Where, When, and How to Start Phantom Liberty

So you’re ready to start Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, but you’re not sure when’s the best time to begin the expansion? Well, having played the full DLC and completed its various endings, I can tell you exactly where to begin to get the best experience from Phantom Liberty in a way that makes sense within the full story.

CD Projekt Red is taking a page from how it handled its Witcher 3 DLC and integrates the new Phantom Liberty expansion directly into the base game of Cyberpunk 2077, meaning you won’t find Phantom Liberty in a separate menu selection (but you can skip to it if you select New Game, more on that below). Note that you will need to install the free 2.0 update to play the Phantom Liberty DLC, which costs $29.99.

While CDPR helpfully offers players a chance to jump right into the Phantom Liberty DLC similar to how The Witcher 3 players can jump right into its DLC content, there’s an argument to be had about where you should jump into the Phantom Liberty content at a very specific section of the main story campaign for maximum impact.

If you play Cyberpunk 2077 from the very beginning, you’ll find that the first mission to unlock Phantom Liberty will pop up on your phone around the beginning of Act 2, which leaves you with plenty of missions in the main story campaign left to play. Check out our Cyberpunk Main Mission Walkthrough to see what it looks like if you play Cyberpunk from the beginning.

This message shows up as “Dog Eat Dog” in your phone and it instructs you to meet a contact at the entrance to Dogtown. Note that if you start a fresh save and choose to skip the main game, you will be dumped at a bookshop and you will receive this call as the first thing that happens – you will skip Act 1.

While you’re free to jump right into Phantom Liberty then and there, because Phantom Liberty unlocks a brand new ending for the main story campaign, there’s actually a better place to start the DLC.

Rather than beginning Phantom Liberty when the opportunity presents itself, hold off on jumping right in and play until you unlock the Act 3 mission ‘Nocturne Op55N1, which is one of those “You can’t turn back beyond this point” missions.

That means you’ll need to complete Act 1, and the following Act 2 missions:

• Playing for Time
• Automatic Love
• Ghost Town
• Down on the Street
• Play It Safe
• Gimme Danger
• Search and Destroy
• Tapeworm

By jumping into Phantom Liberty at this time, you’ll be far enough in the main game that the new ending, which you can only unlock by beating Phantom Liberty, will actually make sense. That’s because depending on which endings you unlock in Phantom Liberty, there’s a chance the game will end right then and there for you. But by reaching Act 3, you’ll essentially replace the Act 3 missions and endings with Phantom Liberty’s creating a much more satisfying, and complete, story arc for V. Plus, characters from the main game will factor into new Phantom Liberty ending, but their appearances will make much more sense once you reach Act 3 of the main campaign.

Phantom Liberty is now available for everyone. We’re working on a full Phantom Liberty guide for you, including the best tips you should know before jumping back into Cyberpunk 2077 and a guide on the biggest changes in 2.0 so check those out. And be sure to read our review of Phantom Liberty for our take on CDPR’s grand new sci-fi RPG adventure.