Here is our Cyberpunk 2077 Story Recap. If you’re a returning player or plan to jump right into the expansion, we’ll catch you up on everything to need to know ahead of Phantom Liberty.
After years of consecutive updates, Cyberpunk 2077 is now in a place where it’s not only mostly bug-free but also quite enjoyable. And with the glowing reception that the Phantom Liberty expansion has received so far, the ride into the proverbial sunset might be the ending Cyberpunk 2077 and CDProject Red deserved.
But the game was originally released in 2020 and since then many have visited and left Night City. So we’re here to give you a little recap of what happened the last time you visited and prepare you for everything you need to know for the release of Phantom Liberty.
Cyberpunk 2077 Story Recap
In Cyberpunk 2077 you play as V a mercenary in Night City which is situated on the west coast of the New United States of America. V is just like anyone else in Night City, just trying to get by and make a name for themselves before the city and its lusters eventually get the better of them.
After years of being on the grind, V and their friend Jackie Wells finally land a big job. A daring heist that would catapult their status into that of a Night City Legend. The job is organized by handler Dexter DeShawn who promises V and Jackie a smooth operation, even if they’re stealing technology from megacoorperation Arasaka.
The heist goes smoothly until V and Jackie witness the murder of Arasaka’s chairman Soboru Arasaka and become prime suspects in his assumed assassination. They still manage to steal the Chip they’ve been hired to take but Jackie gets mortally wounded and dies during their daring escape.
To keep the Chip safe and make sure it wasn’t all for nothing, V inserts it into their head. But when handing over the Chip, Dexter DeShawn decides to cut his losses and shoots V in the head right then and there.
But V doesn’t die.
The Chip they inserted into their head saves V from dying but also activates the data that is stored on it. This data is a digitized version of Johnny Silverhand a Night City legend and terrorist who blew up Arasaka’s Headquarters 50 years ago. Now that Johnny is alive, his data is trying to slowly take over V’s body and there is seemingly nothing V can do to stop it.
In a desperate attempt to find a cure and find the answers that led V into this mess in the first place, they chase what little clues they have. One of those clues is Evelyn Parker who had commissioned the heist in the first place.
Chasing her down leads V to the Voodoo Boys who were after the Chip containing Johnny’s soul from the start. They were attempting and with V’s help successfully managed to contact Alt Cunningham, an old associate of Johnnys who has since become an almighty AI lurking on the Dark Net. Alt promises to help V and Johnny separate their consciousness as long as they can gain access to Arasaka’s Soulkiller technology.
Another lead has V team up with Rogue, another one of Johnny’s old associates to chase and capture the engineer of Soulkiller Anders Hellman who has been trying to defect from Arasaka. He can’t help V in their current state but offers them to get their soul digitized and transferred into a new body as soon as one becomes available.
The last lead has V teaming up with Goro Takemura, the personal guard of the deceased Soboru Arasaka. He tries to use V to show the daughter of Arasaka who the true murderer of her father is and hopes that with the help of Arasaka, there will be a way to cure V.
Johnny who has since been festering in V’s mind won’t hear any of that though. He wants revenge on Arasaka at any cost and threatens that if V doesn’t do as he asks, he’ll take matters into his own (soon V’s) hands.
Phantom Liberty
And that’s the situation going into Phantom Liberty. Their situation is f**ked no matter what, but things are about to get worse when V is asked to visit Dog Town, a shady part of Night City to rescue the president of the NUSA. Here V is promised a cure for their plight but things won’t be as easy as they cracked up to be.
What decisions will you make though? Will you stick to your values, try to make a name for yourself and go out in one last blaze of glory, or try everything in your power to get the cure?
Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty offers you the option to jump right into the expansion and skip the content of the main game. The Phantom Liberty expansion also offers an ending that is unique for those who were already in the 2020 release.
Check out our Guide to the new Cyberware here, as well as our Recap of the Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 Patchnotes here. We’ll have more on Phantom Liberty soon here on ESTNN