“I designed the sounds of the Chimera to seem inorganic, but human enough to be frightening,” says sound designer Masanobu “Tomi” Tomita in an interview with VG 247. “I wanted people to be in awe of this monster and feel its power while playing the game.”

Tomita and his fellow Sound Lab member Gabriel Acosta created the soundscapes for a number of elements of the Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty expansion pack, working in collaboration with CD Projekt RED’s in-house sound team.

Tomita adds:

Every project I work on has its own unique style and requirements, and Cyberpunk 2077 was no exception. For Phantom Liberty, the sounds had to have a futuristic but believable “taste”.

I was looking for intricate, innovative details in the design that still tied the player to reality, while at the same time imagining what the reality of the future would sound like.

Acosta, who has previously worked on Valorant and several other titles, explained from his side:

“It was great to get the opportunity to work on Phantom Liberty, as it required hitting a very specific aesthetic, mixing realism and futuristic sci-fi into a believable yet interesting sound palette. It was definitely a challenge and we spent a lot of time just testing different options.

None of the designers had the opportunity to work on the base version of Cyberpunk, although Acosta recalls having “a lot of fun playing through it during the initial release,” adding:

“I really enjoyed all the transportation options and just exploring the huge world that CDPR built.

Among the aspects that the pair brought to life with sound in Phantom Liberty was the legendary chase with the boss Chimera from the expansion’s third main mission, The Spider and the Fly. Battling this tank-like and obsessive Militech combat robot alongside President Myers was one of the first moments of the expansion that made a particularly big impression, and it was certainly no accident.

“I hope it’s a tense, adrenaline-pumping experience, like you’re going to be in the jaws of the Chimera if you don’t get away fast enough,” says Acosta when asked what effect he thought this “large-scale spectacle scene” was supposed to have. To capture the perfect mix of man and machine at work, Tomita was inspired by “mechanisms like the Terminator T-1000, which is aimed at ruthless attacks.”

From a practical standpoint, Tomita enjoyed the challenge that Chimera presented, explaining:

It had a lot of moving parts and intricate elements requiring close attention to detail. I spent a lot of time fine-tuning the sound through trial and error to achieve the perfect balance of the elements.

For Acosta, the most vivid memory of working on the scene was “creating destruction.” The designer recalls:

I was able to layer all sorts of explosions of metal, glass and concrete, completely having a blast. It was so much fun!

Another aspect of the expansion in which the pair played a role was the sound effects added for some of the new weapons. Tomita worked on the unique NDI Osprey sniper rifle found in the safe house of FIA agent Alex Xenakis, while Acosta worked on the equally rare Erebus SMG submachine gun.

The former required the creation of a “special mix,” as Tomita explains: “First, I create the basic sound – the sharp part of the shot. Then I focus on the specific effect of the weapon.” In addition to sound elements covering everything from the firing mechanism to indicating that ammo is running low, and even the clicks if you pull the trigger on an empty magazine, he has also developed different variations depending on the environment.

For example, the sound will not be the same when shooting indoors and outdoors, and open spaces and tunnels also have their own special versions. Acosta, for his part, says that when creating the metallic harmonies of the Erebus, he “had to balance between a powerful satisfying feeling when shooting or interacting with it, while allowing the futuristic design to stand out.”

Ultimately, it’s the idea of brutal human realism set against a neon-drenched future that gives Phantom Liberty’s most memorable moments that special feeling that comes from them, and they certainly wouldn’t be half as good without the hard work that went into developing the sounds of the virtual world.