Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty expansion includes a wild Easter egg that sees CD Projekt Red co-founders Marcin Iwiński and Michał Kiciński deliver a subtle history lesson on the studio.
The pair are found in Dogtown, the area at the centre of Phantom Liberty, selling Braindances that represent significant milestones in CD Projekt Red's history. Players can find out how to see it themselves in our Cyberpunk Easter eggs and references guide.
The Braindances available to buy from Iwiński and Kiciński each parody a particular moment in CD Projekt Red's history, and are priced at a certain amount of Eurodollars to represent the year. The Snitcher is available for 2007 eddies, for example, mimicking The Witcher's launch in 2007.
The other Braindances include: Dance of Brain of Lech Kiełbasiewicz, which likely refers to Iwiński's history selling imported games in Poland before CD Projekt Red was formed; Farmer's Mate, which refers to the Polish localization of Baldur's Gate CD Projekt released in 1999; Rent, referencing the release of Gwent in open beta in 2017, Bonetweaker, referencing the Gwent role-playing game Thronebreaker's launch in 2018, and finally Retrotrunk, which of course refers to Cyberpunk 2077's launch in 2020.
Each Braindance comes with a unique description too, sometimes parodying its source material but often just having a laugh. Farmer's Mate is the "first ever attempt to localise a BD", for example, while The Snitcher lets people "experience the thrill of snitching on your comrades".
Phantom Liberty launched September 26, just a few days after the game-changing Update 2.0 completely revamped Cyberpunk 2077 with features such as a new perk system and improved AI. It also brought closure to an Elon Musk fan theory, a reference to the late racing legend Ken Block, and bizarre additions to the game's biggest mystery.
All of this caused a spike in Cyberpunk 2077's popularity on Steam, a number that's all but guaranteed to grow further as players get their hands on Phantom Liberty.
In our 9/10 review of the expansion, IGN said: "Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty completes an immense turnaround for CD Projekt Red's future RPG kickstarted with the anime spin-off, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and its latest 2.0 Update."
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
