Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty release date, story, gameplay, and everything we know

With the Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty release date now out in the wild, we are incredibly excited for the expansion to deliver us a spy-thriller episode in our Night City adventures. You’ll be challenged to return to Night City as a cyber-enhanced mercenary, and the high-stakes missions you’ll be tasked with embarking on will put you toe-to-toe with seasoned professionals, so you better be ready to risk it all.

But until now, information regarding what exactly Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty will offer has been pretty limited, but following a new release date trailer dropping at Summer Game Fest we’re more clued up on what to expect, and there’s a good reason it’s rapidly becoming one of our most anticipated upcoming games of 2023. Here’s everything we know so far.

Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty: cut to the chase

What is it? A spy-thriller expansion for Cyberpunk 2077
When can I play it? September 26
What can I play it on? PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
Who is making it? CD Projekt

Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty release date and platforms

The Phantom Liberty release date is September 26 this year - just shy of three years since the base game was released, and over a year since the first announcement and teaser was released. The initial announcement for the expansion was made in 2022 but didn’t feature a specific release date and offered a vague window of 2023 instead. So, now we have a concrete date, we can start looking into how the expansion will shake up the Cyberpunk formula.

As for platforms, Phantom Liberty will only be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. So, for those who enjoyed their first adventure in Night City on previous-generation hardware, we’ve got some bad news. Following CD Projekt Red’s decision to phase out development for older consoles, as announced after the Edgerunners update, any content regarding Cyberpunk 2077 and its expansions is now exclusively being created for current-gen hardware.

That said, Phantom Liberty is currently the only planned expansion for the game, and the sacrifice of not developing the content for last-generation consoles was made to assist the performance and combat repeating the same issues reported by players upon 2077’s initial release. With the focus on current-gen consoles, there’s a high chance the expansion could end up becoming one of the best Xbox Series X games or fall among the best PS5 games given launch goes as smoothly as hoped.

Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty trailers

The most recent trailer for Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty was shown during Summer Game Fest 2023 on June 8, offering a deeper look at in-game content and how things will appear upon launch.

The two-and-a-half-minute trailer shows a new side to Night City, alongside some of the characters we’ll meet throughout the game on some of the missions you’ll be sent out on as V. Toward the end, we finally receive a concrete release date stating that the expansion will be available on September 26, 2023. The full trailer can be seen below:

Previous trailers

The first reveal for Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty was released in December 2022 and offered the first glimpse at what to expect from the expansion. Rather than leaning on CGI or animated footage, the trailer reflects on how the game will both look and play upon release, despite not offering a specific release date. Instead, the game was given a release window of 2023.

Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty story and setting

The Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty story follows the story of V, who you would’ve met in Cyberpunk 2077. As a government-led, cyber-enhanced mercenary, V must undertake a high-stakes mission of espionage and intrigue in an attempt to save the NUS President, but the road isn’t exactly easy. Along the way, you’ll need to forge alliances with unexpected characters in a web of secrets to unravel while experiencing the shadowy world of spycraft firsthand.

V will be taking on the challenge of a location called Dogtown, a city-within-a-city ruled by trigger-happy militia. Within its crumbling walls, you’ll undergo trials and challenges which put all new pieces of cyberware and weapons to the test. As you’d expect from the overarching story of saving the NUS President, failure isn’t exactly an option, so you’ll need to choose your alliances carefully, since you’ll never know who will really have your back when you need it most.

Dogtown promises to transport us to an entirely new district of Night City, confirming that we will be free to visit a previously unexplored area. It’s been labeled as one of the most dangerous areas of the Night City, making it the perfect setting for a spy-thriller escapade, albeit an intimidating location to jump into. Even the authority of the city, the Barghest, is described to be more dangerous than the NCPD.

However, Dogtown has also been confirmed during an overview to be a vibrant location, where special attention has been paid to creating an immersive and more believable atmosphere by implementing small scenes involving NPCs alongside numerous easter eggs. So, while it’s tough on the outside, V is swiftly welcomed with open arms.

Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty gameplay

Although we now have two trailers under our belts, both of which feature ample amounts of in-development in-game content rather than relying on CGI and animation, we still don’t know much about the central mechanics of Phantom Liberty. We have the bare bones, and we’ve been briefly walked around Dogtown to know where our story is set, but in terms of how missions will play out, we are still fairly ignorant.

Currently, the newest elements of the game revolve around the extensive armory to explore as V, and since Dogtown disobeys the standards and expectations of central Night City, there is a lot of illegal weaponry and goods to discover within its walls.

But a number of new mechanics and features to utilize throughout the expansion alongside new cyberware and weapons have been spotlighted, including an entirely new skill tree to ensure V is always on top form among a world of hustlers, cunning netrunners, and additional mercenaries bent on profit and power.

Dogtown may be tough, but Phantom Liberty’s protagonist is bound to be tougher. In a three-minute overview shown at the Xbox Extended Showcase, the Quest Director Pawl Sasko takes us through Dogtown’s Black Market, the one-stop shop for new enhancements, cyberware, and weaponry V will utilize during the intense gigs and missions throughout the story.

In the same overview, we are reassured that actions are more believable, dynamic, and diverse, which was one of the main issues voiced by players during the release period of Cyberpunk 2077. As a whole, we have been assured to expect Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty to offer a more immersive experience while building on the foundations set by 2077, and going off the trailers we have seen, it might end up becoming one of the best PC games if it delivers and is able to run smoothly at those much-desired high resolutions.

Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty news

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty action spotlighted at the Xbox Extended Showcase
Following its trailer at Summer Game Fest and the exciting announcement of a confirmed release date, Phantom Liberty received a three-minute overview of in-game content to solidify and explore Dogtown as you would upon launch. Pawel Sasko, Quest Director for the expansion, talks us through the black market of Dogtown, where you can delve into the world of new Cyberware and weapons to enhance V.

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty release date confirmed alongside new trailers at Summer Game Fest
Nine months after its initial trailer, Phantom Liberty received an all-new trailer showcased at Summer Game Fest covering a more in-depth look at what exactly the expansion is offering to keep the Cyberpunk name fresh. Finally, we also have a concrete release date for the expansion, and we can expect it to launch on September 26 -  over a year after its first release trailer was uploaded.

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty first teaser trailer released suggesting a 2023 release date
The first teaser trailer for Phantom Liberty was uploaded in December 2022, providing the first glimpse of what we can expect from the story, alongside our first look at Dogtown and its inner workings. Additionally, we were given a release window of 2023, three years following the initial release of Cyberpunk 2077.

If you're interested in what else CD Projekt Red is currently working on, it's worth checking out everything we know so far about The Witcher 4 too.