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CD Projekt Red’s upcoming RPG is one of the most anticipated titles of 2020, and it’s coming just below the wire. But before you get your hands on it this week, consider opening up the backlog for some of the fundamental games that defined the genre. Cyberpunk has been a top developer favorite since the late 1980s, and there are some all-time classics and unique experiments that use it as a setting. Here are our picks of essential cyberpunk games to play before logging into Cyberpunk 2077.
Thief
Hideo Kojima’s scale prior to the release of Metal Gear Solid for Japanese home computers in 1988. Heavily influenced by Bounty hunter, Snatcher introduces players as Gillian Seed, an amnesiac man in Neo Kobe City who is trying to get to the bottom of a series of murders at the hands of humanoid robots called Snatchers. As a new member of an anti-Snatcher task force, Seed discovers the secret history of the Snatcher project and his own memories. It’s a brave, ambitious, and remarkably grown-up game that touches on themes that Kojima would develop further in later games.
Neuromancer
Based on one of the foundational books of the genre, Interplay’s 1988 adventure game took players into the world of hackers and intrigue by William Gibson. Brought into existence by psychedelic pioneer Timothy Leary, Neuromancer is an ambitious title for the time, allowing users to explore the real-world city of Chiba, Japan, as well as computer networks, engage in combat with firewalls and other programs. and engage artificial intelligences to gain vital information. Add a soundtrack by legendary Ohio art-punkers Devo and you’ve got a solid introduction to cyberpunk.
Invisible, Inc
One of the key tenets of cyberpunk is a futuristic world dominated by megacorporations and the hacker groups trying to take them down, and few games take advantage of that like Invisible, Inc. Obviously, heavily inspired by X-Com, the game sees you. assembling small squads for infiltration missions that combine wetwork and hacking in a roguelike framework. With just three days to preserve the artificial intelligence that powers your systems, you must gather resources for a final mission to implant inside a supercomputer and save the world … or so you think.
Beneath a sky of steel
Co-created by Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons, this 1994 adventure game is deep and innovative. The protagonist Robert Foster is the sole survivor of a helicopter accident as a child and is kidnapped by hired Union City soldiers for unknown purposes. Carrying his robot companion Joey’s circuit board, which he can swap into different bodies, he discovers that the city is controlled by a massive supercomputer seeking to bond with him. Originally released on a staggering 15 floppy disks, it was remastered for iOS devices in 2009.
VA-11 HALL-A
Almost every cyberpunk story features the protagonist stumbling into a neon-lit bar to meet a mysterious contact or get information, so why not set a full game there? The clever indie hit Sukeban Games features you as the bartender in a visual novel hybrid that lets you mix drinks for a variety of unique customers, using your observation skills and a vast library of cocktails to open up to you and move forward. the narrative. It is a completely unique game that gives players a different angle on the future from the service industry side.
Mirror edge
Dice’s unique first-person walkthrough game won accolades when it was released in 2008. As a Faith Connors messenger, you execute confidential information through a series of rich and dynamic environments. This game demonstrated how cyberpunk adapted to the “Apple aesthetic,” with grimy alleys replaced by smooth, white surfaces, while continuing to tell stories about corporate control and individual freedom. The 2016 remake, Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst, changed a ton of things, including the story, but it’s interesting in its own way.
Deus Ex
It’s hard to pick just one entry in what might be the most important cyberpunk franchise in video game history, so let’s go with the first installment. Warren Spector put it all on the table in JC Denton’s 2000 outing, giving the player a level of freedom unprecedented in first-person shooter games at the time. Although the vibe was a bit reserved compared to other games here, the sequels would address the moral implications of the cybernetic implants that gave Denton his abilities in more detail. Each of the games has its own strengths and flaws, but they are worth playing.
System crash 2
While Ken Levine’s 1999 masterpiece lacks some of the neon visual embellishments we’ve come to associate with cyberpunk, System Shock 2’s version of the first-person shooter is too important to ignore. Set in 2114, the game sees players control a cybernetically augmented soldier who awakens aboard an experimental spaceship run by SHODAN, an AI that has been corrupted and biologically engineered by a parasitic organism known as the Many. Drawing on the horror aspect of the genre, it was wildly influential and still holds true today.
Shadowrun
Released in 1993 for the Super Nintendo, Shadowrun had a troubled road, but is recognized as one of the most prophetic games in the genre. Based on the FASA tabletop RPG system, it delivered a curious hybrid of real-time action and pointer-based adventure. The game’s dialogue system treated vocabulary as a bargaining chip, and protagonist Jake Armitage was able to pick up new terms and use them to expand conversations with other NPCs. A great soundtrack and atmospheric 16-bit graphics put this one on the list of must-play games.
Bounty hunter
Another adaptation of an existing franchise, Westwood’s adventure game Blade Runner was mind-blowing when it was released in 1997. The Voxel-based graphics gave it a totally revolutionary look as the player guided newbie Blade Runner Ray McCoy as he tracked down the replicants. There are so many cool things going on in this one, from the real-time progression in which the NPCs do their thing as you explore and investigate, to the Voight-Kampff tests that uncover the replicants (different in each game). With 13 different endings, this one has tons of replayability.
