In Cyberpunk 2077, gamers can explore Night City, with plenty of jobs and locations to distract them from the main storyline. Players have known that the main campaign runs approximately 20 hours, but many wonder how the campaign’s narrative is divided.
In narrative fiction, the standard is to divide a story into three acts: a beginning, in which concepts are introduced; a middle, with rising tension; and an ending that resolves conflicts created throughout the story. Some stories find success in expanding the middle and thereby creating a five-act structure, but the campaign in Cyberpunk 2077 is unique in that its main storyline contains far fewer.
Updated October 27, 2023 by Erik Petrovich: Since the 2.0 release the number of acts Cyberpunk players can explore technically hasn't changed. In the original game, players could expect to play through a relatively short prologue based on their life path, then go through Act 1, spend much more time in the vastly larger Act 2, then finish the game and its epilogue. With the release of the Phantom Liberty expansion the actual number of acts in the game hasn't changed – there are still only two acts. However, Phantom Liberty adds so much to the original game, and splits from Act 2 organically, that it greatly increases the length of Cyberpunk 2077. While the number of acts in Cyberpunk hasn't changed, the amount of content players can experience certainly has.
Number of Acts in Cyberpunk 2077 Base Game
At the beginning, players will learn more about the game world through the prologue, which is influenced by the choices they’ve made during character creation. Once this has concluded, Act One begins, which is where a majority of the game’s narrative takes place.
Apex Legends fans may recognize a few voice actors bringing this narrative to life. Players will know they have reached Act Two when a larger portion of Night City becomes available explore after a major development in the story. The game will warn players that starting the final job will prevent the player from free exploration as they approach the end of Cyberpunk 2077.
Upon successfully completing the final job, players will enter the epilogue, which will reflect the choices made by the player throughout the game. The conclusion of the epilogue completes the game’s main storyline, and players are free to return to Night City - at a point immediately proceeding the final job - in order to explore Night City freely and tackle incomplete side quests. With a map that's estimated to be over 20-square kilometers, there's plenty of setting to be discovered.
Cyberpunk 2077 is unique in many ways, including its two-act approach to the main storyline – alongside a prologue and epilogue. Though there's plenty to do in the game to keep players occupied, like finding all iconic weapons, the Phantom Liberty DLC added an optional side "act" to the game, which sends players to Dogtown near the end of the standard second act.
Phantom Liberty Adds Another Act's Worth Of Content To CP2077
Though it isn't strictly described as a third act for Cyberpunk 2077, the Phantom Liberty expansion effectively counts as one. Considering that the base game is around 25 to 40 hours long, and Phantom Liberty takes around 13 to 20 hours to beat, it's like the game's length was increased by 50%.
The Phantom Liberty DLC includes a new area of Night City – Dogtown – that plays host to a new story and side missions. It was released just after the 2.0 update for Cyberpunk, which saw some major overhauls of the game's core systems, and these two new additions to the game combined make for an incredible amount of new content to explore.
Because Phantom Liberty can be accessed just before the conclusion to Act 2, it might be accurate to call Phantom Liberty the game's Act 2.5. Though players have the option to start a file from the beginning of the expansion, it's best to start a completely new character and discover Phantom Liberty organically – new items and missions can be found in the base game areas, too, and even experienced Cyberpunk fans could benefit from a refresher on the world before jumping into its new story.
Cyberpunk 2077 is available now for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One, and will release for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2021.
