After an virtually three yr lengthy wait, the primary (and solely) enlargement for Cyberpunk 2077 is right here. Phantom Liberty presents a complete new storyline to discover, one which sees you getting wrapped up in a political spy thriller as you are tasked with saving the president of the NUSA. It additionally provides in a complete new space to discover, Dogtown, a cordoned off part of Evening Metropolis that has its personal guidelines and militia. Dogtown is not the most important space in comparison with the remainder of the sport's locales, however actually? I feel it is higher than all the remainder of the map.
Yesterday I wrote about my emotions on how Cyberpunk has modified with its 2.0 replace, and the way we should not actually be saying “it was at all times good,” as a result of I do assume there are some greater issues {that a} talent tree overhaul and varied different tweaks cannot repair. Certainly one of my downside's is Evening Metropolis itself. For a futuristic metropolis, I feel massive elements of it aren't all that fascinating.
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As I outlined in yesterday's piece, there are pockets of fascinating locations to search out in Evening Metropolis. Specifically I like Pacifica, as a result of from its design alone you may rapidly garner it isn't fairly as prosperous as different areas in Evening Metropolis. However once more, areas like these that I really feel genuinely keen on exploring really feel few and much between; all the opposite monolith buildings exist for no different goal than set ornament.
It is no shock, then, that I like Dogtown when it is fairly actually located proper subsequent to the Pacifica district. Very like the remainder of Pacifica, it is probably not a spot you may simply go to however you will see that lots of fascinating areas to go to. There is a membership that has stacks of large enjoying playing cards adorning its entrance, a glass pyramid harking back to the Luxor Las Vegas on line casino resort, and even an space that feels closest to Disney's Epcot.
The structure of Dogtown is what helps it stand out in comparison with the remainder of Evening Metropolis. On the entrance of Dogtown, or at the least the half that faces the remainder of Evening Metropolis, you may fairly simply see tall, trendy buildings much like what you'd see spherical the remainder of the map. Although the large distinction is that they are unfinished, clearly deserted development initiatives left behind resulting from it beforehand being a conflict zone.
A beacon of hope?
Behind all of that you will discover two units of architectural types: artwork deco, and brutalism. The 2 aren't all that dissimilar, but it surely's clear that it is a city caught between two time durations, struggling to maneuver on from its historical past, however one it may possibly't handle to do from an apparent lack of funds. With out even enjoying the enlargement's story you may rapidly get the gist of what occurred right here.
Due to all that, Dogtown feels much more purposeful of a spot than the remainder of Evening Metropolis does. It is extra compact, however you are even given a tiny automobile to assist navigate it. That compactness is a boon, although, as a result of all the things feels a lot extra rapidly recognisable to me in a means the remainder of the map hasn't fairly managed to. It looks like CD Projekt Crimson actually needed to depart an impression on the participant that that is its personal place, its personal mini-world with its personal guidelines.
Personally, I discover the fixed want for greater and larger maps to be a bit tedious, as a result of it is uncommon that anybody can truly pull it off (not each recreation will be Tears of the Kingdom). Dogtown is a superb argument for scaling again, and choosing one thing extra private. It looks like a personality of its personal, simply as a lot as Solomon Reed and Music So Mi are. Hopefully, that is simply CD Projekt setting the stage for its followup, as a result of if they will pull this degree of element off once more, I am going to need to bounce again into Cyberpunk's world.
