Cyberpunk 2077‘s triumph was that it offered a sprawling story, dozens of hours long, which cohered around just a small number of themes. Or maybe even a single thesis: that the cynical, defensive, self-centred voice in your head – personified by ancient, soul-trapped, anarcho-rockstar Johnny Silverhand – offered only a literal dead-end, and that real rebellion in the face of a messed-up world lay in helping friends. It was Frank Capra with robot arms and samurai swords, and I ate it up.
V doesn’t go to Washington in Phantom Liberty, but Washington comes to her. CD Projekt Red’s major expansion to the first-person RPG opens up a new district and a new cast of characters, including the President of the New United States and an aging sleeper spy played by Idris Elba. The themes remain the same, but the thesis is being tested: how can you help your friends if you don’t know who they are, and if their goals are mutually exclusive?