Cyberpunk 2077’s one-and-only expansion,
Phantom Liberty,is coming out on September 26, but the 2.0 update—which
brings some pretty significant systemic changes to the RPG that has been getting incremental changes since its
disastrous launch in 2020—is coming out for free for all players on September 21. Is it enough to salvage a game
some think might not be salvageable? I sat down with fellow staff writer Claire Jackson to talk about it after we’d both spent several hours with the new changes. Our conclusion? It might not fix everyone’s problems with
Cyberpunk 2077, but it is the mechanical realization of what the game probably always should have been.
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But systemically,
Cyberpunk 2077 just felt like the most unremarkable RPG adorned with some pretty neon lights, great characters, and some pretty strong thematic broad strokes. I think I’m on record somewhere as saying that short of big sweeping changes to the way the game operates nothing was going to make
Cyberpunk 2077 “good.” But I also think I said that assuming we’d never get something like the 2.0 update, and I gotta say, this is exactly what the game needed.
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My V is specced hard into Cool and stealth, which was fine in the original game. I loved rebooting enemy optics, then sneaking up behind them and taking them out, but that was most of what I did to get through fights in that game. With 2.0, the Cool/stealth build has so many new tools in its kit. I used some of the update hardware to cloak in fights, and the skill tree has so many neat perks, like slowing down time when you’re seen giving you a precious few seconds to get back into cover before an enemy aggros. And even then, I can use Memory Wipe or Reboot Optics to take advantage of that opening. It really feels like CDPR just gutted this game and put something new in its place, because progression is no longer this really arbitrary, inconsequential numbers game of making damage go up. Now, each spot on a skill tree gives you something tangible to use in the game, rather than making my pistol’s bullets hit harder, somehow.
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Speaking of drive-by shooting, holy shit, the car combat isn’t something I necessarily love doing, but I was just surprised at how fundamentally different things were. Enemies and cops are so aggressive now with the new behaviors they’ve added. These motherfuckers are trying to run me off the road when I’m on a motorcycle. Like, damn, talk about overkill. But that’s why it’s cool to just be able to whip out my revolver and get them off my back. Even if it’s not a mechanic I care to work with much, it’s just good to have more tactics at hand other than drive away faster from your pursuers.
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KS: It definitely felt like I wasn’t “growing” into this build. It was more like a lateral pivot from the pretty meh stealth build I had in the original game into becoming a super spy hacker. Which was jarring, but still really powerful at illustrating just how big the changes are. Ultimately, whatever route you choose to go, I think this is the definitive way to experience this game, and while I know some might have valid preservation criticisms about the original game essentially being unplayable short of just not downloading the update, this is the version of
Cyberpunk 2077 CDPR probably wishes they had launched in 2020. And it’s the one I wish we all could have played then, as well. What a concept, you sell millions of copies of a broken game and you’re able to stay afloat while you fix it.
