Cyberpunk 2077 players have found a way to explore New York during one of Phantom Liberty's missions
Hey, I’m cyber-walkin’ here!
Warning: Spoilers for Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty lie ahead.
If you pick a certain path in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty and have access to mods, you can take V on a nice little walk around the streets of Brooklyn.
Yup, forget about Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and the host of other games that have involved the big apple over the years, it turns out that Cyberpunk’s a suitable candidate for the best game set in New York. Well, sort of.
If you choose to side with Solomon Reed during Phantom Liberty’s main quest, you’ll eventually be given the nightmare-inducing ‘Somewhat Damaged’ quest. At one point during this quest, you have a very deep conversation with netrunner Song So Mi inside a recreation of the Brooklyn apartment that she lived in prior to being recruited into the FIA by Idris Elba’s character.
As some sleuths over on the game’s subreddit have worked out, if you’re on PC and armed with a mod that allows you to clip through the walls of the flat (this one, for example), it’s possible to leave Songbird behind and explore the streets of New York that lie beyond the apartment. Naturally, given that you aren’t supposed to be in the area, it isn’t populated by any NPCs, but there do look to be some cars - including a classic yellow New York taxi cab - parked up on the streets.
According to one player in the thread: “All (four of) the streets and the buildings have collisions mapped, so can be walked along (including the rooftops). The CynoSure core is directly behind So Mi's apartment too, if you want a look around the CynoSure facility without being chased around by a psychotic AI-controlled murder-bot.”
The same player suggested that it’s also possible to reach these streets by clipping underneath the map in a certain area of Pacifica, which they say lies “just to the east of the Grand Imperial Mall” and features some swimming pools. If you opt for that route over noclipping during the mission, it seems as though you might not have to deal with the weather and time of day dynamically changing as usual once you hop out of freefly mode, possibly making it easier to spot interesting details.
If you’re planning on jumping back into Cyberpunk 2077 to check this out for yourself, make sure to check out our coverage of its latest patches and must-have mods.