The much-anticipated Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty DLC has won the Best Game Expansion award at the Golden Joystick Awards 2023 powered by Intel.
Arriving almost three years after the launch of the base game alongside the significant Update 2.0 with a wide range of improvements, there's plenty to get to grips with in Phantom Liberty. The expansion mainly takes place in Dogtown, a previously locked-off district of Night City ruled by warlord Kurt Hansen and his Barghest troops, in stark contrast to the previous neon-soaked setting.
In a clear nod to John Carpenter's Escape from New York, President Myers' transport is hacked and crashes in Dogtown, sending V on a rescue mission to the lawless neighborhood. This plunges you into a world of espionage, teaming up with sleeper agent Solomon Reed (played by none other than Idris Elba) to investigate the netrunning underworld and work towards one of several Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty endings depending on the choices you make.
To take home the award, Phantom Liberty had to defeat other expansions with a variety of scopes. These included the fresh Necrom chapter for long-running RPG The Elder Scrolls Online, a Castlevania mashup for roguelite Dead Cells, and DLC for Power Wash Simulator that involved heading under the sea and cleaning out Spongebob Squarepants' mysteriously mucky Bikini Bottom.
The full list of Golden Joystick Awards 2023 nominations was as follows:
- Power Wash Simulator DLC
- Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty (Winner)
- The Elder Scrolls Online: Necrom
- The Case of the Golden Idol Mysteries: The Lemurian Vampire and Spider of Lanka
- Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania
- A Little to the Left: Cupboards & Drawers
This isn't the first time that Cyberpunk 2077 has appeared at the Golden Joystick Awards, as it received the Most Wanted Award in both 2018 and 2019, so it's great to see it recognized once again this year. In our Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty review, 12DOVE's Sam Loveridge described it as "the culmination of CD Projekt Red's efforts to right the wrongs of a challenging launch, with this premium expansion combining with Update 2.0 for a total revitalization of Night City. This is Cyberpunk 2077 at its best, and with the price of entry this low you've got no excuse not to dive back in."
Discover the best games of 2023 at the best prices by checking out the Golden Joystick Awards Steam sale page
