Cyberpunk 2077 players can experience some of Phantom Liberty without buying the expansion

The upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 expansion is on the way soon, but surely those that don’t buy it will miss out? Well, not exactly.

Revealed in December 2022, the release of Phantom Liberty, the highly anticipated expansion to CD Projekt Red's sci-fi RPG Cyberpunk 2077, is nearly upon us. In Phantom Liberty, “players once again take on the role of V, a cyberpunk for hire, as they embark on a mission to save the President of the New United States of America after her orbital shuttle is shot down over the deadliest district of Night City — Dogtown.”

Take a look at Phantom Liberty in action below.

Phantom Liberty is shaping up to be a massive expansion for Cyberpunk 2077 and one that fans are excited about, especially as it stars the charismatic Idris Elba. However, what if you don’t buy Phantom Liberty, will you be missing out on content? Well, yes and no.

Phantom Liberty will not only bring a new story and a Combat Zone location - which we now know is called Dogtown - but it will also make some quality-of-life improvements to Cyberpunk 2077 when it arrives later this year. These improvements include tweaks to gameplay as well as new skill trees, and it seems all will benefit from the improvements regardless of whether you purchase the expansion or not.

During an interview for Kotaku with CDPR quest director Pawel Sasko and quest designer Despoina Anetaki, they explained that not all of the Phantom Liberty features will be locked behind a paywall. “Some things come with Phantom Liberty, for example, because of story-related reasons like the Relic skill tree, of course, you need [new character] Somi to unlock it,” said Anetaki. “Some things will be available to the rest of Night City, and you’ll be able to explore some things like, for example, the chases, the vehicle combat, and the police system.” That being said, Sasko implied that while some missions and features that are generated from the Dogtown location will crossover into the main story, not all missions will be available to all.

GAMINGbible’s own Ewan Moore recently went hands-on with Phantom Liberty and said that it’s “shaping up to be the victory lap that Cyberpunk 2077 deserves. It’s a massive expansion that promises to be filled with engaging new stories and surprising adventures, and I can’t wait to dive back in and discover them all. If the quality of the rest of the expansion is as consistently high as what I experienced, then it’s safe to say Cyberpunk 2077 is going out with a bang. And who ever thought that would happen?”

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty will be released on 26 September 2023 for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Oh, do you want some Cyberpunk 2077 digital freebies? Of course, you do.