Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty's new location is inspired by South American drug lords

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The same goes for Phantom Liberty's villain, too

Idris Elba as Solomon Reed in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty on a dark background
(Image credit: CD Projekt Red)

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty's new location of Dogtown was designed around "South American drug lords."

CD Projekt just unveiled the latest trailer for Phantom Liberty, showing off Idris Elba as a secretive US government agent, trying to help protagonist V save the President of the New United States from a tyrant named Kurt Hansen. No big deal. Now, in the video below, Phantom Liberty narrative director Igor Sarzyński has revealed more details about the design philosophy behind the DLC's setting.

"Our inspiration when creating Dogtown with its internal dynamics and politics and Kurt Hansen's character was South American drug lords," Sarzyński says of the new setting. "They invest in the local community, build schools and bridges, while at the same time they treat those communities as a cover-up to all their dirty, shady deals - drugs, weapons, you name it."

"Kurt controls Dogtown - at least part of it - by using Barghest, his unique military unit," Sarzyński continues. It turns out this Barghest organization is composed of both ex-Militech soldiers from Hansen's former unit, as well as "gangsters and marauders" who decided to throw in their lot with Hansen.

It's this faction that V, Johnny Silverhand, and Idris Elba's newcomer Solomon Reed will be facing off against in Phantom Liberty. It sounds like Dogtown is a bit of a warzone - Sarzyński makes it sound as though Hansen doesn't have complete control over the area, and will assert force to make his presence felt. Sounds like just another day in Night City, to be completely honest.

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty launches later this year on September 26 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. We recently played the new DLC for ourselves as part of our Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty preview, and surprisingly, Idris Elba's new character isn't even the best thing about it.

Check out our new games 2023 guide for a look at all the other major releases left to come in the year.

Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.

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