Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty - Release Date, Gameplay Changes, And Everything We Know

September is shaping up to be a massive month on the 2023 gaming calendar, and between the likes of Starfield, Mortal Kombat 1, and a PS5 release of Baldur's Gate 3, Cyberpunk 2077 is preparing to make its presence felt with a massive expansion. Phantom Liberty, the one-and-only expansion planned for Cyberpunk 2077, is just weeks away and aims to introduce some sweeping changes to CD Projekt Red's open-world game.

Set in a new section of Night City, players will go deep into the bowels of Dogtown to save the NUSA president in a high-risk mission where failure isn't an option. Dogtown is home to dangerous gangs, secrets, and allies, and on top of that, Phantom Liberty will allow for players to invest in a new skill-tree, technology, and cyberware to help them power up for the challenges that lie ahead. Here's everything that we know about Phantom Liberty and its spy-thriller story so far.

You can also check out GameSpot's Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty review, which awarded the expansion a rare 10/10 score.

Release date

Phantom Liberty will officially release on September 26. The confirmed release date was made during the Xbox Showcase in June and debuted alongside a trailer showing off more of the game's espionage-themed action.

Phantom Liberty Platforms

Bad news for last-gen fans, as Phantom Liberty will only be available on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5. CDPR confirmed in September 2022 that support for last-gen PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles has been phased out, and the studio is focusing on current-gen systems as it overhauls several Cyberpunk 2077 gameplay elements for Phantom Liberty.

Phantom Liberty unlock times

Preloading for the Cyberpunk 2077 expansion will begin 48 hours before the game launches, and if you're looking for the exact time that you can return to Night City, a comprehensive list of unlock times can be consulted.

In the US, you can start the expansion at 4 AM PT on September 25 for PC and 12 AM PT on September 26 for console, while UK players can stay up late and start playing from 12 AM GMT on September 26.

Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 Update

Before Phantom Liberty arrives, Cyberpunk 2077's big 2.0 update will go live a few days earlier and is free to all players. Available starting September 21, the patch is a substantial rework of Cyberpunk 2077's core gameplay systems and adds improved police AI, new cyberware, redesigned skill trees, reworked stats, and car combat to the game.

Phantom Liberty preorder deals

If you already have Cyberpunk 2077 and you want to grab the expansion, preorders are available from several sites. Preordering the game also unlocks the beastly Quadra Sport R-7 "Vigilante" vehicle that you can use to cruise around Night City.

Preorder Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty -- $30

• GOG
• Steam
• Xbox Store
• PlayStation Store

Alternatively, if you don't own Cyberpunk 2077, you can grab a great deal right now on a bundle that comes with the base game and Phantom Liberty DLC. The bundle retails for $80, but you can grab it for $56 on PC or Xbox, and $53.24 on PlayStation, or you can buy a physical edition of Cyberpunk 2077 for Xbox or PlayStation for less than $20 at Amazon and then purchase the DLC separately.

Preorder Cyberpunk 2077 + Phantom Liberty Bundle

• GOG
• Steam
• Xbox Store
• PlayStation Store
• Preorder on Xbox Store

Phantom Liberty PC requirements

Cyberpunk 2077 was a fairly demanding game on PC, and for its expansion, CDPR has updated those requirements to factor in new hardware and software that arrived in the years after the game launched back in December 2020. For Phantom Liberty, an SSD is now required to meet the game's minimum specs.

CD Projekt Red also put out an advisory to check out your PC's cooling system before you start the expansion, as it can be very intensive on CPUs. Alongside the 2.0 gameplay update on September 21, Cyberpunk 2077 also gets DLSS 3.5 support.

Non-ray-tracing requirements

Minimum

• In-game graphics preset: low
• Resolution: 1080p
• Expected FPS: 30
• OS: 64-bit Windows 10
• Processor: Core i7-6700 or Ryzen 5 1600
• Graphics card: Geforce GTX 1060 6GB or Radeon RX 580 8GB or Arc A380
• Vram: 6 GB
• Ram: 12GB
• Storage: 70 GB SSD

Recommended

• In-game graphics preset: high
• Resolution: 1080p
• Expected FPS: 60
• OS 64-bit Windows 10
• Processor: Core i7-12700 or Ryzen 7 7800X
• Graphics card: Geforce RTX 2060 Super or Radeon RX 5700 XT or Arc A770
• Vram: 8 GB
• Ram: 16 GB
• Storage: 70 GB SSD

Ultra

• In-game graphics preset: ultra
• Resolution: 2160p
• Expected FPS: 60
• OS: 64-bit Windows 10
• Processor: Core i9-12900 or Ryzen 9 7900X
• Graphics card: Geforce RTX 3080 or Radeon RX 7900 XTX
• Vram: 12 GB
• Ram: 20 GB
• Storage: 70 GB NVME

Ray tracing requirements

Ray tracing minimum

• In-game graphics preset: ray tracing low
• Resolution: 1080p
• Expected FPS: 30
• OS: 64-bit Windows 10
• Processor: Core i7-9700 or Ryzen 5 5600
• Graphics card: Geforce RTX 2060 or Radeon RX 6800 XT or Arc A750
• Vram: 8 GB
• Ram: 16 GB
• Storage: 70 GB SSD

Ray tracing recommended

• In-game graphics preset: ray tracing ultra
• Resolution: 1080p
• Expected FPS: 60
• OS: 64-bit Windows 10
• Processor: Core i9-12900 or Ryzen 9 7900X
• Graphics card: Geforce RTX 3080Ti or Radeon RX 7900 XTX
• Vram: 12 GB
• Ram: 20 GB
• Storage: 70 GB NVME

Ray tracing Overdrive

• In-game graphics preset: ray tracing overdrive
• Resolution: 2160p
• Expected FPS: 60
• OS: 64-bit Windows 10
• Processor: Core i9-12900 or Ryzen 9 7900X
• Graphics card: Geforce RTX 4080
• Vram: 16 GB
• Ram: 24 GB
• Storage: 70 GB NVME

Wait, is that Idris Elba?

Yes and no! One of the new characters that you'll interact with in Phantom Liberty is Solomon Reed, an FIA Agent for the NUSA. He's played by Elba, but isn't literally the actor, in case you didn't understand that.

Is Keanu Reeves back?

Everyone's favorite rebel rocker cyber-ghost, Johnny Silverhand, will be back to offer his unique take on the world of Night City. Keanu Reeves will once again provide Silverhand's likeness and voice. "It's awesome to be back playing the role of Johnny and I hope you're excited to see him rocking out once more in the dark future," Reeves said during the Phantom Liberty reveal last year.

Gameplay changes and updates

CDPR has described Phantom Liberty as a spy-thriller, one that involves the protagonist V accepting a high-risk espionage mission on behalf of the New United States of America government. As for gameplay changes, a complete overhaul to the cop system and vehicle-to-vehicle combat are some of the confirmed changes coming to Cyberpunk 2077 once the expansion goes live, according to game director Gabriel Amatangelo.

Will Phantom Liberty be a free expansion for Cyberpunk 2077?

Phantom Liberty will cost you $30, almost the same price as both of The Witcher 3 expansions when they first arrived several years ago. In an interview, Cyberpunk 2077 quest director Pawel Sasko and quest designer Despoina Anetaki spoke about the pricing of the expansion and how it reflects the lengthy cost of development to create all of that new content, campaign, and extra stories that adds hours of more gameplay to the Cyberpunk 2077 experience. Beyond that, the simple answer came down to CDPR's board, which finalized the price.

"The only comment I can offer is the thing that I know about," Sasko said. "As a director, we are involved in that we just recommend to our board what we think that amount of content is [and] what is the value for the player and the actual value in the game. And that's the extent of it. So we just have a conversation internally as directors of like, 'yeah, we think, you know that this is fair or that is, that is a price that would be fine,' but we are not involved in the decisions themselves, right? The decisions [is] taken by our board."

What's next for Cyberpunk 2077?

Development on the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel is officially underway and involves a new team led by Cyberpunk 2077 quest director Pawel Sasko. This group includes several members of the "core" Cyberpunk 2077 team, and is based in in the US city of Boston. "After the release of Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty I'm going to focus primarily on the new Cyberpunk 2077 project, codename Orion," Sasko tweeted last year.

"I'm moving to Boston together with the core team responsible for Cyberpunk 2077 to establish [the] new studio and be the foundation for the North American team. Working together with the Vancouver crew and the devs from Warsaw we are going to deliver you a banging next game!"