How long to beat Cyberpunk 2077 + Phantom Liberty in 2026? HLTB numbers feel outdated after the 2.x changes

Finally picking this up after years of waiting for it to get fixed. HowLongToBeat says roughly 26 hours for the main story and 100+ for completionist, but most of those submissions are from launch-era players — before Update 2.0 reworked perks, cyberware, police, and vehicle combat, and before Phantom Liberty added a whole new district.

What I'm trying to figure out for my playthrough plan:

• Realistically, how long is a "main story + Phantom Liberty + the good side content" run in the current version? I don't need every NCPD scanner hustle, just Judy/Panam/River/Kerry-tier side jobs and the PL gigs.

• Does Phantom Liberty's recommended entry point (mid-game, after Transmission?) pad the total, or does it slot in without much detour?

• Did 2.x make the game faster or slower to finish? I've heard the loot/crafting simplification cuts a lot of menu time, but Dogtown gigs look chunky.

• For anyone who 100%'d recently: is the completionist grind still ~100 hours, or did the update change that math?

I've got maybe 10 hours a week to play, trying to decide if I finish this before the summer releases hit or park it for later.

Realistic 2026 numbers: ~25 hours main story only, 55–70 hours for main + Phantom Liberty + the good side content, 100–110 for full completionist. HLTB isn't wrong, it's just averaging launch-era runs into the mix.

Breaking down your plan specifically:

Your target run — story, PL, companion-tier side jobs, skipping NCPD filler — lands around 60 hours. Judy/Panam/River/Kerry questlines are roughly 12–15 hours combined and they're the best writing in the game, so good call keeping those. Phantom Liberty itself is ~15 hours for its story, closer to 25 if you do the Dogtown gigs and vehicle contracts, which I'd recommend — the gigs are Deus Ex-style mini-dungeons, way above base-game gig quality.

On the entry point: the recommended slot is after Transmission, and it doesn't really "pad" anything — Songbird calls you, you drive to Dogtown, you're in. The detour cost is basically zero. Just don't do what I did and start PL at level 25 expecting a smooth ride; Dogtown enemies hit hard. Level 30+ feels right.

2.x absolutely made the game faster per hour of content. No more crafting-material hoovering, no clothing-stat Tetris, armor lives on cyberware now. You spend those hours playing instead of in menus. Dogtown adds raw hours, but they're actual content, not busywork. That's why 100% still totals ~100–110 despite the streamlining — the update deleted menu time and added real game.

At 10 hours a week you're looking at ~6 weeks for your run. Tight but doable before the summer wave — and Cyberpunk is a momentum game, it hits way harder in focused chunks than parked and resumed six months later. I'd finish it.