- Release
- 10 December 2020 on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Stadia. On PC and Stadia it unlocked at the same moment worldwide, midnight GMT, which was still the evening of 9 December in the Americas: that is the date Steam's store page shows. Consoles unlocked at midnight local time.
- Developer
- CD PROJEKT RED, which Steam lists as both developer and publisher.
- Genre
- In Steam's words, an open-world, action-adventure RPG set in Night City, a megalopolis obsessed with power, glamour and body modification. Single-player only.
- Latest patch
- Patch 2.31, posted on Steam on 11 September 2025, after the larger Update 2.3 of July 2025. A PlayStation 5 Pro update followed on 8 April 2026.
- Expansion
- Phantom Liberty, a paid spy-thriller expansion, out since 26 September 2023 on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
The game in brief
🧠 A heist and a chip
You play V, a mercenary trying to make a name in Night City. CD Projekt's own summary: the big break is a heist for a one-of-a-kind implant, it goes wrong, and V ends up with an experimental chip in their head that slowly overwrites their personality with that of Johnny Silverhand, a rockerboy who went out with a bang back in 2023.
🧭 Three ways in
At the start you pick a lifepath, Nomad, Streetkid or Corpo. It changes the opening chapter of the game and adds lifepath dialogue options and a side quest later on; the rest of the story is shared.
🦾 Build your own merc
Five attributes, perk trees and implants decide how you fight: guns, blades, hacking, stealth or a mix. Since Update 2.0 most of your armour comes from cyberware rather than clothes, which are now mostly cosmetic.
🏙️ One city, many jobs
Night City runs from the high rises of Corpo Plaza to the outskirts of the Badlands. Between story jobs there are side jobs, gigs from fixers, NCPD scanner hustles and cyberpsycho sightings, and choices along the way decide which endings are open to you.
From the 2020 launch to today
| When | Update | What it changed |
|---|---|---|
| 6 September 2022 | Patch 1.6, the Edgerunners Update | Fixes, free DLC and content inspired by the anime Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. |
| 11 April 2023 | Patch 1.62 | Ray Tracing: Overdrive Mode, a path-traced technology preview for high-end PCs. |
| 21 September 2023 | Update 2.0 | The free overhaul: new perk trees, five skills, cyberware capacity, a new police system, vehicle combat and level-scaled enemies and loot. PC and current-generation consoles only. |
| 26 September 2023 | Phantom Liberty | The paid expansion: Dogtown, a new story with Solomon Reed and Songbird, the Relic skill tree and a level cap of 60. |
| 5 December 2023 | Update 2.1 and the Ultimate Edition | The NCART metro, the radioport, repeatable car races and hangouts with your partner. The same day, the Ultimate Edition (base game plus Phantom Liberty) went on sale. |
| 10 December 2024 | Update 2.2 | Over 100 new character-creator options, CrystalCoat paint for more car brands, the TWINTONE scheme feature, a reworked Photo Mode, and Johnny sometimes riding in the passenger seat. |
| 5 June 2025 | Nintendo Switch 2 | The Ultimate Edition launches with the console, on a 64 GB game card. |
| 17 July 2025 | Update 2.3 | Four new vehicles, AutoDrive, self-driving Delamain cabs and more Photo Mode; the first release on Mac. |
| 11 September 2025 | Patch 2.31 | AutoDrive drives more smoothly and no longer stops at traffic lights; fixes for the new 2.3 side jobs. |
| 8 April 2026 | PlayStation 5 Pro update | Three graphics modes on PS5 Pro (Ray Tracing, Performance and Ray Tracing Pro) with PSSR upscaling. |
Which version you have
- PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2 and Mac all have Update 2.0 and later. CD Projekt's official page for Update 2.3 lists exactly those five platforms.
- PlayStation 4 and Xbox One keep the older game. CD Projekt announced Update 2.0 for current-generation consoles and PC only, and Phantom Liberty never came to the older consoles. Since 10 March 2026 the game is also on Xbox Game Pass Premium and Ultimate, for Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One.
- Your old save still loads after 2.0. Your perk points are refunded, you get one free attribute reset, and a side quest introduces the new cyberware system. CD Projekt still recommends a new playthrough to see the changes properly.
- Updates since 2.0 are free and do not need Phantom Liberty: the official Update 2.3 FAQ says owning the base game is enough.
Why old guides mislead
Anything written before Update 2.0 (21 September 2023) about perks, attributes, skills, cyberware, armour, crafting or the police describes a game that no longer exists on current platforms. The old twelve skills became five, clothing lost its armour and mod slots, item rarity became Tiers 1 to 5++, and enemies now scale to your level instead of to the district. This guide dates every number that depends on the version.
Cross-checked
Cross-checked on 7 October 2026 against CD Projekt RED's Steam announcements (the Update 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 and 2.31 notes, Patch 1.6 and 1.62, the Phantom Liberty release posts, the Ultimate Edition announcement and the August 2023 feature post), the official site (the Update 2.3 page and FAQ, the Phantom Liberty page, and the news posts on Xbox Game Pass and the PS5 Pro update), the Steam store page, the Nintendo eShop page, Nintendo Life's report on the Switch 2 game card, PC Gamer's report on the December 2020 date, Game Informer's article on the launch times (3 December 2020), and the Cyberpunk Wiki on Fandom (written by players) for the lifepaths. Not from a playthrough: nobody here has played it.