On the third anniversary of the release of Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, Lead Quest Designer Pawel Sasko reflected on the development process. The team reverse-engineered the plot around the choice between Songbird and Reed at the ending, rewriting related scenes multiple times. Sasko currently serves as Associate Game Director for the sequel to Cyberpunk 2077.
Sasko stated that after dealing with the issues surrounding the launch of Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt Red rethought their approach to game development. During the base game's development, work primarily flowed between different departments, with many decisions concentrated in the hands of leads; while creating Phantom Liberty, personnel from design, writing, performance, art, audio, and testing shifted to jointly taking responsibility for the same content. The team took some time to adapt to this collaborative method.
The expansion's spy story brings protagonist V into Night City's Dogtown. Sasko said the team drew inspiration from spy-themed works ranging from Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy to The Bourne Identity, applying genre characteristics to specific narrative designs.
Regarding the ending, Sasko stated that the choice between Songbird and Reed was one of the key focuses during development. The team wanted both characters to have contradictions, weaknesses, and secrets, as well as reasons understandable to players, so they reverse-engineered the preceding plot from this choice, repeatedly rewriting scenes.
Sasko also mentioned that some consequences of choices in the base game were too obscure, and players might not have realized that current changes stemmed from previous decisions. When creating Phantom Liberty, the team hoped to increase branching paths and make the consequences of choices clearer through messages, photos, recurring characters, and different mission routes, without specifying a "correct answer" for players.
Phantom Liberty has sold over 15 million copies. Sasko believes that while this expansion cannot erase the problems of Cyberpunk 2077's launch, the development experience taught him how to direct a game.
As reported by GamesRadar:
It has been three years since the release of "Phantom Liberty," the excellent spy-themed expansion for Cyberpunk 2077. To commemorate this anniversary, Pawel Sasko, Associate Game Director for Cyberpunk 2077 and Lead Quest Designer for the DLC, reflected on the project and revealed some new details.
First, when discussing the impressive turnaround of Phantom Liberty, it's hard to ignore the obvious yet unavoidable issue of Cyberpunk 2077's disastrous launch. To ensure Phantom Liberty avoided repeating Cyberpunk 2077's mistakes, developer CD Projekt Red had to "rethink how we make games."
Sasko stated on social media: "During the development of Cyberpunk 2077, our work structure was closer to a waterfall model, with work flowing between various departments and many decisions made by project leads and directors. By the time we developed Phantom Liberty, we shifted to interdisciplinary content teams, or our 'squads,' where designers, writers, animators, artists, audio engineers, quality assurance, and experts from many other fields could jointly participate in developing the same content. It took us a long time to adapt to this way of working, but once we got the hang of it, I could feel the difference."
To create this DLC starring Idris Elba, the team also "referenced spy novels," telling the story of protagonist V infiltrating Night City's more dangerous and chaotic Dogtown.
"The spy novels we studied ranged from Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy to the 007 series, The Bourne Identity, Bridge of Spies, and Ocean's Eleven. Genre films are 'very practical' for me. You can even see shades of James Bond when V moves through luxurious black sapphire parties—not to mention that highly stylized opening music.
If you haven't played Phantom Liberty yet and want to avoid spoilers, it's best not to read further now, as Sasko also delved into V's cruel final choice between saving Songbird or helping Reed.
Sasko said this was "one of the things we valued most during development," and CD Projekt Red clearly "used this as a starting point, revising many scenes repeatedly." This decision was so difficult partly because both Songbird and Reed are equally likable yet untrustworthy—sometimes possessing both traits. You don't know who to trust, but you can't help feeling sympathy for them.
As Sasko said, CDPR knew that "both must include contradictions, weaknesses, secrets, and reasons that players can understand," "This is also what I learned from Cyberpunk 2077. Sometimes, the choices we made in the base game and their consequences were so subtle that players didn't even realize certain events were the result of previous decisions. In Phantom Liberty, we all strove for more branching narratives and clearer consequences, while keeping them within the game world. Information, photos, returning characters, and different mission paths can remind you that certain events occurred due to your choices. We never wanted the game to tell you which choice was correct. I hope you can accept your own interpretation of the choices."
Although the Phantom Liberty DLC received critical acclaim and sold over 15 million copies, Sasko still believes that "it does not erase the disastrous launch of Cyberpunk 2077." He remains grateful because it "taught me a lot about game development."
"I hope that, in your view, Cyberpunk 2077 has earned its rightful place."