Summary

• Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty has a time-sensitive quest, resulting in a game over if players take too long.
• Failing to do this at the start of the DLC locks the main quest line, requiring a restart.
• The percentage counters on the pause screen don't indicate mission progress, creating a false sense of urgency.

Cyberpunk 2077 gives players a lot of freedom when it comes to how they allocate their time in the game. With a multitude of sidequests, gigs, and random interactions players can find, it's relieving to know that people can put down the main story quests and venture off into the expansive and detailed world of Night City without much of a consequence. However, that all changes with one very central quest to the Liberty City DLC expansion.

[Warning: This article contains light early-game spoilers for the Cyberpunk 2077 Liberty City DLC.]Although pseudo-time limits are something many gamers are used to at this point, certain titles like Dragons Dogma 2 punish players for taking too long or being too indecisive. Though Cyberpunk 2077 is traditionally a game where the main mission quests can be put on the back burner for an indefinite amount of time, doing so in Phantom Liberty could result in an abrupt game-over.

President Myers Can Die If Players Take Too Long

This Is Not The Time For Procrastination

Though it normally wouldn't be an issue for players who just picked up and are excited to play Phantom Liberty, it's actually possible to fumble the entire DLC right at the start. As discovered by Reddit Coffee-and-puts (among others before them), the unknowing player just got Phantom Liberty but waited too long to save President Myers, ultimately resulting in Myer's death and essentially a game over in of main-story DLC content.

This result occurs if V takes the quest from Songbird to start the Liberty City DLC missions but fails to actually show up at the gates of Dogtown to start the quest. As a result, Myers will die shortly after the crash, and Songbird will hack into V's head and shut him down completely. V will eventually wake up, and Johnny Silverhand will explain how they waited too long, and Myers is now dead. While it's still possible to complete side missions and gigs in Dogtown, the main quest line will be locked off, and players will have to restart the save if they want to meet Reed and Songbird.

Time Actually Matters At Phantom Liberty's Start

The Numbers On The Pause Screen Mean Nothing

Famously, in Cyberpunk 2077, there are percentage counters at the top of the screen that represent mission progression: V's relationship with Johnny Silverhand and the status of the Relic that's slowly killing V. Sadly, these Cyberpunk 2077 progression stats don't mean anything, and the sense of urgency that's built up to complete quests in some nebulous amount of time is one that players should not feel.

Though there are other quests throughout the campaign that can be failed once taken — Phantom Liberty feels like a departure from how the base game handles certain things, and this time-sensitive task is one of them. Narratively, it would make sense as Militech troops would have likely overcome Myers, but from a gameplay perspective, it's a bold move and a smart inclusion by the creators of Cyberpunk 2077.

Source: Coffee-and-puts/Reddit