- [Jake] Hey and we're back with another episode of Before You Buy. You know how this goes by now. The show where we give you
some straight up gameplay and our first impressions of
the latest games releasing. As usual, it's me, Jake. And today we've been spending some time with the new 2.0 update overhaul for the base game of Cyberpunk 2077, as well as the new expansion
DLC, Phantom Liberty. I don't think I need to remind
anyone that Cyberpunk 2077, it had a bad launch. You probably heard. You may have been rightfully pissed, but since release, the game
has slowly improved over time. In fact, for us here at Gameranx, it's not as big of a wow
factor with the 2.0 update, just because we've revisited
the game every year or so for the last three years and
seen significant progress. It feels and plays better and the majority of the work
was spent on the technical side where the game is more sound. You'll still see weird stuff and glitches and animations occasionally, but it's important to note that the game is no longer falling apart by its seams. So with that, now the 2.0
update does a great job overhauling some big gameplay elements and just making it more
compelling to play, full stop. And then Phantom Liberty, the expansion, adds a great new area, a cool
sub-story to play through that really kinda throws a
lot of different stuff at you. Tries new ideas and scenarios
you don't see in the main game and I think it does it
to mostly great effect. Now, if you were burned at the start or you were waiting to
finally play or hey, maybe you're somewhere in the
middle, this is a good time. Cyberpunk 2077 now three years later and the Phantom Liberty
expansion is solid stuff. And so you know here, we've been playing a
review copy on PC and PS5 and this footage is spoiler-free. So firstly, the 2.0 update is free for everyone who has the base game and it brings a bunch of
improvements, like I said. There's a fully revamped police system. You get wanted level stars and police actually respond to things and they'll chase you
down and even escalate. They don't just spawn out of
nowhere and they're not idiots. It's effective, but they're
actually kind of annoying now. If you're new to the game,
it's great and immersive. If you'd played through it once when police were still borked, now it's another thing
you have to worry about. They chase you for awhile. It can be hard to lose them. It's totally fine, except
even if you crash into them with your foot off the gas pedal, they will still come after you so be careful how you drive
'cause it's gonna happen. And like I said, they're tough to lose. Now the real good stuff though
is the RPG level revamps. And the perks system
is way more blown out. It's more interesting with
better choices to be made. And if you're jumping in, if you're using an old save or something because the game overhauled so much, you're gonna have to completely
re-spec your skill trees from the ground up. You'd think it would only take you a couple minutes to re-spec, but there's just so much stuff to decide. It might take you a little while. So be prepared. And Cyberware just feels more substantial. More choices to make, more ways to flesh out
your character build and it all just feels a bit more tangible. Plus, armor is now tied
to your Cyberware choices, not your clothing pieces. So you hear that at first, it might not sound like it makes sense but it totally works and it
does feel better this way. Also, vehicle combat, damn it's pretty cool. Shooting works exactly like it should. Exactly like you'd expect from an open world game with driving and I think that's good. It does have a generous
lock-on so it's pretty easy. You draw your weapon with
the Draw Weapon button and then it activates
shooting while driving mode and then you just get to it. But also you can pull out like
a katana and slice away too. Not that that's always the right thing to do in situations, but you can do it and you
can do it on a motorcycle and it looks cool. So with 2.0, Cyberpunk is finally really at where it should be. 1.5 update was great. 2.0 seals the deal. Me personally, I still
don't think Cyberpunk is the end all, be all
of RPGs by any means but it's got a cool story
and a really fantastic world. The new expansion you can get, and what seems like it
will be the only expansion, adds a good chunk of hours
and stuff to the base game. Now Phantom Liberty, it's worth noting, isn't like an epilogue or a (indistinct), it's just plopped right in
the middle of the main tale and serves as a really
long, drawn out diversion from the main story
that tells its own tale and has some new characters, but still manages to
strengthen the overall thing. You can either access it
from an end game save, start up the game and just jump to it, or just start a new playthrough
and get to it naturally. It kicks off a handful
of hours into the game once you're settled and
finished up with all that stuff involving the Voodoo Boys in Pacifica. Then you get a mysterious phone call and you can start from there. - [Woman In Game] You
don't have an entry pass and I don't have time to produce a fake. You'll slip in the back
way, quiet as you can. We really don't need anyone
spotting you, scanning you. - [Man In Game] Guess so. After you. - [Jake] Now this takes
you to a new area, Dogtown, tucked away right in Night
City right in Pacifica. It's like a walled off the hellscape. It's a big chunk of messy city that you're gonna get
stuck in for a little bit but after the intro and the first mission, you're free to come and go
through it as you please. You're gonna be finding new
loot and vehicles and clothing. But the main thing this expansion nets you is a whole new ability tree, the Relic skill tree. Yes, the Relic, the
thing giving you problems during the main story can actually unlock extra special abilities within you. And without spoiling too
much, they are substantial and can change up how
you play quite a bit. You earn points to spend in this tree kinda differently though. You have to get specific Relic points and the best way is to hunt
for them in the open world. And it is worth it. Story wise though, I'll only give you the back of the box story
description to not spoil things. Basically you get wrapped
up into a job in Dogtown where the president of
the new United States crash lands in the middle of
it and you need to rescue her. But from there it very quickly
devolves into craziness with a military force occupying Dogtown and a spy named Solomon
Reed played by Idris Elba. Stacker Pentecost himself. Yeah, but I mean actually in hindsight, that's kind of a cooler cyberpunk name. I would've went with that. Anyway, I digress. What's up Pacific Rim fans? It's an engaging situation,
it's a cool story. It's one that gives you
gameplay scenes and scenarios that are pretty unique. Stuff that feels like it would fit in with some of the bigger,
more unique moments from the main quest, really. It plays with the spy
stuff in some fun ways, but also it just showcases more
cool Cyberpunk ideas, right? Like politically, culturally,
technologically in this world. There's a really kick-ass intro. Then things get muddled for a minute and then it picked up
again, for me personally, and it's exciting. Now, Idris Elba's Solomon Reed
is an interesting character and he looks cool as hell. I just like Idris Elba, but I found his performance
a little inconsistent here. It's hard to put my finger on it but he just doesn't really give off the same enthusiasm as other characters. He's keeping it low key. But I dunno, it was kind
of up and down for me. Speaking of which, because this does take
place during the main quest, Keanu Reeves' Johnny Silverhand is with you thick and thin here. And once again he's pretty great. Is he still annoying? Yeah, but he's actually given more here if you can believe it. And some of it is a bit more nuanced and it really worked for me. They dive into him more and somehow made him
even more interesting. And the new area of Dogtown
is absolutely awesome. I'm sorry if I'm gushing a little bit. I don't know why this part
took me by surprise the most. Dogtown is a real good
hell of a city district. It's basically the worst
of the worst in Cyberpunk. It's the most lawless, the most destitute, the most falling apart. It feels the most Cyberpunk-y but the most also post-apocalyptic, the most strangely,
almost grotesquely sci-fi. And that's perfect. It has more interesting
vendors, cool vehicles, many with guns mounted on them, different motorcycle styles, weapons, clothing, even cooler robots. But I really liked how
it was completely varied. Every inch is totally different. There's a war zone casino-looking area. There's an industrial district
where some people live. There are hills with bombed
out high rise apartments. There's basketball courts, hidden areas, and underground tunnels,
bustling marketplaces, all of it riddled with
cool details and art, weird architecture and graffiti, over the top lighting. Just a bunch of bizarre stuff. Where Night City had some
stretches here and there that were just kind of
highways or big streets, you didn't really feel the need to hop outta your car and look around. Dogtown has a lot more
flavor in every corner. It's a really good video game location. It's a complete mess and
sometimes driving in it is kind of annoying because
there's just crap everywhere. But it helps with that lawless
escape from LA look and feel. And thankfully there's something like almost 20 total
new side quests and gigs to get you exploring Dogtown, aside from the main Phantom
Liberty quest line here. They also give you courier
missions and cars to steal and these new airdrops
where supplies are dropped into this war zone part of the city and you could follow the
smoke and go find it. You'll need to usually
just kill a bunch of guys to get at it though. So is Phantom Liberty so good on its own that you should just play that? I don't totally think so,
but it is really good. It's especially good when you just naturally
play through the game, get to the point where you
can access this new stuff and chip away at it. This game is better slowly digested. And now with Phantom Liberty, there's more to digest I
guess, if that makes sense. It adds to the experience and makes the game much
bigger despite so much of it being in a walled off part of the city. I think it was smart for
them to make an expansion that slots into the middle of the game because there are a lot of people probably jumping into this
game for the first time and that's how the new stuff and really all of the
updates are best enjoyed. For the people who've obsessed of this game since it released, and I know you're out there, you'll just be happy to have more stuff. And it does feel a little different. Like I said, some really
cool boss battles, some standout characters seal the deal. And I'm not even talking
about the RPG overhauls. Cyberpunk 2077, in general, is fixed. 2.0 adds some stuff that makes
the experience much better. And Phantom Liberty seals the deal by adding a significant creative and different portion to the game. Now, whether you personally forgive CD Projekt Red is up to you, but the net positive here is that there is another good
game out in the world. But that's just us,
some first impressions. You know how this goes by now. We give you some pros, some
cons, and some personal opinion. And now we want to hear
yours down in the comments. Have you cooled on Cyberpunk 2077? Maybe you played it at launch and you weren't as mad as everyone else. Maybe you just completely waited
and held off from the game. Maybe you've jumped in here and there. Whoever you are, would love to hear your experience with the game, whether it's your first time, whether it's your third time, let's talk about this stuff. And if you've been
enjoying the 2.0 update, we would love to hear what
you're thinking on that. Whoever you are, let's talk Cyberpunk 2077 down in the comments and
if this video helped you, seeing gameplay and just
hearing some details, clicking the like button helps us out. That's all you gotta do and thank you. But as always, thank you guys for watching and we'll see you next time. (shooting in game) - [Woman In Game] God
Almighty, it's moving! (robotic voice speaking in game)
