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Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty’s combat is great - and best of all, often avoidableBetter run, better run, outrun their guns
Better run, better run, outrun their guns
Image credit:RPS/CD Projekt Red
Image credit:RPS/CD Projekt Red
Cyberpunk 2077’s update 2.0 makes itsRPGcombat better than it’s ever been. The new perk system means that you can easily create a brutal killing machine, one capable of deflecting bullets with samurai swords and air-dashing like an anime hero to punch enemies apart.
Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty — Official Cinematic TrailerIf this was the game, Reed could have just run away from this fight.Watch on YouTube
Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty — Official Cinematic Trailer
We’ve seen this before in many other games, fromDeus ExtoDishonored. The issue I often have is that avoiding combat in those games often means taking a painstakingly methodical approach, with every enemy neatly choked-out and folded away in a cupboard like laundry.Cyberpunk 2077was much the same way.
Didn’t fight these folks, no sir. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/CD Projekt Red
This lady is still alive, as far as I know. |Image credit:RPS/CD Projekt Red
It’s also great that you can choose to not. There are so many ways to progress and gain power in Cyberpunk and Phantom Liberty that I never felt like I was missing out or being punished for not engaging in one of these combat scenarios. When I was tired of combat and needed a break from dismemberment, I could safely ignore them.
These supply drops are a neat piece of battle royale-inspired systems design, but even in Phantom Liberty’s main missions, combat is frequently avoidable. A squad of soldiers waiting between you and the President’s destination, already alerted and shooting at you? There’s no opportunity for painstakingly methodical stealth here - so, just run past them. Phantom Liberty is fine with it. A huge multi-faction brawl in a space port? Same deal - ignore the fight and move on through.
I’d buy their album. |Image credit:RPS/CD Projekt Red
To appropriately set expectations: there are, of course, still other missions where combat is central and prolonged - including a series of gigs, a handful of which are mandatory, where you’ll need to engage with either combat or stealth to overcome tricky skirmishes. I don’t want to give the impression that Phantom Liberty is a visual novel.
No combat necessary against this child with a gun. |Image credit:RPS/CD Projekt Red
I do want to applaud the confidence Phantom Liberty shows, however, in letting players decide for themselves which of its systems they want to engage in.
Perhaps this seems like par for the course for an RPG, but it’s rare that afirst-person shooter- even one that’s also firmly planted in the RPG genre - lets you avoid combat entirely as often as Phantom Liberty does.Starfieldforces you to do much more shooting than Phantom Liberty does, for example.
Several years ago a BioWare developer suggested that big, story-driven RPGs should have a button that lets you skip the combat, for players who are just there for the world and characters. More and more games these days do have a “story mode”, though it remains rare among blockbusters. Phantom Liberty doesn’t have a button that lets you skip or remove combat, but it arguably has something better: space to choose whether to fight or not provided through level layouts, systems design, and dialogue. Want to sneak and hack past combat? You can do it. Want to just loudly run past combat? Where it makes sense, you can do that, too.
And if combat ever is desirable, then hey, like I said, it’s more fun than it’s ever been.
