Tech, cyberpunk and conspiracies!

[Nifft Batuff]

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

Cyberpunk games always look cool, but most don't really deliver beyond that. They put all this work in the world, the look, the feel, and they do a great job with it. But there's rarely a game to follow up with. Take Bloodnet. it has some of the best writing in a video game, yet its not really worth it. The combat is something weird and bad; Cyberspace is just confusing; The puzzles are bland. It lacks a good game to go along with the world they've created.

 

[what am i doing]

Cyberpunk games always look cool, but most don't really deliver beyond that. They put all this work in the world, the look, the feel, and they do a great job with it. But there's rarely a game to follow up with. Take Bloodnet. it has some of the best writing in a video game, yet its not really worth it. The combat is something weird and bad; Cyberspace is just confusing; The puzzles are bland. It lacks a good game to go along with the world they've created.

Observer was a huge disappointment in that regard. Looked cool, setting's premise was kind of neat, and at the start it seemed like it might be a fun detective-oriented cyberpunk game. Then the intro ends and bam, walking simulator. Walking simulator set in a single apartment building, no less.

 

[wishbonetail]

1. Tex Murphy, someone? Anyone? It is cyberpuncky, postaopocalipticky, has conspiracies plenty. I only played FMV ones and they're good.
2. City of Chains. Yes, it's an rpg maker jrpg but it's THE best rpg maker game, methinks.
3. Those new adventures: Whispers of Machine (short but good), VirtuaVerse (a bit too nerdy and retro but good too), Sundew (haven't played but looks nice).
4. Sentience Androids Tale adventure game. Thechnically it's scifi not a conspiratory cyberpunk but there's tech in topic's title so here's tech, it's about android after all. Once again an rpgmaker but since it's not an rpg there are no lame rpgmaker systems. And it is second best rpgmaker game, quality shit, feels like reading Azimov's novel.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

 

[gurugeorge]

Considering how tailor-made you'd think cyberpunk is for videogames, it's amazing that there still isn't really a cyberpunk game that nails it. Things like Syndicate and Syndicate Wars, Shadowrun and the recent reboots, even Arcanum, Omikron, Anachronox, the various Deus Ex-es, Satellite Reign, Cyberpunk 2077, they all do bits of the gestalt, and some do those bits very well, but none of them really get the whole thing as encapsulated in Neuromancer and other novels from that time and subsequently.

The closest I think you'd come would be to a game with noirish detective work gameplay that's a cross between Disco Elysium and Alpha Protocol, but in a Cyberpunk setting, with good turn-based combat and a mixture of teamwork and solo work, and a lot of travel through various different environments. I think it would have to be in third person zoom-in-and-outable (to top-down), because the cyberpunk feel is much more intimate and close-in than fixed isometric/top-down would allow (which is what prevents all the many excellent fixed top-down games from really fulfilling the dream). You have to actually be able to see the characters in detail, see the grime and tech close-up, to get the feel. Omikron, Anachronox (relative to their times and tech), the Deus Exes and Cyberpunk 2077 did actually get a fair amount of the aesthetic and overall feel of what's required right, but Omikron, Anachronox and the Deus Exes were too much of their own thing in terms of lore to be cyberpunk proper, and CP2077 hasn't got nearly enough gameplay meat on the bones.

So amazingly, we're still waiting for the ultimate cyberpunk game.

 

[lycanwarrior]

The Ascent is a isometric action-rpg in a cyberpunk setting that seems like it would be pretty interesting:

 

[wishbonetail]

Here's some more. Tales of Neon Sea and Lacuna SciFi Noir Adventure. Like em both, solid games.
ALso Restricted Area, janky german diablo clone but has beautiful isometric art.

 

[Sukhāvatī]

Cheers to lightbane for the head's up.

 

[Sukhāvatī]

 

[Jack Of Owls]

Good to see the topic still being bumped. First adventure game I played (on my C64) was Neuromancer and it was seminal in determining what I liked in gaming. Maybe someday we'll get a followup or a game that actually encapsulates the feeling of cyberspace and cyberpunk and feels satisfying. One can only hope. Stay tuned.

 

[Sukhāvatī]

Bumping again. Didn't remember that Fear Effect was a cyberpunk game, also that Ubik was very probably the worst PSX release (and had the most irl insulting sci-fi promo-quote in the manual).

 

[tritosine2k]

The OG

Gun Buster,also known as Gunbuster and released in North America as Operation Gunbuster,is a first-person shooter video game developed by Taito and released for arcades in 1992.In contrast to on-rail light gun shooters at the time, this was one of the first arcade games to feature free-roaming FPS gameplay, the same year Wolfenstein 3D was released on personal computers.