Ready to dive back into Night City with a fresh edge? Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty thrusts you into the lawless district of Dogtown, where danger and intrigue await at every corner. Whether you’re continuing your existing journey or starting anew, this guide will show you how to unlock the thrilling new expansion and step into V’s next high-stakes mission-starting with a mysterious call from Songbird and a crash landing that changes everything.
Our Cyberpunk 2077 guide will tell you how much of the game you have to play to start Phantom Liberty, and what happens if you skip directly to the expansion.
How to start Phantom Liberty from the main menu
To start the Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty expansion from the main menu, select “New Game” and then pick “Skip Ahead to Phantom Liberty”. This will allow you to customize your main character; attributes will be allocated automatically, but you can change them later. Keep in mind that if you choose to skip ahead, you won’t experience V’s backstory or learn about Night City, making this option less ideal for newcomers.
It’s possible to jump straight to Phantom Liberty when you start a new game. When you select new game from the main menu, you’ll get a new option that lets you choose a regular start where you’ll have to play until you reach the new content (more on this below) or skip ahead to Phantom Liberty. This will drop you straight into the new content, but it will also level you up appropriately with an automatic distribution of Attribute Points.
How to start Phantom Liberty in the main story
To start Phantom Liberty in the main story of Cyberpunk 2077, you need to progress through the campaign until you complete the main quest called “Transmission,” which is part of the Pacifica storyline involving the Voodoo Boys in Act 2. After finishing “Transmission,” you’ll receive a call from Songbird, triggering the “Dog Eat Dog” mission that serves as the introduction to the Phantom Liberty expansion and grants you access to the new Dogtown district. If you’re using an existing save where “Transmission” is already complete, Songbird will contact you shortly after loading in. Alternatively, you can begin a new game and choose to skip directly to Phantom Liberty, starting at level 15 with pre-allocated perks and attributes, though this option skips earlier main story content.
If you’re starting a new game for the 2.0 update and want to take the long way there, Phantom Liberty will take about 20 hours to reach, give or take. The DLC content starts right after you finish Act 2.
This means you’ll have to finish the main story jobs for that act including:
- The Anders Hellmen arc of “Ghost Town,” “Lightning Breaks,” and “Life During Wartime”
- The Evelyn Parker missions “Automatic Love,” “The Space in Between,” “Disasterpiece,” and “Double Life”
- Takemura’s quests “Down on the Street,” “Gimme Danger,” “Play It Safe,” and “Search and Destroy”
- Dealing with the Voodoo Boys in the “M’ap Tann Pelen,” “I Walk the Line,”“Never Fade Away,” and “Transmission” missions
Once that act wraps, you’ll get a phone call from the mysterious Songbird that starts the story of Phantom Liberty with a job called “Dog Eat Dog.” She’ll ask you to meet her on the border of the city-within-a-city region called Dogtown, an autonomous zone within Pacifica. When you get there, she’ll start you on a path that involves nothing less than saving the president of the New United States.
What’s the easiest way to jump straight into Phantom Liberty on PC or console
The easiest way to jump straight into Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty on PC or console is to select “New Game” from the main menu and then choose the option to “Skip Ahead To Phantom Liberty.” This starts a new game with a level 15 character, pre-equipped and ready to enter the DLC content immediately, bypassing the base game’s early story. You will be dropped near the entrance to Dogtown, where the Phantom Liberty storyline begins with the mission “Dog Eat Dog”.
Is selecting “Skip Ahead to Phantom Liberty” the fastest way to start
Yes, selecting “Skip Ahead to Phantom Liberty” from the main menu is the fastest way to start the Phantom Liberty expansion in Cyberpunk 2077. This option lets you bypass the early sections of the base game and begin the DLC content immediately, starting with a level 15 character and jumping straight into the new storyline in Dogtown.
