Madhav Mehrotra
Ahead of its release across platforms in 2020, Cyberpunk 2077 was one of the most anticipated games in recent years. Developer CD Projekt Red impressed one and all with their last release The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and its DLC expansions Hearts of Stone and Blood and Wine. However, the launch of the game didn’t quite go as planned, with there being several bugs and performance issues. Over time, though, many of these problems have been improved upon through patches.
Also read: Cyberpunk 2077’s Update 2.0 Could be Dropping Imminently – Are You Ready Choom?
As Cyberpunk 2077 approaches the release date of its only planned DLC expansion, Phantom Liberty, the developer DC Projekt Red has asked PC players to make sure that their PCs can handle it. Alongside this DLC, there is also the 2.0 update which even impacts players who don’t buy Phantom Liberty.
Why did CD Projekt Red want PC players to check their cooling systems?
Cyberpunk 2077 updated its PC requirements in light of the 2.0 update and the Phantom Liberty expansion, with SSDs now being a minimum requirement as an example. This was done to bring the game up to modern standards, as the base game was released nearly three years ago. The update and DLC both bring overhauls and major changes which in turn made the PC version of the game more demanding.
Also read: CD Projekt Red Explain Why Phantom Liberty is going to be Cyberpunk 2077’s Only DLC
Lead scene programmer Filip Pierściński posted on X (formerly Twitter) about the game’s upcoming update and DLC launch with regards to PC players in particular, saying:
“Before release CP2077 2.0 and PL please check conditions of your cooling systems in PC. We use all what you have, so workload on CPU 90% on 8 core is expected. To save your time please run Cinebench or similar and check stability of your systems”
Cinebench is a free cross-platform test suite that evaluates a computer’s hardware capabilities, which is a useful tool for PC gamers to have. Filip Pierściński focused on the cooling systems as they may reach the point where they start thermal throttling, which essentially means that the performance of the CPU and/or GPU will be reduced so as to avoid overheating. Not checking the thermal throttling may result in drops in performance or even crashes, which are best avoided.
As for console players, it doesn’t appear that CD Projekt Red has made any announcements, so it’s safe to assume that they’re in the clear this time.
What new features are coming with Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 and Phantom Liberty?
Some of the new features that are being introduced in Cyberpunk 2077 via Phantom Liberty and the 2.0 update are a new area of Night City for the playable character V to explore, as well as new technology, weaponry, and skills. There is also a new storyline in the DLC, which is described as being a spy thriller adventure where V is hired to save the president of the New United States of America.
Apart from that, there are also new side quests, gigs, a reworked police system, vehicular combat, and a redone combat AI, to name a few.
Source: IGN, X (formerly Twitter)
