Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty is an absolutely stellar package. Not only is it miles better than the base game (which itself has received quite a significant facelift with Update 2.0), it may also be the best expansion CD Projekt RED has ever made- which is saying a lot, given the developer’s track record with expansions. Obviously, then, there’s no shortage of excellent content in Phantom Liberty, and here, we’re going to highlight what we feel are some of the best quests in the entire game. We’ll move chronologically through the main story and pick out a number of standout quests, before moving on to highlight a couple of side missions as well.
NOTE: There are major spoilers ahead for Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty.
HOLE IN THE SKY
Though Hole in the Sky is technically the expansion’s second mission, this is where things really kick into gear. V witnesses the plane carrying Myers, the NUSA’s President, crashing into Dogtown, and instantly, the entire district erupts into chaos. Hole in the Sky tasks V with making his way through a what’s effectively a warzone crawling with a glut of Colonel Kurt Hansen’s forces, in order to find the President before they do, and then making sure that she gets out alive. It’s an explosive beginning that sets the stage for Phantom Liberty in the best way possible.
SPIDER AND THE FLY
After V and Myers make it out of the firefight, things take a different approach. The quest Spider and the Fly sees the duo trying to sneak past Hansen’s forces and using various means to do so, with Songbird providing support in the background. The stealth action vibes of the quest are already a strong point, but things get even more interesting when you’re thrown into a boss fight with a massive Chimera. The fight against the deadly, spider-like machine is an absolutely thrilling one, and caps off the quest in incredible fashion.
LUCRETIA MY REFLECTION
After Phantom Liberty’s explosive introduction, things slow down a little but in the quest Lucretia My Reflection, though even with its slower pace, it proves to be an excellent chapter in the expansion’s story. There’s a constant sense of tension as V and Myers attempt to find a safehouse, and then have a debriefing when they finally find out, though the primary reason the quest stands out is, of course, the introduction of Solomon Reed. V’s first encounter with the sleeper NUSA agent is an excellently written one, as is the conversation that he, Reed, and Myers have once they’re back at the safehouse, which sets things up for the rest of the expansion.
YOU KNOW MY NAME
You Know My Name is easily the longest and most eventful quest in all of Phantom Liberty (if not all of Cyberpunk 2077). It starts off with V and Reed being tasked with sneaking into the heavily defended Black Sapphire club, which involves swimming through sewers, manning a rifle in a sniper’s nest, and guiding Reed through a long stretch of hostile territory without raising the alarm. From there, after successfully invading the club, V and Reed don their suits and attend a snazzy party, where they mingle with the crowd, have a debrief with Songbird in person, and even have a run-in with Kurt Hansen. And there’s still more to come after that, with the quest capping off with a high stakes game of roulette where your ultimate goal is, in a nutshell, to steal the identity of a pair of siblings. It’s a long, packed, and varied quest, and one where several major narrative revelations happen.
FIRESTARTER
Firestarter is probably Phantom Liberty’s single most pivotal quest, because based on one, single choice you make here, the rest of the expansion can go in extremely different ways. Will you side with Solomon Reed and try to bring Songbird in, or will you side with Songbird and help her escape from Reed and the NUSA? It’s a momentous choice, and one that plays out in exciting fashion, and culminates in a thrilling action sequence. It also helps that the lead-up to this moment is equally good, as it sees you taking on the identity V successfully steals in the Black Sapphire and infiltrating Kurt Hansen’s heavily fortified base of operations.
THE KILLING MOON
The final quest in Phantom Liberty if you side with Songbird in Firestarter, The Killing Moon sees the duo trying to get Songbird aboard a shuttle so she can fly off to the moon and get some much-needed medical treatment, treatment that, according to her, will eventually also help V down the line. Things take a turn, however, when they’re intercepted by Reed, who reveals to V that Songbird never intended to help her at all. Once again, players are made to make a tough choice between Songbird and Reed here, and once again, it’s an incredibly well-written and well-acted sequence, and serves as a satisfying conclusion to the expansion’s story.
SOMEWHAT DAMAGED
Though Songbird’s branch in Phantom Liberty is no slouch, Reed’s branch is still probably the best one, and that’s in large part down to this quest in particular. Somewhat Damaged sees V chasing Songbird through an old, secret, underground Militech facility. By this point, however, Songbird has almost entirely lost herself to the Blackwall, and has set a killer machine on the loose with orders to hunt V down. Somewhat Damaged plays out as a terrifying out-and-out horror sequence, with you having to carefully avoid the mechanical stalker enemy while you make your way through the facility. To top it off, this is yet another quest that ends with a very tough choice- do you kill Songbird and put her out of her misery, or do you take her back to the NUSA, where she’ll be back in captivity, but might have a good shot of becoming healthy again?
RUN THIS TOWN
Towards the end of Phantom Liberty’s story, you also get the chance to shape the future of the entire district of Dogtown in a pretty significant way. After the death of Kurt Hansen, there’s infighting in his followers about who will succeed him, but the shadowy fixer Mr. Hands has plans of his own. Working with Hands, V takes on the identity of a legendary Cuban mercenary in order to coerce, threaten, and fight his way to a solution for all of Dogtown. What that solution will be is, of course, up to you, and everything from the choices you make to how you make them is, in a word, gripping.
TALENT ACADEMY
The majority of the quests in this list are all from the expansion’s excellent main story, but there are quite a few optional gigs worth discussing as well. Talent Academy, for instance, starts out with V infiltrating a sports academy to steal some data, only to quickly discover that the academy sells enhanced children to sports organizations. Not only does the quest offer plenty of opportunities for deception, stealth, combat, and what have you, it also throws a pretty interesting choice at you in its final moments.
THE MAN WHO KILLED JASON FOREMAN
Part murder investigation, part thrilling shooting gallery, The Man Who Killed Jason Foreman is an excellent one-off story, and easily one of Phantom Liberty’s best new gigs. You start off by trying to track down someone’s killer, before finding them in a hostile location that you, of course, have to fight your way through. That culminates with a boss fight, and then with a pivotal decision upon finding the killer, who, it turns out, is on the verge of cyberpsychosis- do you put him down and ensure that he never kills anyone again, or do you let him go so he can try and find a cure for his condition?