Almost three years after the release of Cyberpunk 2077, its expansion Phantom Liberty was unveiled at Xbox Showcase 2023. Set to release on the 26th September, it’s worth stressing Phantom Liberty is the only expansion currently planned for the game – and it’s being developed just for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC this time. With the game unshackled from last-gen machines there’s a unique opportunity here to push graphical boundaries – to create a more detailed, complex slice of Night City. Conveniently enough, we received high quality gameplay footage of PS5, Series X and PC running through the same mission, making a first look possible ahead of release – from PS5 vs Series X comparisons to PC-exclusive special features and console performance.
So what’s in the footage? Well, this mission playthrough gives a perfect lead-in to Cyberpunk’s new expansion, as protagonist V is given the simple task of saving President Myers from wreckage. Down the chute we go to Dog Town, Night City’s most dangerous region. The darkened streets are alive with car chases, debris set aflame and surveilling aircraft. The night skies are filled with smoke. At the heart of the mission is a building complex, where V scales the scaffolds in a bid to find the President’s crashed aircraft. Every level brings a new wave of enemies, and as the situation escalates CDPR’s Red Engine gets an increasingly active workout on console and PC, with the latter set to its path-traced RT overdrive mode. The action builds to a climax around volumetric smoke, with flares and muzzle flashes from a new suite of weaponry adding a real depth to the scenery as we battle through.
It’s exciting stuff to watch, but it also provides plenty of room for analysis. The PlayStation 5 and Series X footage runs at 60fps, suggesting we’re looking at performance mode with its traditional rasterised techniques for lighting, ambient occlusion and shadows rather than RT techniques. The main Cyberpunk adventure on console does have a separate 30fps RT mode, which will hopefully translate to this expansion as well.
