Cyberpunk 2077s one-and-done expansion, Phantom Liberty, arrived on September 26, 2023, bringing with it a new story and a new location to explore. But fans have found another unique addition the expansion introduces: a subtle reference to another open-world game also set in a fictional take on California.

Phantom Liberty Is Undoing One Key Thing That Cyberpunk Got Right

Early on in Phantom Liberty, V must make a phone call to a certain character to get the plot moving. As some fans have pointed out, theres a cryptic set of numbers scratched into the phone:

2 x 9 1 x 9 L 1 x 6 1 x 7 2 x 45

Cyberpunk sleuths have been quick to call out the similarity to a particularly epic fast food order in 2004s Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Early on in San Andreas, CJ, Sweet, Ryder, and Big Smoke hit up a Cluckin Bell, one of GTAs fast food parodies. While everyone else orders one meal, Big Smoke takes the opportunity to get in his days-worth of calories with the following order:

Ill have two number 9s, a number 9 large, a number 6 with extra dip, a number 7, two number 45s, one with cheese, and a large soda.

Cyberpunk 2077 is no stranger to video game references and easter eggs. During the Delamain side quest, a certain homicidal AI sounds an awful lot like another digital lady prone to killing. Naturally, there are several references to The Witcher 3 which, like Cyberpunk, was also developed by CD Projekt Red. There are other San Andreas references in Cyberpunk too, such as another instance of Big Smokes order at a Capitan Caliente restaurant, and a recreation of Grove Street, a key San Andreas location, in the Santo Domingo district of Night City.

The same phone in Phantom Liberty can also be used to dial up other cute game references, such as The Witcher 3s theme.

Its nice to see subtle nods and references to gamings recent past. I just wish they didnt make me so damn hungry.

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Don't Miss This GTA Reference In Cyberpunk 2077 - Kotaku

The history of Cyberpunk 2077 is fraught with disappointment, anger, and backlash. After years of hyping up the games release and overpromising on gameplay mechanics, CD Projekt Red launched an infamously broken version of the game in 2020 which led to Sony delisting the game from the PlayStation store until it was fixed. Since then, the studio has been fighting an uphill battle to mend its reputation, fix the game, and get it closer to what it was always meant to be.

This has given us one of the great video game redemption stories of the decade, though many are still disappointed that the end product wasnt the same game that they were promised from the start. The Phantom Liberty expansion has been generally praised by critics and fans both, but not as much as the Cyberpunk 2.0 update. The free update reworked the skill and perk systems, added vehicle on vehicle combat, updated police AI, and more.

Now, with patch 2.1, CD Projekt Red is finally putting Cyberpunk 2077 aside. This patch will be the games last major update, adding a usable metro system to Night City, allowing radio use when on foot, and adding new vehicles, among other changes and additions. The studio will now be focusing on the next game in The Witcher series, which has likely been somewhat neglected due to the studios campaign to redeem Cyberpunk 2077.

I had no desire to play Cyberpunk 2077 until update 2.0. When it first came out, I was freshly out of university, severely underpaid at a lifestyle writing internship, and had already heard all the discourse on how broken it was and how it wasnt all it had been hyped up to be. Already short on funds and even shorter on time, I decided Id skip it until a better time came. When I had more money to spend, and when I wasnt exhausted from being overworked, Id buy it and play it, I decided. Years went by, but I just never got around to it. It still wasnt that good, there were other, better games to spend my money and time on, and besides, they were still making changes.

Finally, Cyberpunk 2077 is as complete as it will ever get, and by all accounts, its a good game even if its not perfect. Plenty of people I know have finished it, plus the expansion, and enjoyed the experience. I get paid a living wage, and part of the reason I get paid that wage is that I know things about video games, so I can justify the time I spend on the game as me doing industry research.

Mercifully, the release calendar for next year is bare. Once I finish Yakuza 6 in preparation for Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth and play that to completion, I have absolutely nothing else going on. Im not incredibly keen on any of the games coming out in the first quarter of 2024, which means I have plenty of free time to catch up on all the games Ive been dying to play but never got around to. That means I can finish all the Like A Dragon games, play tons of indies, and yes, finally play Cyberpunk 2077.

The fact that Im excited to play a game from 2020 that was panned across the board at launch is an achievement in itself on CD Projekt Reds part. I love an underdog, and I love a redemption arc Cyberpunk 2077 has gone from an industry meme to a respectable game that, at the very least, takes a decent swing at giving fans the game it was always envisioned to be. My hopes arent sky high, but Im looking forward to seeing just what it is that everybody learned to love about it. And, of course, Im looking forward to seeing Keanu Reeves.

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2024 Will Be The Year I Finally Play Cyberpunk 2077 - TheGamer

"A delayed game is eventually good," Nintendo legend Shigeru Miaymoto is falsely claimed to have said, "a bad game is bad forever." What about a game that I really liked but had some serious issues on launch, so nobody else liked it, but it gradually improved over the course of three years and now everybody kinda digs it?

I'm talking, of course, about Cyberpunk 2077. With its significant transformation since an initial launch in 2020, Cyberpunk feels like it was in early access that whole time, even though it never laid claim to the new-school release model.

But could it have benefitted from being deliberately presented as such, with an accompanying shift in development priorities and milestones? I aim to argue with myself until we don't have a clear answer either way.

The thing that made me write this is how much my carrying a torch for Cyberpunk during its long post-launch wilderness era felt like the dance I do with every early access game I've ever been into: play the hell out of it at launch, then constantly ask "is it time to jump back in yet?" every time it gets a new update.

Like with most early access games I follow, the answer with Cyberpunk was "no" right up until it got its transformative 2.0 update, here the equivalent of an early access game's full release.

Similar to games that release in EA, Cyberpunk got revenue flowing for CD Projekt while the Red team continued to work on the game. It's unclear from the outside how resources were distributed and when development on The Witcher 4 began in earnest, but it's clear that CDPR has devoted significant resources and manpower to Cyberpunk over the past three years.

The major differences, to my eye, are that CD Projekt invited a now-legendary reputational black eye with Cyberpunk 2077's poor state at launch, with the upside that it benefitted from the hype of a full release at that time, recouping the cost of development almost immediately. While CD Projekt's reputation has largely been restored, there still remains this question mark hanging over what it does next, as PCG senior editor Robin Valentine elaborated in a recent feature.

I'd like to caveat any speculation by saying I doubt a formal early access launch was ever in the cards for Cyberpunk 2077: it was too expensive, in development for too long, with too much riding on it for CD Projekt to have taken that strategy three years agonot to mention the difficulties of doing so with a multiplatform release. But I wonder if the company might be more open to the idea now, given how things played out.

The elephant in the room is Baldur's Gate 3, which was released in early access the same year Cyberpunk 2077 had its initial launch. While there are plenty of differences between the two (and vastly different external pressures on each developer), I think it's an instructive comparisoncould CD Projekt have found similar success with Larian's model?

I find myself thinking of how much Cyberpunk's first act, which only lets you explore a single district of Night City while the rest are closed off, could have been modified into an early access sandbox akin to Baldur's Gate 3's opening wilderness area. Huge gameplay changes and plot twistsincluding Keanu Reeves' performance as Johnny Silverhandcould have made for hype-building enticements to the final game.

Night City being a single, contiguous map complicates matters compared to Baldur's Gate 3's discrete areas and acts, but I still think it could have worked. I can imagine the invisible wall-defying mavericks releasing YouTube videos of their out-of-bounds explorations in like, 2021 or so, but with only an unpopulated city waiting to greet them I think it would have just served as an excitement-building exercise for the full game.

It feels like everything is getting released into early access now.

I also wonder how the more bounded, scaled-down goal could have alleviated the intense pressure CD Projekt Red faced in the final run to Cyberpunk 2077's initial launch. I don't think early access launches are a panacea in the face of crunch or anything, but a Cyberpunk build of this nature strikes me as a less daunting prospect for the team to have gotten out the door in December of 2020 or even one of Cyberpunk's earlier missed targets for a release date.

Moving forward, I wonder if this is a cost/benefit analysis CD Projekt will be making with The Witcher 4 and its myriad other projects waiting in the wings. Formal early access presents its own challenges, and it isn't the only way to release a game in an acceptable state, but the developer can't afford another situation like the initial launch of Cyberpunk 2077.

One other consideration, though, is that it feels like everything is getting released into early access now, no matter what it's labeled as. Even Baldur's Gate 3, which was in a perfectly acceptable state at its full launch in August compared to some of 2023's PC port disasters, has seen additions and changes above and beyond the usual bug fixes and tweaks in the months since its release. It's gotten multiple overhauls to its ending, hundreds of lines of new dialogue, and a harder-than-hard permadeath difficulty, all likely building towards a "Definitive Edition" in the style of Larian's Original Sin games.

Hell, maybe life's just early access, man: this existence a mere illusory "early access" to the cosmic full launch we can only know once we leave this mortal coil behind for a fifth-dimensional perspective.

Sorry, I got lost there for a second. Anyway, I'd still bet that The Witcher 4 won't get a Baldur's Gate 3-style early access release despite all that, but it certainly doesn't seem like the crazy idea it would have been before this year.

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Wait, was Cyberpunk 2077 just quietly in early access for three years? - PC Gamer

Highlights

Cyberpunk 2077's narrative director revealed that he wants to expand the effects of starting life paths in Cyberpunk 2. Cyberpunk 2077 offered a trio of life paths for players to choose from, and while a player's chosen path affected the game's opening couple of hours, the choice became somewhat irrelevant as the player progressed further into the game's story.

Although Cyberpunk 2077 got off to a rocky start, the game has seen substantial updates, getting it closer to CD Projekt Red's original vision. Thanks to these updates, and the release of Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty expansion, the game has seen a resurgence in popularity. Currently, CD Projekt Red is hard at work on The Witcher 4, so while Cyberpunk 2 is already in its early stages of development, fans of the futuristic world are likely in for a long wait. However, CD Projekt Red developers shared some interesting details regarding their plans for the game.

During an interview on the AnsweRED Podcast, CD Projekt Red's narrative director, Philipp Weber, revealed that he would like to expand the effects of life paths in Cyberpunk 2. He explained that Cyberpunk 2077 might not have delivered on its original promise regarding the power of the game's life paths, a feature that many players were excited about. Weber further details that given more time, CD Projekt Red's experienced development team would have made the feature more expansive.

One of Cyberpunk 2077's quest designers, Blazej Augustynek, who was also part of the interview, explained that a player's chosen life path in Cyberpunk 2077 was more akin to a prologue for the game, with subsequent events allowing for the player to build their own story within its universe. Although this approach worked out for Cyberpunk 2077, it seems clear that the studio has much more ambitious plans for how life paths will affect playthroughs in Cyberpunk 2.

Details remain sparse on CD Projekt Red's next Cyberpunk game. In the meantime, Cyberpunk fans can enjoy Cyberpunks 2077's robust Phantom Liberty expansion. The game has seen plenty of fixes and additions since its release, which has helped it rebound from its poor state at launch.

Fans of CD Projekt Red's impressive RPGs are probably eagerly awaiting the studio's next game, The Witcher 4. The Polish game studio previously suggested that The Witcher 4 will be released in early 2025 at the earliest, and following Cyberpunk 2077's disastrous launch, CD Projekt Red might be more motivated than ever to take its time with this release.

Cyberpunk 2077 is an RPG set in a future dystopian world. Players take up the role of V, who works as a mercenary in Night City in California. Gameplay involves branching dialogue, open-world exploration, character classes, and combat.

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Cyberpunk 2 Plans to Expand One of its Most Intriguing Features - GameRant

The latest update 2.0 and the DLC, Phantom Liberty, have breathed new life into Cyberpunk 2077 this year. The revival of the game that was hated after release due to the several glitches and bugs, has been one of the most successful stories in the gaming industry over the past three years. So much so, that gamers are already looking forward to the second title.

Until more details emerge about a follow-up from the developers, fans have been busy coming up with a wishlist for elements to be included in the Cyberpunk franchise. One of the oft-repeated enhancements fans have mentioned is an improved life path for characters.

Theres not much known about a Cyberpunk follow-up apart from a codename, Orion. With the last big update already out for the first title, the developers are said to be working towards a new Witcher title, which is not to say that a sequel isnt in the conceptual stage.

The titles Narrative Director, Philipp Weber, recently appeared in the Answered Podcast along with Lead Quest Designer, Baej Augustynek, to speak about quests in a game in general. Cyberpunk 2077 gives gamers a choice of three life paths to choose from right at the beginning, before players finalize their character.

Players can choose from a nomads path, a street kids path, or a corporate path. Whichever path the gamer chooses eventually merges into one storyline as the game progresses. Weber mentioned that he would make the life path a bit less mudded than how it was in the game.

The games Lead Quest Designer, Baej Augustynek, also chimed in with his thoughts about the life paths, which he mentioned as being a life that players leave as V. Augustynek added that the paths never really mattered in the game once the actual story kick-starts. At the moment, the path is designed in a way that it ends as early as in the prologue of the game. This is an aspect of the title that Augustynek mentioned requires more work for it to matter more in the game.

Fans on a Reddit discussion shared their views about improving upon that by having a lengthier intro that can let players get a deeper look into each of the life paths. Others called for the life paths to be more impactful and have better consequences in the end. Some even wanted the life paths to be scrapped completely.

Each of the three life paths could be improved with longer intros, as has been mentioned by fans on a variety of social media platforms. Many are saying the Street Kid Path should have brought Jackie and V together and set up connections. The corporate path with more involvement with Jenkins and more corporate espionage missions with V. This path could have also had an extended run where players made contacts early on to help out in later missions.

Nomad with a longer story about reasons behind leaving the Bakkers and making contacts within Aldecaldos. Missing out on what could have brought an interesting spin in the main campaign depending on the life path choices, was highly disappointing to fans. Choices made along the way had a high impact on consequences in previous Witcher games from CDPR. A similar approach here would have made things a lot more interesting.

There might be other elements as well that could drastically change in the sequel with the game switching to a third-person view either permanently or adding that as an option. Bringing in a morality system in the follow-up title could also make it more unique.

As seen in Red Dead Redemptions 2 where characters behave differently around NPCs for not killing everything that moves or if players choose to be an outlaw and gun down everyone and be hated and feared by the NPCs. This could bring in a more immersive experience for players as they stay wary of their approach.

It is still easily a few years away before the gaming community can expect anything related to the sequel to be officially announced by CDPR. Until then, Cyberpunk is sure to keep the fans engaged with its new update and DLC.

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Cyberpunk 2077 Sequel May Give Greater Meaning to Players' Life Path - FandomWire

Cyberpunk 2077 lets players choose either a male or female version of protagonist V to play as, but developer CD Projekt Red made them both equally valid from the very beginning of development.

Speaking on the Answered Podcast, CD Projekt Red lead quest designer Baej Augustynek revealed an interesting tactic the developer used to ensure the character didn't have one particular world view.

"Funny story, when we were working on Cyberpunk we made the conscious decision that the quest designers were going to think of V as a female character, while the writers think of V as a male character," Augustynek said. "So we didn't want to have any kind of gaze, be it a female gaze or male gaze, and approach to the world."

Augustynek said that, for him, V will always be a woman, and he doesn't think of the man version as the real one. But other staff within CD Projekt Red will likely believe the opposite. The topic has been hotly debated since Cyberpunk 2077 was released, with players questioning which one is the canon character or who feels more authentic in the world. But it turns out, it's both.

CD Projekt Red narrative director Philipp Weber said it was a stark difference from working on The Witcher games too, as most of the studio, if not all, was very familiar with longtime protagonist Geralt of Rivia.

"It was a real conscious voice because we were used to Geralt," he said. "We were always used to writing for Geralt, making quests for Geralt, so when we knew, 'Okay, we're making a new character, and that character can also be a woman,' we just made it a rule when we wrote our quest design documents to always write 'she'. So we remind ourselves in our brain that this is a different kind of character, where now we actually have to consider more than maybe with Geralt."

Cyberpunk 2077's development is now all but complete, with CD Projekt Red releasing the final major update for it, Update 2.1, earlier in December 2023. Fans expected the game changing Update 2.0, which arrived alongside the Phantom Liberty expansion in September, to be the final big patch for Cyberpunk 2077 until CD Projekt Red announced a final one would arrive alongside the new Ultimate Edition.

Update 2.0 laid the foundation for the new Cyberpunk 2077 experience, completely revamping the game with features such as a new perk system and improved AI. It also brought closure to an Elon Musk fan theory, a reference to the late racing legend Ken Block, and bizarre additions to the game's biggest mystery.

In our 9/10 review of the expansion, IGN said: "Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty completes an immense turnaround for CD Projekt Red's future RPG kickstarted with the anime spin-off, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and its latest 2.0 Update."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

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CD Projekt Reveals How It Made Cyberpunk 2077's Male and Female Protagonists in Equal Measure - IGN

Cyberpunk 2077's sequel may have much more complex lifepaths, as devs want them to "matter more" during the story.

Cyberpunk 2077 starts out with you choosing a Lifepath, which is essentially one of three backstories you get to pick from that will radically alter the beginning of the game. Each Lifepath eventually leads to the same conclusion, allowing you to play through the same story no matter which Lifepath you chose, but it's possible that this might not be the same when it comes to the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel that's currently in development.

This is according to CD Projekt Red narrative director Philipp Weber, who said during the most recent episode of the AnsweRED Podcast (thanks IGN) that he'd like Lifepaths to "matter more" in the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel. Weber claims that Cyberpunk 2077 doesn't really deliver on the promise that you're playing different characters when you pick your Lifepath, and wants to improve on this aspect for future projects.

I do think that there are things with, for example, the Lifepaths, that kind of gives you a promise as being able to play more different kinds of characters. I think this is a thing where, in the future, that's, as an example, something we would like to improve.

Weber also expresses regret at how much the Lifepath aspect of the first Cyberpunk 2077 "goes away a little bit", and that he would make them a little bit more involved in the main story had he had a little more experience and time during development. He obviously now has that experience, so it'll be interesting to see how Lifepaths differ in the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel when it eventually does launch.

In fact, the sequel may look totally different to the first game, as CD Projekt Red was recently tossing up whether to stick with first-person, or make the series third-person, similar to The Witcher. With decisions such as the perspective of the entire game still to be pinned down, you get a good idea of just how far away Cyberpunk 2077's sequel actually is. How much Lifepaths are woven into the story is probably the least of CD Projekt Red's worries right now, though it's nice to know the devs are thinking about it.

CD Projekt Red is currently working on the next Witcher game, currently codenamed Project Polaris, but it was recently claimed that development on the sequel to Cyberpunk 2077 is scheduled to begin in 2024. We don't have release windows for these titles just yet, though you can imagine the studio will take its time with them to avoid another disaster. You'd hope so anyway.

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Cyberpunk 2077 Devs Want To Make Lifepaths "Matter More" In The Sequel - TheGamer

Cyberpunk 2077s life paths are so different they seem as if theyll have a profound impact on your character and the game as a whole. But the further you push into the game you more realise they dont actually matter. According to a CD Projekt Red narrative developer, the sequel could do better.

Did you spend upwards of half an hour mulling over whether your Cyberpunk 2077 character was going to be a corpo, street kid or so on? I know I did, but the disappointing thing is that your background has next to no impact on this futuristic RPG.

If you choose to be a corpo, you start the game off in a bathroom with a background character who, for a while at least, the internet suspected was Elon Musk. Play as a nomad and your quest begins in the wasteland. But pretty soon all those paths converge, with no real significant impact.

However, according to CD Projekt Red narrative developer Philipp Weber. the sequel may put that right. As reported by IGN, Weber appeared on the companys own official AnsweRED Podcast and addressed the life paths lack of impact.

I think this is a thing where, in the future, thats as an example something we would like to improve. Since I do think we gave a promise there that maybe in the end we did not really sell, he explained.

That wasnt the only problem Cyberpunk 2077 had at launch but CD Projekt Red has built on the game to deliver something that, for the most part, lives up to its marketing. Adding branching paths, however, isnt easily doable.

Right now, Weber is working on the next The Witcher game so if he does end up on Cyberpunk 2078, or whatever the sequel ends up being called, it could be a while before its released. But its absolutely an opportunity for CD Projekt Red to deliver on the promise of life paths.

If youre tackling the game, here are the best Cyberpunk 2077 mods and the best Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 builds. Or if youve yet to pick it up, get nearly 50% off Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition.

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Cyberpunk 2077's sequel may have life paths that actually matter - PCGamesN

The Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 update has been a huge revamp for the whole game, adding in loads of new features and updating many core systems to make them easier to use and more effective. Since this 2.0 update is a patch for the base Cyberpunk 2077 game, everyone who owns the game gets it for free, you just need to make sure you have the patch downloaded - importantly, it is separate from the Phantom Liberty expansion! Overall, this patch has fixed many aspects of the ambitious RPG, making it a much smoother experience and far closer to CD Projekt Red's original vision. Here's a quick look at the new and improved features in the Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 update.

Even more new features have been added to the game thanks to the smaller Cyberpunk 2077 2.1 update, which focuses more on smaller additions to liven up Night City that didn't quite make the cut for the 2.0 patch release.

Most of the time, we'd be vehemently against giving the police more powers and making them stronger, but it's a much needed revamp in Cyberpunk 2077. In the initial version of the game, the police were essentially useless - police changes weren't really a thing, and they would often teleport around the place.

In 2.0, they're both smarter and stronger. You'll find officers patrolling the streets, they'll chase you down in their vehicles, and even set up roadblocks to cut you off. The heat system, which goes up to five stars, will be familiar to many of you, and if you do reach that level, MaxTac will be after you. Which is essentially all the firepower you can imagine - good luck shaking them off your tail. From our time playing 2.0, it can still be a little easy to lose them, but it's infinitely better than it was previously.

The vehicular combat improvements come as a trio, starting with firing your weapons from behind the wheel. Whether you're using the cockpit camera or you're behind the car, you can wield your gun and lock onto enemies looking to ram you off the road. If you're in a car, this means shooting through the windshield or the side window - although some of the fastest Cyberpunk 2077 cars can open sliding doors to shoot though - whereas if you're on a bike, you can also use melee weapons if you're close enough. For vehicles with mounted weapons, you have the option of powerful weaponry like gatling guns too.

One of the most-needed features when it comes to vehicular combat comes in the form of quickhacks though. You can now target other cars while driving and cause all sorts of chaos such as slamming their brakes or accelerating them straight into a wall, tampering with their steering, or exploding them entirely.

Long gone is the perk system of old. V now has five attributes, each with their own winding skill trees, and a whole myriad of perk points to dish out. You can't unlock all the perks so there's no point in trying, but what this does allow for is specialised Cyberpunk 2077 builds. Fancy going all-in as a stealth ninja, utilising Cyberpunk 2077 quickhacks and sticking to the shadows? Focus on the intelligence, cool, and technical ability attributes, then invest in perks such as Ninjutsu, Killer Instinct, and All Things Cyber.

Alternatively, there are loads of melee weapons to be found in Night City, and you can spec into them as a brawler with the Body and Reflexes attribute. Wrecking Ball allows you to charge into enemies on foot, followed by Quake which is a huge ground pound. I played through Phantom Liberty a third way though, which was as a ranged firearms expert. Reflexes and Cool helped for this, alongside Intelligence and Technical Ability, as it was more jack-of-all-trades when it came to utilising cyberware. What's even better is that you can plan out your Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 build using their online build planner.

Additionally, while it's not directly related to perks, there are also skills you can upgrade. These are done entirely passively and reward you with some small buffs every five levels, such as +1 perk point, an increase to movement speed or carrying capacity, or something more specific like reducing the RAM cost for quickhacks used on vehicles and devices. Here is the full list of skills:

The perk system isn't the only core mechanic that has undergone some significant changes - so has cyberware. Cyberware pertains to all of the cybernetic implants and augments you can install on V, which range from replacing their arms with powerful melee weapons to armor and healing buffs to quickhack and RAM recovery upgrades.

As V levels up, your cyberware capacity increases, allowing you to equip more powerful enhancements. You can also invest in the Edgerunner and Renaissance Punk perks to increase this further, which is crucial if you want to make the best build because some of the high-end cyberware takes up a lot of capacity.

While we've covered the main features coming to Cyberpunk 2077 2.0, that's not everything. Crafting blueprints are long gone, being replaced by tiered item components, so it's simpler to craft items from scratch and upgrade your existing arsenal. Clothes are now cosmetic only - your armor is dictated by cyberware, so you can wear whatever outfit you like without missing out on any stat buffs. Not to mention there are also new radio stations, general improvements to combat AI, UI/UX tweaks, and more.

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Everything new in the Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 update - Gamesradar

Like putting pineapple on pizza, sometimes it takes mixing two things that absolutely werent meant to go together to discover something great. Thats the case with Shadowrun, except in this case pineapple is magic-using elves, and pizza is a cyberpunk sci-fi RPG. Debuting in 1989 as a tabletop RPG with the most 80s cover art possible, Shadowrun has gotten a few video game adaptations in the decades since. But none captures its ludicrous-sounding but somehow great blend of gritty sci-fi and fantasy as well as Harebrained Schemes Shadowrun Trilogy, now available on PlayStation Plus.

Released between 2013 and 2015, Shadowrun Returns, Shadowrun: Dragonfall, and Shadowrun: Hong Kong is a trilogy only in the loosest sense of the word. Yes, there are three of them, but they all tell completely unconnected, standalone stories. Each spotlights a different important city in the futuristic world of Shadowrun: Seattle, Berlin, and you guessed it Hong Kong.

Youll spend a lot of time in combat in Shadowrun, but its the characters that make it a must-play.

To get it out of the way: if you start playing Shadowrun Returns and its not clicking, you might just want to skip ahead. Shadowrun Returns certainly has its charms, and it deserves credit for getting Harebrained Schemes trilogy going, but the other two games in the series are massive upgrades.

Compared to its predecessor, Shadowrun: Dragonfall has a better interface and changes that make combat a better experience, but where it really shines is in its story. In Shadowrun Returns, youre a lone agent investigating your friend's disappearance, recruiting generic NPCs to help along the way. From the very start of Dragonfall, youre embedded in a team. The game starts in the middle of a mission that goes horribly wrong, leaving you in charge of a ragtag gang of mercenaries. While the central mystery of Dragonfall is already far more captivating than the plot of Shadowrun Returns, its the characters that really set it apart.

A mysterious street medic with surgically implanted claws, your old boss terrifyingly devoted best friend, a punk rocker turned anti-fascist shaman these are the core members of your crew, and each has a deep personal mission to play through, reams of interesting dialogue throughout the game, and a hell of a lot of baggage.

Your companions skills come into play during missions, so bringing a hacker along can help you shut down turrets, and a character who used to work for a megacorp might be able to talk you past security. But the main cast is so compelling that I constantly found myself leaving behind more useful characters to make room for the ones I just wanted to spend more time with.

Shadowruns version of Hong Kong is gorgeous and gritty.

Maybe its because it has a tough act to follow, but Shadowrun: Hong Kong isnt quite the step up that Dragonfall was. Its story and characters are still wonderful, but theyre not quite as memorable as in the previous game though it also features a shaman who keeps pet rats in her coat pockets, so thats pretty hard to beat.

But its an unquestionable improvement when it comes to its art. Berlin and Hong Kong are both fascinating settings, but in Shadowrun: Hong Kong, the city is brought to life with the series most vibrant art. Every corner of its gigantic maps is filled with detail, from the pulsing neon of shopping districts to the supernatural gloom of the walled city.

The Shadowrun games captivating characters and stories are their greatest strengths, but its tactical combat is uniformly excellent as well. Given its sci-fi and fantasy mashup premise, you can use a huge array of abilities in battle. Having one party member summon a water spirit from a rain puddle while another hacks into a security door and a third picks off enemies with a katana feels a bit like dumping out a box of random action figures to play with as a kid. But its as fun as it is jarring. While theres not as much room for character customization and creative skill use as you get in some other RPGs, the relatively straightforward combat is nonetheless satisfying.

Even when things are more or less on rails, the Shadowrun games do a great job of letting you direct the story. Decisions you make in missions whether to help a side character or steal corporate secrets for yourself wont dictate the greater plot, but they offer a way to develop your characters place in the world.

And in Shadowrun, the world is at least as interesting as any character. Megacorporations run by dragons, deals with demons, and spirits haunting the internet are all part of its strange tapestry, and your characters are caught in the middle. As with much of great cyberpunk, the Shadowrun Trilogy absolutely sells the us against the world mentality of its scrappy band of anti-heroes. And though its grim world often feels like its just about to crush your gang, surviving job by job with them is a thrill every time.

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PlayStation Plus Just Quietly Added the Most Captivating Cyberpunk RPG - Inverse

With the Cyberpunk 2077 2.1 update, Night City has received an array of new features and small tweaks to improve city life. By comparison, the Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 update was a total overhaul of some of the game's core systems and quality-of-life changes, but the free 2.1 update is purely focused on adding extra features to livening up Night City. A functioning metro system, a new personal radio, romantic hangouts, and gang pursuits all contribute to making Cyberpunk 2077 feel a little bit more immersive while on your deadly merc adventures as V.

Of course, there's also a whole host of bug fixes and other minor changes for the base game and Phantom Liberty that I've not covered here, but you can read all about them in the full update 2.1 patch notes. For a breakdown of the essential changes, I've laid out everything you need to know about the Cyberpunk 2077 update 2.1 below.

Cyberpunk 2077 update 2.1 adds a few new features to enhance Night City life and amp up the immersion for players:

Phantom Liberty was obviously a huge source of new missions and activities for Cyberpunk 2077, but the 2.1 update has added a few extra activities and changed some things, adding more to do and enhancing the Night City experience:

Vehicles have got quite a lot of love in the Cyberpunk 2077 2.1 update, with several new ones to unlock and massively enhanced motorcycling:

The Cyberpunk 2077 2.1 update adds a few useful accessibility features and options to make the game more comfortable to play. Importantly, they're now all laid out in a convenient 'Accessibility' tab in the game's settings menu:

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The best Cyberpunk 2077 builds are ways of mixing certain attributes, perks and skills to deadly effect, merging various qualities to create "classes". Sure, classes don't exist in Cyberpunk 2077 per se, but it's a helpful framework for what you're attempted to create and helps keep you focused. If there's a specific Cyberpunk 2077 build you'd like to make, then here are some things to try out.

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This Cyberpunk 2077 assault build is essentially an all guns blazing, soldier class that can be used for pretty much every encounter as long as it's loud. For this, you'll want to level up strength-related attributes and get perks that assist combat.

Best attributes:

Best perks:

Best weapons:

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A Cyberpunk 2077 hacker build is essential when hacking is such a crucial element of the game. While it lends itself to stealth, you can still win full on fights and kill plenty of enemies while hardly touching a weapon. (Although a good weapon is always handy if anyone gets too close.)

Best attributes:

Best perks:

Best weapons:

A Cyberpunk 2077 stealth build is a good choice thanks to all the different ways you can complete missions. For this, you'll want decent hacking ability because distracting enemies will be key, along with strong silenced weapons for taking out targets.

Best attributes:

Best perks:

Best weapons:

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The Cyberpunk 2077 Skippy smart pistol is a special weapon that talks - it really is a very smart pistol, and which has two modes: Stone Cold Killer or Puppy Loving Pacifist. It'll also unlock a new mission in Cyberpunk 2077 called Machine Gun, but for all of these to occur, first you need to find Skippy itself, which has simply been dropped in a nondescript alleyway somewhere. I'll explain where to find the weapon Skippy in Cyberpunk 2077 below, as well as the two different modes, and what you need to do for the Machine Gun mission.

You can find Skippy in Cyberpunk 2077 on a random corpse in an alleyway, in the Vista Del Rey suburb of Night City. Just head to the east side of Heywood to zero in on that location. It's marked on the map as an undiscovered location, south of the College St fast travel point.

From the fast travel point, turn south down the street and cross the road. Right before Saeko's the big bluey-green building with enormous metal pillars at the front there'll be some graffiti on a red wall by an alleyway. Jump over the gate and you'll find Skippy on the ground by a corpse.

When you first pick up Cyberpunk 2077 Skippy, it will introduce itself to you and you'll have a few dialogue options to chose though. Once you've exhausted all the taking and eventually you'll need to choose between Stone Cold Killer or Puppy-Loving Pacifist mode.

This basically set the gun to lethal or non-lethal: Stone Cold Killer means Skippy will exclusively target headshots, while Puppy-Loving Pacifist will only aim for the legs. However, there's a catch here to whatever you pick: after 50 kills and a few days if you picked Stone Cold Killer Skipp will switch to Puppy mode. If you've already picked that he'll stay there, or switch to lethal mode if you chose the dialogue options "I don't know" or "I'm not having a conversation with my gun".

Basically, whatever you pick first there's a high chance Skippy will flip to the other option after a few days.

When you've had Skippy for a few days in Cyberpunk 2077, he'll reveal who his original owner is and begin the Machine Gun quest. That will task you with returning Skippy back to Regina the NCPD fixer in Night City, who you'll have spoken to plenty of times before, and original owner.

Regina will be in a building adjacent to Lizzie's Club. When you go inside and show her Skippy you can him over or walk away. Giving Skippy to Regina will complete the quest and reward you with 7K in cash. However, you might want to check what mode it's stuck in before you give it up because Skippy is seriously powerful in Stone Cold Killer mode. So if that's what it's settled in I'd recommend hanging onto it.

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The Cyberpunk 2077 secret ending is one that's gated behind have a good relationship with your intercranial buddy, Johnny Silverhand. Problem is, that's based on choices you might've made across Cyberpunk 2077 long before now, so unless you're willing to reload and play from some save made twenty hours ago or even more, those who have antagonised the artificial punk rocker might be stuck. But, if you want the secret ending in Cyberpunk 2077 - and it's definitely one of the cooler Cyberpunk 2077 endings - we can explain how to unlock the option for this secret Cyberpunk 2077 ending.

Obviously, there are huge Cyberpunk 2077 spoilers beyond the image below, so only scroll if you dare.

There's a lot of talk that you need to be on really good terms with Johnny to get the secret ending, with a relationship status of at least 70%. If you do want to check your Johnny Silverhand relationship, it's the central box at the top of the pause menu labelled "Synergy". However, certain key dialogue options seem to be far more important to unlocking the secret ending.

The key thing is to basically be nice to Johnny and let him do what he wants - if he wants to smoke, drink, take over your body, let him. Just to be safe.

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At crucial points in the game, you have to choose options that improve your relationship with Silverhand. The easy way to do this is just let him do whatever he wants when the option comes up. Generally the actions that please Johnny are obvious - letting him go out and doing what he wants.

However, an early mission, Chippin' In, appears to have a big impact at the graveyard scene via the dialogue alone. It's easy to miss this as it can happen a long time before the ending, depending on how you progress through the game. To improve your chances, pick these Cyberpunk 2077 secret ending dialogue options at this point in the game:

When you reach the final point in the final mission, Nocture OP55N1, you'll be on the roof with Johnny. At this point you'll need to do the following:

With that, you'll launch into this Cyberpunk 2077 secret ending where you, and only you, blast your way through the Arasaka building. This is not to be taken lightly as every enemy will be a very high level, so you need to grind a bit before you attempt it. Plus, it's a one-strike-you're-out deal, so if you die at any point, you'll fail and be sent straight to the credits. Told you it was hardcore.

Doing this mission will earn you some exclusive in-game content that's unavailable elsewhere, so definitely make sure to check it out if you can.Of course, Phantom Liberty also added its own new ending for the full game too, so there are six endings for Cyberpunk 2077, including this secret one.

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For better or worse, in the year of our lord two-thousand and twenty-three, video games are now seldom complete products. They grow, evolve, and change over time - and in many ways, challenge the traditional wisdom of giving out end-of-year awards. Is there a better example of this than Cyberpunk 2077?

Even Baldurs Gate 3, as mind-bogglingly good as it was from the moment of release, has changed tremendously over the last couple of months - tweaking, changing, adding. It had several years of early access, too. My personal game of the year for 2023, Street Fighter 6, is released with the explicit understanding that it will grow in size - probably as much as double - over the course of its lifetime.

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Cyberpunk 2077 originally released in 2020, and, well you all know how that went. I was one of the people who was hoodwinked, to put it mildly, by CD Projekts approach to the review process. I played it on my high-spec PC and thought it was pretty great, with classic open world launch bugs that I figured would be ironed out over time. I ended up giving it a positive review on my other website.

On VG247, James was even more glowing, and gave it a 5-star rating that instantly attracted a wave of abuse once it became clear how broken it was on the console versions CD Projekt never let us see. I even ended up writing a review addendum warning people not to conflate a positive PC score with the PlayStation and Xbox versions; something Ive never done before.

But three years later, its fair to say that its a very different game. And, heres the thesis of this article: I think if you look at all the games released in 2020 now, and think about which I recommend somebody play above all others Cyberpunk 2077 is, indeed, 2020s game of the year.

Nobody wouldve argued it back then, obviously. The bugs and problems were too apparent, even if one could see the great game behind them, keen to burst forth. But even if we put 2023s new addition, expansion Phantom Liberty, to one side I think this is the best game that was released in 2020. With Cyberpunks version 2.0, the game is finally fulfilling its full potential. That realization allows it to outstrip my 2020 game of the year Final Fantasy 7 Remake and other contenders like Streets of Rage 4, Microsoft Flight Simulator, The Last of Us Part 2, and Animal Crossing New Horizons.

None of this entirely absolves CD Projekt RED of the sins of 2020, obviously. The truth is, this game shouldnt have been released at all on the last-generation consoles - and the company has to live in the knowledge that, had it owned that, it may have released to be one of the most beloved games around, much as The Witcher 3 did. Thats likely a bitter pill to swallow, especially when combined with the ritual humiliation that followed the games release. We should forgive, but not forget. Its an important lesson for developers, publishers, and even media everywhere. Its a cautionary tale for some fans on the dangers of hype, also.

But it is to CDPRs credit that it didnt just ride off into the sunset with its tail between its legs and return straight to The Witcher for a quick shot of goodwill. The company wanted to rescue its reputation, and the Cyberpunk IP - and so they put the hours in. The end result is undeniable.

In the pantheon of video game turn-arounds, this stands tall. Its up there with Final Fantasy 14, except I dont really think that counts, because the release of FF14: A Realm Reborn was not fixing an old game, but instead building an all-new game in record time and simply replacing the old with the new for free. The only remotely similar case of a launched game benign repaired in real time around a player base I can even think of is that of No Mans Sky - a similarly towering achievement.

Add on the fact that expansion Phantom Liberty is legitimately one of 2023s best video games all on its own, and the strength of Cyberpunk can no longer be denied, I think. When I look back on 2020 in the years to come, this will be its most stand-out game - but only with an understanding of what came after.

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When you think about it, Cyberpunk 2077 was the 2020 game of the year after all - VG247

Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3 are now in the not-too-distant past, but there is reason to be excited as some CD Projekt Red veterans are working on a brand-new open-world RPG made in Unreal Engine 5.

Despite Cyberpunk 2077 having one of the biggest redemption arcs in gaming history, CD Projekt Red recently announced that it was done updating the game in favour of working on its inevitable sequel. The same can be said for The Witcher 3 which has received no major updates since July of this year.

While CDPR now shift their efforts onto the next entries in both of the above franchises, some devs have departed the studio to work on something altogether new.

Check out the Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty trailer below!

Posted to r/GamingLeaksandRumours, one user has revealed CD Projekt Red veterans have formed a brand-new studio called Rebel Wolves and it is currently working on its first game potentially titled DAWNWALKER: ORIGINS.

The news originally comes from Kurakasis on Twitter, an account dedicated to video games research who shared the information about the upcoming IP.

Rebel Wolves, a studio formed by CD Projekt RED veterans, is working on a game potentially titled DAWNWALKER: ORIGINS. The first title in the DAWNWALKER Saga, they wrote. This is based on the company's trademarks, recently registered domains and various statements on their website and LinkedIn.

The user claims that two website domains have recently been registered and the IP is expected to be a story-driven RPG set in a brand-new dark fantasy universe built on Unreal Engine 5.

Additionally, DAWNWALKER: ORIGINS is expected to be released on PC and next-gen consoles, is an offline single-player title and will revolutionise the RPG genre. An unearthed job listing also hints at it being open-world but is not expected to be on the scale of The Witcher 3.

Finally, the source claims development is currently in the Alpha stage and as of three months ago, over 100 employees were working on it.

With no official announcement, it is worth taking this news with a pinch of salt. However, a brand-new IP from CD Projekt Red veterans is an exciting rumour nonetheless.

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Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 3 veterans working on new Unreal Engine 5 open-world RPG - GAMINGbible

It seems as though 2023 is the year of the redemption arc. With Cyberpunk 2077 finding its feet three-years after release, it now appears that Fallout 76 is following suit with recent figures showing it's garnered 17 million players.

Despite a rocky start when it was first released in 2020, regular updates and the arrival of the expansion Phantom Liberty mean that Cyberpunk 2077 has gone on to become one of the most successful games in recent years. So much so that fans recently agreed it would have won Game of the Year if it was released today in its current state.

Check out the Fallout 76 trailer below!

Now, it seems as though Bethesda is following in CD Projekt Reds footsteps with its 2018 Fallout instalment Fallout 76. When it was first launched back in November 2018, it was criticised for its game-breaking bugs, shabby performance, and lifeless world to explore.

Since then, Bethesda has been working hard on improving it. This included the 2020 Wastelanders update which saw fully voiced NPCs added to the game which became a catalyst of change for Fallout 76.

Now, five years on from launch, Fallout 76 sits at a mostly positive rating on Steam and it was recently revealed that the game had reached over 17 million players. The news was shared by Bethesda art director Jon Rush who posted a blog post detailing the Fallout 76 roadmap following the recent release of the Atlantic City - Boardwalk Paradise update.

Over 17 million players have experienced new Fallout tales and characters with Wastelanders, he wrote.

Despite the good news, Bethesda is still not done with Fallout 76. Early 2024 will see the arrival of the Atlantic City - Americas Playground DLC which will include a new mission where players take on the legendary Jersey Devil. This will come alongside new quests, new areas, and more.

After that DLC, Fallout 76 will get an expanded map later in 2024 which will see the wooded heartland of Shenandoah added to the game.

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Fallout 76 pulls a Cyberpunk 2077, is better than ever with 17 million players - GAMINGbible

The Cyberpunk 2077 Grayson kill or spare choice in Chippin' In is one that can prevent you from getting a reward - or rather, prevent you from getting the info that tells you where to find the reward, as Johnny Silverhand's car is hidden somewhere nearby and Grayson can tell you where it is. Of course, losing that info isn't so much of a penalty when, say, you have a guide to tell you where that car is hidden, and can just stumble across it anyway.

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The whole reason you've found Grayson is because you and Rogue are hunting down Adam Smasher. Unfortunately, you find Grayson instead, because Smasher has become the Arasaka's best pal now. You can exhaust all dialogue options with him including learning where Johnny Silverhand's body is kept but ultimately, you need to decide whether or not to shoot him.

If you spare Grayson, two things will happen. One of these is that he'll give you an old access card, and the second is that he'll tell you where to use it. Of course, this is great, because the reward you find through that access card is absolutely excellent, but the downside is that Grayson gets to live.

If you kill Grayson, he doesn't tell you where to use the old access card, but that ultimately doesn't matter because you're reading this guide. You can still find the loot if you know where to look. So you can appease Johnny and Rogue, shoot Grayson in his face, loot the old access card, then go and grab the loot.

To find it, climb the ladder to the platform on the left-hand side of the boat when you're looking past where Grayson is sat. Interacting with the control panel up here will lower a shipping container. Go down to it and use the access card to discover Johnny's Porsche 911 inside! It's yours to keep from here on and is easily the best looking car in the game. Another item to add to the list of Johnny's things you can own, on top of the pistol you picked up when initially interacting with him.

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It is always interesting to see what games developers enjoy themselves. Owlcat, which just successfully launched its new RPG Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader, shared the top titles that their staff played in 2023.

Owlcat Games posted the top games that our dear owlcats played this year on X (formerly Twitter), adding that while were in love with our games, however, to make it fair, we decided not to add them. It is also worth noting that some titles on the list were released before 2023.

Baldurs Gate 3, one of this years biggest hits from fellow RPG creators at Larian Studios, ranked 1st. Not only did it smash the charts on Steam and receive recognition from millions of players around the world, but it also won Game of the Year awards at the Golden Joystick Awards and The Game Awards.

The second-favorite game that Owlcat developers played this year was Cyberpunk 2077. In 2023, CD Projekt finally managed to win back players trust by releasing a massive update for the base game and successfully launching the Phantom Liberty expansion. The latter has already sold over 4.3 million copies,

Other 2023 releases on Owlcats list include Remedys award-winning survival horror title Alan Wake 2 (#4), Avalanche Softwares global bestseller Hogwarts Legacy (#6), and Mundfishs shooter Atomic Heart (#10).

The full top 10 can be seen below:

2023 was also a successful year for Owlcat Games. On December 7, the studio released Rogue Trader, a complex RPG set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Despite many bugs and other technical issues, the game peaked at over 46.7k concurrent players on Steam and became one of the top-grossing titles on the platform upon its launch.

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Owlcat devs rank top games they played in 2023, from BG3 and Cyberpunk 2077 to Disco Elysium and Dishonored - Game World Observer

With the Phantom Liberty agree to Reeds deal or kill Reed choice, you need to decide if you'll try and make amends with Reed and the NUSA, or see Songbird's journey through to the end. It's a complicated choice that presents itself at the end of one of the expansions story paths, especially due to Reed's dedication to his mission and what Songbird reveals just before, changing the whole context of V's journey through Phantom Liberty. Whichever option you decide on will determine the ending you get for the expansion too, and might even let you reach the new ending for the main Cyberpunk 2077 story. Here are the consequences of choosing to either call Reed and accept his deal or kill Reed and save Songbird in Phantom Liberty.

Obviously, big spoilers below as this is the final choice in the Help Songbird path of Phantom Liberty!

If you choose to help Songbird in the Firestarter mission, you will help her get through the spaceport terminal to reach the train that leads to the Moon rocket. During the train journey, So Mi will reveal that shes been lying to you the whole time and that the Neural Matrix can be used only once. This leads into the first choice of this Phantom Liberty ending deciding whether to call Reed. After that, youll be confronted by Reed while carrying Songbird and will need to decide how youll deal with them both, ending Phantom Libertys story.

When the train pulls into the rocket launch area, youll have to choose whether youll simply pick up Songbird and carry her to the rocket or call Reed to strike a deal to get the Neural Matrix cure. Choosing to pick up Songbird just means you can walk straight to the rocket pod and face Reed you are not locked out of any of the endings by not calling him.

If you do call Reed, hell ask that you give up Songbird and in return, youll get the cure you were promised. Youre then faced with these responses to Reed:

So, however you get through this choice, youll always carry Songbird over to the rocket pod where Reed will emerge and face you on the walkway. You must put Songbird down, otherwise Reed will eventually just shoot you and youll have to reload your checkpoint.

The option to kill Reed, or draw weapon, isnt available to you straight away, so you need to talk to Reed a bit first. If you did not call Reed or rejected his deal when calling him, V will draw a revolver after putting Songbird down and youll be presented with some dialogue options. Choose either Songs dyin or cant let you take her, and youll then get more dialogue options after some chatter, with one of them being draw weapon. You can keep talking with Reed and this option will keep coming up, but eventually youll get to a point where you can only holster or draw your weapon.

Choosing to draw your weapon causes the game to slow down and you need to shoot Reed in the head before he does the same to you. With Reed dead, you can pick up Songbird and place her in the rocket, then watch it blast off while you chat with Johnny Silverhand. After this, the credits roll and then youll be looking at the spaceport the next morning while talking to Johnny. There are no missions after this, and Phantom Libertys story is over if you get this ending.

There are a few ways you can reach this ending in Phantom Liberty. The easiest method is to call Reed on the train and agree to the deal as mentioned, you are locked into this ending once you do this. Alternatively, if you did not call Reed, or rejected his deal, make sure you choose the holster weapon when available to deescalate and strike a deal with Reed.

Once you agree to the deal, Reed takes So Mi, then the credits roll. Afterwards, youll speak to Johnny and then youll get a call from Reed. This eventually leads into a mission called Through Pain To Heaven, where youll have one final talk with Reed at a gas station, then hell give you details on the new Cyberpunk 2077 ending for the main story.

If you decided to agree to Reeds deal but refuse anything in return (this can be done when calling Reed or after holstering your weapon), you wont be permanently locked out of the new story ending either. After the credits, Reed will message you and youll get one last chance to either accept or reject the promised surgery. Based on my testing, rejecting the cure here seems to permanently lock you out of this ending while accepting leads you into the Through Pain To Heaven mission like normal.

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