Phantom Liberty kicks off partway through the game’s second act. It begins with a possible lifeline to V’s (Cherami Leigh and Gavin Drea) problem of Keanu Reeves’ Johnny Silverhand slowly destroying their mind and taking over their body. A master hacker, Song “Songbird” So Mi (Minji Chang) contacts V, claiming she knows a way to save their life from the bleeding edge tech that stuck Johnny in their head and has been hollowing them out. And in the world of Cyberpunk, nothing comes free.
To get Songbird’s cure, V will need to help her save her boss, New United States of America President Rosalind Myers (Kay Bess). Myers is currently in mortal danger after being shot down by BARGHEST, the private army that rules Dogtown—Night City’s walled city-within-a-city. Would that it were so simple as V being a Bad Enough Dude to infiltrate Dogtown, link up with Myers to fight past BARGHEST and its pretentious brute of a leader Kurt Hansen (Elijah Mountjoy), get Myers out, and get the cure.
Myers’ rescue goes about as well as a desperate, spur-of-the-moment escape involving a rogue spider tank can. It’s everything afterward that gets tricky. Songbird goes missing. V needs to find her to get the cure for the Relic. Myers needs to find her to get her right hand back and secure her secrets. Thus, she directs V to Solomon Reed (Idris Elba)—a long-burned but still loyal NUSA spy who knows the ins and outs of Dogtown and the man who recruited Songbird in the first place. He cares deeply for her, and she for him. But their history has been decidedly fraught.
To find Songbird, V, Reed, and chameleonic fellow reactivated NUSA agent Alex Xenakis (Yvonne Senat Jones) must infiltrate Dogtown’s myriad corridors of power—from the abandoned luxury spy occupied by a gang of brilliant, ruthless netrunners to Hansen’s beloved Black Sapphire Hotel and Casino. They’re searching not only for Songbird, but for answers as to why, exactly, BARGHEST was able to shoot down Myers in the first place. Songbird herself quickly bonds with V (the two have quite a bit in common, from the shapes of their history to their affinity for cool jackets), but what she wants and what she truly needs aren’t necessarily the same thing.
Something to keep in mind in both Phantom Liberty and 2077 as a whole? Like Songbird says, “At times the right choice, the brave one, is what’s best for you alone.”
Roleplaying has been integral to 2077 from the jump. There will absolutely be commonalities given the inherent limits of game size and space, but my V isn’t, say, Gene Park’s V or Kenneth Shepard’s V or Suzi Hunter’s V or your V. 2.0 and Phantom Liberty emphasize this. Gameplay-wise, character-building has been significantly overhauled. My first run-through of the game was in version 2022’s 1.5. My V started as a blank slate and gradually grew stronger and stronger. Progression was linear—strength was strength. I could combat hack as well as I could blaze away with a gargantuan shotgun or brandish a sword.
With 2.0, builds are much, much more specific. As a stealth-focused Netrunner, there was a tank of a boss I ultimately opted to run past rather than engage at all. In 1.5, with an ostensibly similar build, I was ultimately able to win that fight in a slug-fest. That’s not how strength works in 2.0. My V may not be able to tank a giant hammer anymore, but he can hack in ways he could only match by the endgame in 1.5. And with stealth re-tuned, I can and have ended fights with my opponents only realizing I am there when I strike the final blow. It’s definitely harder (not helped by my being a little under-leveled when I started Phantom Liberty‘s story). It’s also richer and more rewarding.
Likewise, Phantom Liberty‘s ensemble and their stories are prime-cut opportunities to push V and, by extension, Johnny in interesting ways. Cyberpunk 2077‘s main game has a host of intriguing, dimensional characters with some truly rancid creeps among its villains. Phantom Liberty focuses on the ambiguities. Songbird and Reed both come to care for V, and both are trying to do what is right. Neither is 100% the unambiguous protagonist, and their time as government agents has left them capable of ruthlessness that’s as core to their characters as their care for V. There is no one true way out of Phantom Liberty (there are four total endings, all spinning out of a well-telegraphed pivotal moment, two of which unlock an additional ending to the overall story).
I played my V as someone trying to act as ethically as possible with the information he had on hand. I managed to hold onto those ethics, and it ended in the best sort of gut-punch. Phantom Liberty‘s story demands accepting uncertainty and walking the path that you believe to be right without a billowing flag to confirm it. That’s a very, very tricky line to walk in writing, especially in a narrative that will be shaped by each individual player. The creative team succeeds and succeeds with aplomb. By the end of my run, sitting in the California desert and talking through everything that had happened, I felt like a Le Carre character. That’s a hell of an accomplishment.
There is so, so much more I could write about Phantom Liberty and 2077, but I’ve run long already. The base game, acknowledging its fraught creation and the long road getting to this state took, is a personal favorite—one that means a lot to me. Phantom Liberty is an excellent expansion. By polishing what worked and fixing much of what didn’t via 2.0, and by pushing the story in a very compelling way that twists off from and builds on what came before, Phantom Liberty easily becomes one of 2023’s best games.
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