Summary
- The Phantom Liberty DLC for Cyberpunk 2077 offers a unique spy story questline with multiple endings based on player choices, each leading to different consequences for key characters.
- The DLC explores themes of backstabbing and espionage, creating a thrilling and suspenseful narrative where alliances are shaky and trust is uncertain.
The content in the Phantom Liberty DLC for Cyberpunk 2077 does not take place at the end of the game, but its unique spy story questline has a very definite ending, with several options that it can take based on the player's choices. Two of these options can lead to a new outcome for V at the conclusion of Cyberpunk 2077 as well, although the other two will simply allow the game to pick up again, as originally told prior to the release of the Phantom Liberty content. This thriller story is full of backstabbing and espionage, with shaky alliances that can leave players not knowing who they can trust.
[Warning: This article contains spoilers for all possible endings of Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty.]
In Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty's story, the final mission for the main DLC content leaves V with a difficult choice to make, which can lead to four possible outcomes for the narrative and literally is a life and death decision for key characters of the DLC, even for V. As is fitting with the rest of the game, none of the options are necessarily going to lead to a happy ending for everyone, and they each can take a player on a heavy emotional journey. Ultimately, it all comes down to So Mi (A.K.A. Songbird) or Solomon Reed and where V's allegiances lie.
How Many Endings Are There In Phantom Liberty?
The DLC content for Cyberpunk 2077 has four distinct ending possibilities, each broken down into two choices to be made. The first major choice comes while helping Songbird extract the Neural Matrix at Kurt Hansen's Stadium base in Dogtown, with another choice happening later based on that outcome. These endings lead to drastically different consequences for Solomon Reed, Songbird, and V.
Phantom Liberty Ending Option: Kill Solomon Reed
In the Stadium base of Kurt Hansen, V can choose to help Songbird escape with the Neural Matrix, but this means that V is betraying Reed's trust as well as breaking allegiances made to the FIA. Songbird is weak and tells V that they need to get to the Night City spaceport and take a shuttle to the Moon where V and Songbird will be cured thanks to the Neural Matrix. President Myers and Reed show up to stop things, and a battle follows.
After boarding the train, So Mi its that she betrayed V and knew the whole time that the Neural Matrix will only work for one person, and she naturally plans to use it on herself. At the shuttle, Solomon Reed appears to confront V and Songbird, and another choice needs to be made. If V continues down the path to help Songbird, then it will lead to V shooting and killing Reed. Songbird heads to the Moon, and V is back to the same situation they were in before Phantom Liberty.
Phantom Liberty Ending Option: Kill Songbird
During the initial phase, where V can help So Mi with extracting the Neural Matrix, players can choose instead to stall for time to help Reed capture her. It doesn't work quite that simply, however, as Songbird figures out something is wrong, and the Blackwall corruption nearly overtakes her. This leads to Songbird entering a full cyberpsycho, out-of-control frenzy in Dogtown. During all of this, Kurt Hansen kills Alex, and V has to kill Hansen.
Solomon Reed swoops in to get V as Songbird is taken by the MaxTac cybersquad after her rampage. After a failed attempt at an ambush of the convoy, Songbird takes off into a Cynosure bunker underground, and V follows after her while being hunted by a corrupted Cerberus guard robot. After V finally can get through to the Cynosure core where Songbird is, Songbird is already close to death and begs V to help her die. This is where the second crucial choice comes into play: whether to let her live.
If the player chooses to kill Songbird and unplugs her from the core, Reed will arrive soon after, and he and V will then deliver Songbird's body to the President. President Myers is not happy with her death and will not assist V with the Relic. Solomon Reed is not happy with V either, as he blames V for ruining his career and the deaths of his friends. Although, he will it that perhaps killing Songbird was the right thing to do in the end.
Phantom Liberty Ending Option: Spare Songbird
If the player chooses to go the route of stalling for Reed Neural Matrix but does not want to kill So Mi, everything proceeds as in the previously explained ending to the point where Songbird is pleading for death in the Cynosure core. If V spares Songbird's life and instead waits for Reed, Songbird exclaims that they have given her a fate worse than death. Reed and V bring Songbird to the President, who is grateful and offers V a medal.
V can then meet Solomon Reed at a basketball court for debriefing, during which he states that Songbird's Blackwall corruption was too advanced, and she could not have been cured by the Neural Matrix anyway, but they have found a way to save her using advanced surgery that will cost her a change of personality. The Neural Matrix is being saved for V, however, which will allow players to unlock the new ending for the main story of Cyberpunk 2077.
Phantom Liberty Ending Option: Agree To Solomon Reed's Deal
At the first major choice in the Stadium base, if V chooses to help Songbird with getting the Neural Matrix and escape then the story will follow the same as was indicated above for the option that led to Reed's death. After Songbird its her betrayal on the train, V can choose to take Johnny's advice and call Reed to strike a deal instead (the option for a deal is also presented by Reed just before the events that would lead to his death if the deal is not chosen). In this deal, V hands Songbird over and is given the Neural Matrix in exchange. Later Reed will V, thus starting the events for the new ending of the main storyline of Cyberpunk 2077.
While none of the endings provide a happy closure for all involved, they each provide a somber but understandable sequence of events uniquely fitting for the game. Through each possibility, Johnny is there to provide nudges and thought-provoking commentary along the way. In the last option of agreeing to Reed's deal and handing over Songbird, Johnny even goes so far as to say that he almost feels sorry for her. The possibility of a cure through using the Neural Matrix will lead to a new ending for Cyberpunk 2077's main story, but be careful not to call Reed too soon after the DLC is over, as it will lead to a point of no return for the main story.
