Play Cyberpunk 2077 first, start Phantom Liberty when its Dogtown invitation appears, then return to the base game for your chosen finale. You do not need to finish every side quest or reach an ending before entering the expansion, but key companion arcs make its political and personal stakes easier to follow.
The correct Cyberpunk 2077 play order
For a first playthrough, use this sequence:
- Begin the Cyberpunk 2077 base-game campaign and complete its opening chapters.
- Develop the major companion and faction relationships that interest you.
- Continue the campaign until Phantom Liberty becomes available in Dogtown.
- Enter Dogtown and play the Phantom Liberty story.
- Return to the base game’s Point of No Return and select a finale.
This order preserves the expansion’s intended context without forcing you to complete every piece of Night City content first. You can continue ordinary side jobs and exploration alongside Dogtown after the expansion opens.
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What is actually required before Phantom Liberty?
The base game
Phantom Liberty is a story expansion, not a standalone game. Steam lists it as downloadable content that requires the Cyberpunk 2077 base game. A new player therefore needs either the base game and expansion purchased separately or a bundle containing both.
No earlier story expansion
There is no previous Cyberpunk 2077 story expansion that you must complete. Phantom Liberty is the first and only story expansion attached to the base campaign in this release line. You are not missing a chapter by going directly from the base game into Dogtown.
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- CREATE YOUR OWN CYBERPUNK: Become an urban outlaw equipped with cybernetic enhancements and build your legend on the streets of Night City. · EXPLORE THE CITY OF THE FUTURE: Night City is packed to the brim with things to do, places to see, and people to meet. And it’s up to you where to go, when to go, and how to get there.
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Recommended context, not a requirement
The expansion can be started once its invitation and Dogtown introduction are available. Finishing every companion arc beforehand is optional. However, the base game’s major relationships establish V’s loyalties, the power structure of Night City and the personal pressures that make later decisions meaningful.
- Complete companion missions whose characters matter to your role-playing choices.
- Advance the main campaign far enough to understand V’s immediate crisis and the forces competing around it.
- Leave unrelated gigs, collectibles and build experiments for whenever you want; none is a prerequisite for the expansion’s opening.
When should you start Phantom Liberty?
Start it as soon as Dogtown is unlocked if you want the expansion integrated into one continuous story. The invitation arrives during base-game progression, and the Dogtown introduction establishes the new setting and its central crisis.
CD PROJEKT RED describes Phantom Liberty as “a spy-thriller expansion for Cyberpunk 2077.” V is drawn into a high-stakes mission involving the NUSA president. The launch announcement identifies NUSA secret agent Solomon Reed and describes Dogtown as being ruled by arms dealer and warlord Kurt Hansen. Those details explain why some base-game political and personal context is useful, but they do not require knowledge of an earlier expansion.
Starting immediately after the invitation
This is the most cohesive option for a first run. You experience Dogtown while the base campaign’s unresolved conflicts are still active, and you avoid seeing any base-game finale before the expansion’s major choices.
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- CREATE YOUR OWN CYBERPUNK
- Explore the city of the future – you decide when you want to go where and how to get there
- Decide how the story ends – your choices in the main game as well as in the spy thriller adventure Phantom Liberty lead to a complex web of consequences
Finishing more companion arcs first
Choose this if character relationships are your priority. Finish the companion stories you care about, then enter Dogtown before committing to the base-game Point of No Return. This gives you stronger emotional context without spoiling the base ending.
Waiting until after a completed ending
A replay can put Phantom Liberty after an ending for completionists, but it is not the recommended first-play order. Seeing a finale first can change how you interpret the expansion’s risks and removes some of the tension created by discovering its new options before the original story concludes.
Make these saves before discussing endings
Create a manual save before the base game’s Point of No Return and another before major Phantom Liberty branch decisions. Keep those saves instead of relying only on autosaves. They let you examine different choices without replaying the entire campaign.
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The normal ending flow can return you to a pre-finale state, allowing continued exploration. One expansion-related path is different: the developer treats The Tower and its “Things Done Changed” epilogue as a final story route. Do not overwrite your pre-finale manual save assuming that this path will send you back to the Point of No Return.
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How Phantom Liberty fits with the base-game finale
You can play the complete Phantom Liberty story before selecting a base-game ending. The expansion does not require you to finish the original finale first, and entering Dogtown does not automatically end your Night City campaign.
After resolving the expansion, return to the base-game Point of No Return when you are ready. Your available finale choices depend on your campaign decisions, so preserve your manual saves before testing a different branch.
The Tower ending is intentionally final
CD PROJEKT RED Support explains: “This is as designed. Players returning to the Point of No Return after The Tower ending would result in an uncanny narrative experience we wanted to avoid.” The support explanation also says that no rewards are gained during this epilogue, so the game and V’s story are allowed to end there.
Practically, treat The Tower as a one-way narrative conclusion. If you want to continue exploring Night City or try another finale, load the manual save made before the relevant point rather than expecting the epilogue to restore your pre-finale state.
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- CREATE YOUR OWN CYBERPUNK - Become an urban outlaw equipped with cybernetic enhancements and build your legend on the streets of Night City.
- EXPLORE THE CITY OF THE FUTURE - Night City is packed to the brim with things to do, places to see, and people to meet. And it’s up to you where to go, when to go, and how to get there.
- BUILD YOUR LEGEND - Go on daring adventures and build relationships with unforgettable characters whose fates are shaped by the choices you make.
- DECIDE HOW THE STORY ENDS - Your choices in the base game and the spy-thriller adventure Phantom Liberty create interweaving webs of consequences, ones that shape the fate of the characters around you — and your own.
- CLAIM EXCLUSIVE ITEMS - Claim in-game swag & digital goodies inspired by CD PROJEKT RED games as part of the My Rewards program.
What can you do between Dogtown missions?
Once Phantom Liberty opens, the game does not require a single uninterrupted sequence. You can alternate between Dogtown missions, regular Night City side jobs and companion content. This flexibility is useful for role-playing and character builds, but it creates a simple organizational rule: save before major branch decisions and before the base-game Point of No Return.
- For story momentum: stay with the Dogtown chain until a natural pause, then return to companion arcs.
- For character development: use the expansion’s open intervals to complete relationship missions in Night City.
- For build testing: keep a manual save before irreversible choices so experimentation does not consume your only progression path.
Three ways to plan your first playthrough
| Approach | Narrative context | Spoiler control | Save practice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Expansion as soon as Dogtown unlocks | Base opening and major arcs, then immediate Dogtown context | Preserves the expansion-before-finale experience | Manual save before Point of No Return and branch decisions |
| Companion-first route | More relationship and faction context before Dogtown | Still avoids seeing a base-game ending first | Save after key companion arcs and before finale access |
| Ending-first replay | Base finale experienced before a later Phantom Liberty run | Best for completionists, not first-time spoiler control | Keep separate pre-finale and expansion-branch saves |
All three approaches are valid, but the first two preserve the intended first-playthrough tension. The third is primarily a completion strategy after you already know how your initial run ends.
Do you need Cyberpunk 2077 Ultimate Edition?
No. Ultimate Edition is a convenience bundle, not a story requirement. Steam lists the bundle as containing both Cyberpunk 2077 and Phantom Liberty. Buying the base game and downloadable content separately provides the same required story access; buying Phantom Liberty alone does not satisfy the base-game requirement for a new player.
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|---|---|---|
| Cyberpunk 2077 base game plus Phantom Liberty separately | Both required components, purchased individually | Players who already own one component or want separate purchases |
| Cyberpunk 2077 Ultimate Edition | Base game and Phantom Liberty in one listed bundle | New players who want the simplest package |
| Phantom Liberty by itself | Expansion content only; the base game is still required | Existing base-game owners adding the expansion |
Supported platforms and cloud play
CD PROJEKT RED’s launch notice lists PC availability through Steam, GOG, Epic Games Store and GeForce Now, alongside Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5. Cloud gaming is a way to run the supported game; it does not remove the need to own the base game and expansion under the service’s licensing rules.
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- CREATE YOUR OWN CYBERPUNK: Become an urban outlaw equipped with cybernetic enhancements and build your legend on the streets of Night City
- EXPLORE THE CITY: Night City is packed to the brim with things to do, places to see, and people to meet. And it’s up to you where to go, when to go, and how to get there
- BUILD YOUR LEGEND: Go on daring adventures and build relationships with unforgettable characters whose fates are shaped by the choices you make
Do not infer compatibility for an unlisted storefront or service from the existence of the expansion on another platform. Check the edition and platform listing you intend to use, especially when moving between console and PC ecosystems.
What is not required story content?
Every side quest
There is no completion percentage you must reach before Dogtown. Side jobs are valuable for character context and alternate outcomes, but they are recommendations rather than gates.
A previous Cyberpunk expansion
None exists in the required sequence. Phantom Liberty is the expansion to start after the base campaign has established V and Night City.
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CD PROJEKT management reporting records a Cyberpunk 2077 universe board-game project announced with Go On Board. That is related merchandise and a future entertainment opportunity, not an installment you need to play to understand Phantom Liberty.
Why the expansion belongs before the finale
Phantom Liberty adds a separate Dogtown power structure and a spy-thriller crisis while V’s original problems are still unresolved. Playing it before the base finale lets the expansion’s decisions sit inside the larger campaign rather than functioning as an epilogue to a story you have already closed.
The timing also keeps your options open. A pre-finale save can support the normal ending flow, additional side content and different expansion branches. The one exception is the intentionally final Tower epilogue, which is why the manual-save step matters.
How significant is Phantom Liberty?
The expansion launched on 26 September 2023 for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 and PC, according to CD PROJEKT RED’s announcement. CD PROJEKT S.A.’s 2024 report says it sold more than 5 million copies worldwide between launch and the end of 2023. Those figures describe commercial reach, not a requirement to own a particular edition or to complete a certain amount of the base game.
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Quick Recap
Bottom line for a first-time player
- Own Cyberpunk 2077 and Phantom Liberty, either separately or through Ultimate Edition.
- Play the base-game opening and enough major character content to understand V’s situation.
- Enter Dogtown when the expansion invitation appears.
- Play Phantom Liberty before selecting the base-game finale.
- Keep manual saves before the Point of No Return and major branch decisions, and remember that The Tower epilogue is designed to end V’s story rather than return you to free exploration.
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