While patch 2.0 carries many long-waited and much-needed gameplay and balances overhauls to Cyberpunk 2077, some gamers are more interested in the game first - and only - major expansion, Phantom Liberty, than the game’s new coat of paint. There are two primary ways to start the Phantom Liberty DLC in Cyberpunk 2077, and this page will discuss how to start a Phantom Liberty playthrough with a pregenerated character designed specifically to get you right into the new DLC, and how to start the first quest in Phantom Liberty with an existing character or a new character created from the start of the game.

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You can choose to start a fresh game and work your way to Phantom Liberty, or use a pregenerated character who will begin with the new DLC available.

Should You Make a New Character for Phantom Liberty?¶

It is highly recommended that you start a new character for patch 2.0, which includes Phantom Liberty. Most of the core game systems have been completely overhauled, so old characters may find weapons and cyberware not working as expected, and all their perk points will have been refunded. You also won’t have as many progression-based shards (which can boost Cyberware Capacity and Skills, as a character who played through patch 2.0. Worst of all, one of our endgame characters was bit by a save corruption bug that would prevent us from loading saves after playing a few hours, effectively preventing us from completing Phantom Liberty with that character. You may be luckier than us, and this may be a platform-specific problem (PlayStation 5), but there’s a lot of baggage and potentially defunct items and progression with saves prior to patch 2.0, so, fair warning.

How to Start Phantom Liberty¶

There are three ways to start Phantom Liberty:

• Start a new game with a pregenerated character that skips you ahead to Phantom Liberty.
• Start a new regular game and advance the main questline sufficiently to start Phantom Liberty, or
• Load up an existing save and, if necessary, advance the main questline sufficiently to start Phantom Liberty.

All these options will be discussed in detail below, with some pros and cons for each approach listed so you can pick the best approach for you.

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(1 of 3) A big downside of choosing the pregenerated character is you don’t get to make numerous early-game choices.

Skip Ahead to Phantom Liberty (Pre-generated New Character)¶

The easiest way to start a new Phantom Liberty focused playthrough is to simply opt to start a new game, where you’ll be given two options - “Regular Start” and “Skip Ahead to Phantom Liberty”. If you pick the latter option you’ll start the game with a Lv15 character with set attributes, skills, cyberware and some passable equipment for their level. This is a fairly generalist build, and it’s honestly not a bad launching point, although it does trend towards a jack of all trades, which honestly works fine in Cyberpunk 2077. Check out our [Phantom Liberty Starter Builds] page for more details on this pregenerated character, and some advice for how you can level them into more specialized builds.

There’s one major downside to this approach, however, namely that you do not get to make many story choices prior to this. If you want to play through the rest of the game after Phantom Liberty, this isn’t ideal, but if you just want to see the new DLC storyline, you’ll be fine. You do get to pick your origin, gender and can customize your character’s appearance, however. Check the spoiler box below to see some of the main quest choices you’ll miss out on.

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(1 of 2) To start Phantom Liberty, you must complete the main quest “Transmission”, after which Songbird will call to kick off Phantom Liberty.

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To start Phantom Liberty, you must complete the main quest “Transmission”, after which Songbird will call to kick off Phantom Liberty. (left), Starting a fresh character will help you get used to new and revamped mechanics, and perhaps score the odd progression shard as you play through the story. (right)

Start a New Regular Game¶

You can also play through the Phantom Liberty DLC during a normal playthrough, where it’ll be integrated into the core game. On the plus side this allows you to begin from the start of the game, shaping your playthrough and making choices as you wish. This has the added benefit of allowing you to get used to the changes in patch 2.0 and pick up progression shards, and fully determine what your level, weapons, clothing and cyberware will be when you’re ready to start Phantom Liberty.

The downside to this approach is simple; it takes quite a while to trigger the start of Phantom Liberty, as you must advance to Act 2 by completing The Heist, then you have to complete the questline relating to Evelyn Parker, including Playing for Time, Automatic Love, The Space in Between, Disasterpiece, Double Life, then completing the related Voodoo Boys questline by completing M’Ap Tann Pelen, I Walk the Line and Transmission. This will take quite a bit of time, even assuming you don’t tackle any side quests, gigs or NCPD Scanner missions. In our opinion, the gameplay changes brought by patch 2.0 and the already excellent narrative - now expanded by the Phantom Liberty DLC makes this well worth your time, if you can spare it.

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While a huge time saver and welcome continuity, continuing with old saves has numerous pitfalls, the most damning of which being a save corruption bug we encountered on PlayStation 5. Use old saves at your peril.

Starting Phantom Liberty with an Existing Character¶

You can also start Phantom Liberty with an old character, if you wish. The progression requirements are the same - Phantom Liberty will not begin until you have completed the main quest Transmission. You’ll have to come to grips with the changes made to patch 2.0, which likely includes ensuring your weapons work as intended (our mighty legendary Quasar was nerfed to the point where it wasn’t really worth using anymore), to say nothing of cyberware, which has been significantly overhauled and among many other changes, now is your primary source of Armor. You will also need to spend your perk points, which have been refunded due to perk trees being completely overhauled. Skill trees and attributes have also been altered, and while the former doesn’t need much attention on your part, the latter might, especially considering how attributes determine what perks you can buy. Fortunately all characters get a free, one-time attribute respec, so old characters can be retooled, if necessary. You also might need to be wary of corrupted saves (on console) and issues with mods (on PC), but if those potential pitfalls don’t deter you, this is a way to keep continuity with your old playthrough and get right into Phantom Liberty.