Cyberpunk 2077 is popular again. The game has been completely updated and got its expansion, Phantom Liberty People are going crazy of how good it is.

The biggest change to CP, is the skill trees have been changed. There’s a bunch of new skills. The new skill system works but I have a few nitpicks. Not every main skill has a vid showing what it does. If a main skill is a modifier and not an actual skill, don’t make it a main skill. Another issue I have is that you have to rank up skill categories to unlock more skills for it. I’ve never been a fan of it in the game. It felt like I was being unnecessarily held back and was hoping they’d changed it.

The menus are another issue I’ve had with the game. They feel they could be made simple and things like clothes and guns could be changed simpler and faster. The Pip-Boy did a !better job where you go Into you inventory and instantly equip a gun or item. I’d be cool with scrolling through a menu using the D-pad.

CDPR changed around the augments, but applying them and new clothes lacks immersion. It’s not bad, but nothing like we were promised. Now there’s a leveling system for them and an overall number for all put together and there’s a level to your degree of upgrades.

Theres car combat which is cool, but they’re still an issue. The car physics aren’t too good. The motorcycles like to slide through corners and don’t feel good.

The update brings some good stuff like a wanted system, new guns, no stats on clothes and a new section of the city. One thing I do like is where you can see the netrunner hacking you.

How’s the expansion? It’s fairly solid. It is not the so called spy thriller we were promised. But it is a story about friendship. It has Idris Elba as lead and he does a good job. I will say there is some filler in there and a few pacing issues. I hate the end of the stadium mission. Overall it’s solid, good writing and chemistry. WhIke it is a story of comradery between agents, it captures the web of deception. An issue I had with this and several of the gigs, was some of the story choices you can choose felt overdone, less organic than the base game, and done because the writers could. I do like the grey area several of the choices have. However I felt the pacing lost steam in the middle. It’s not bad but it started so good and captured the cyberpunk feel and slowed down and picked up to the end.

The city is cool, Dogtown is like the Pacifica we were promised. It’s a city state inside a city state, run by ex NUS military people sent to capture Night City. It is a black market where contraband is brought into Night City. I wish it was bigger or used all of Pacifica.

I will say many characters you know come up. You learn more about characters that you didn’t know much of in the base game.The new ones also are good.

One thing I will say is the game still plays hokie pokie. When you play it you think you can play it like an immersive sim. There can be one or two paths to complete an objective, but CDPR give you the impression there’s more. When you try to play it like an ImSim and think its systematic, it stops you in your tracks when you think of a random solution.

Another issue no one has discussed is the glitches. I’ve seen characters standing on random objects . Characters glitching inside of each other. Idris Elba’s character glitches and he was holding his gun for many of the times I was talking to him. I also had a crash near the end of the game. I just had to restart at the beginning of the convo I was in.

If you enjoyed the base game, you’ll like this I was big on this game from release. It starts and ends good. Phantom Liberty is a step up from the main game’s story. But its mid act pacing keeps it from up there with the main games side missions. Theres a Bond reference for Bond nerds and that song captures many of the stories theme. I will say I’d love for CDPR to make a spy game, that credits montage was awesome and makes me think it was going to more of a spy theme originally.