Warning: Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty’s Main Questline Can Be Permanently Failed Early On

For those diving into Cyberpunk 2077’s Phantom Liberty expansion, be warned: It’s possible to lock yourself out of the entire expansion in one of its opening missions.

As detailed by PC Gamer, the fourth mission in the DLC, titled Lucretia My Reflection, gives you a choice to either go along with Solomon Reed’s (played by Idris Elba) plan or back out. You then have a choice to make. Minor spoilers ahead.

Choosing the “You’re right, I’m out,” dialogue option the first time around doesn’t lock you out of the expansion immediately. You still get another chance to change your mind when NUSA President Rosalind Myers says “Walk out of here, and the deal’s null and void–understand?” If you select “Made my decision,” the mission will fail and you will be unable to proceed with the rest of the expansion’s main quest.

A few days later, Reed will send you a message to let you know how things went without you, but attempting to reply to the message will result in an error message stating “the account you are trying to reach does not exist.”

There’s a few different ways to actually start the Phantom Liberty questline. The first method is to progress the core game’s main quest to the Transmission mission, which tasks you with traveling to Pacifica to deal with the Voodoo Boys. It’s then you’ll encounter Songbird. For those with an existing save file who have already progressed the main story and completed Transmission, you’ll still be able to access the DLC. You should receive a message from Songbird after a certain amount of time, like after sleeping. Those starting fresh characters also have the option to “Skip Ahead to Phantom Liberty” after selecting “New Game” from the game’s main menu.

Phantom Liberty, and Cyberpunk 2077’s free 2.0 update, appears to complete the years-in-the-making redemption arc for CD Projekt Red’s RPG, which launched in a notoriously buggy state back in 2020 and was even removed for sale from the PlayStation Store as a result. Since then, CD Projekt Red has steadily improved Cyberpunk 2077, with the game’s latest update overhauling numerous in-game systems.

The results seem to speak for themselves. Shortly after Phantom Liberty’s release, Cyberpunk 2077 has soared to the top of Steam’s concurrent player standings, achieving numbers it hasn’t seen since shortly after the game’s launch. In GameSpot’s Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty review, we awarded CD Projekt Red’s latest a 10/10, saying it “embodies the best of Cyberpunk 2077” and offers “a thrilling RPG-shooter with an evocative story, compelling side content, and unforgettable conclusions.”