With the impending release of the literally game-changing expansion Phantom Liberty on the horizon, many Cyberpunk 2077 players are anxious about the state of their current saves, and whether they’ll transfer to the new expansion.
It’s for good reason, as Cyberpunk is the kind of RPG you can sink hundreds of hours into if you’re not careful. With so much being altered and added, whether or not you can or even should take your old saves forward into the future is a fair question to ask, and it’s not exactly one with an easy answer.
Ultimately, as with many things in gaming, it comes down to what you value in your gameplay experience.
Should you start a new game for Phantom Liberty in Cyberpunk 2077?
It’s not Phantom Liberty itself that threatens to make your saved game obsolete, but the accompanying 2.0 update that radically transforms many of the established game systems. According to the patch notes for Update 2.0, old saves will be compatible with 2.0 and Phantom Liberty, albeit with a major caveat. Existing saves played with Update 2.0 will be forced to respec their characters essentially from scratch, and any premade build will be rendered useless by the sweeping changes to armor and cyberware regardless.
That’s why it’s CDPR’s official recommendation—and ours—to start a new game after updating Cyberpunk 2077 to 2.0, although you don’t technically have to. The changes introduced are absolutely massive, taking effect from the very beginning hours of the story: an entirely remade perk system, the introduction of vehicle combat, updates to enemy AI across the board, a new netrunning system, new weapon mods, and economy changes are just the tip of the iceberg here. To experience all of it in the most natural way possible, creating a new playthrough is a no-brainer.
You’ll still have a few days to come to grips with the new systems before Phantom Liberty drops. The expansion unlocks after the completion of the Voodoo Boys questline, meaning you’ll have to get through a decent chunk of the story regardless. Seeing Johnny’s Arasaka Tower flashback for the first time will be more than worth it to ensure that you’re getting all you can out of Update 2.0.
Ultimately, while you can technically continue with your current saves into Phantom Liberty, and CD Projekt Red has made every effort to accommodate this, they don’t think you should, and we have to agree. Taking a new character into the already acclaimed expansion is the way to go—so enjoy Dogtown and remember to tread lightly.
