> Gameplay Type: First Person Shooter Role Playing Game
Summary: A long anticipated release with eight years of development time, the game’s launch has been plagued with bugs and poor performance as well as decidedly mixed reviews. Regardless, the title offers gamers the largest open world cyberpunk universe thus far, so despite the rather uninspired art design and a plot that brings nothing new to the genre, this game is the best available to allow players to immerse themselves in a cyberpunk setting.
This is a very dated and seriously opinionated review.
It had nice cinematic moments - but it felt like GTA with a Hollywood cyberpunk movie attached. Going from bunnyhopping around rooftops and killing 1000s of gangsters and cops in broad daylight with heavy weapons and ridiculous cyberware, to a fairly railroaded narrative about apparently obscure mercenary V barely surviving was some tonal whiplash.
I absolutely loved Burn::Cycle on the Philips CDi, where it was the definitive version (apparently the visuals were much better than the PC): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoLw7SEmLYk
The gameplay itself was a bit rough, but the music and immersion I felt while playing it I still recall to this day.
I love cyberpunk as a genre/style/aesthetic but there are almost no open world videogames that actually nail it.
For me the cyberpunk aesthetic basically requires bustling small streets with tons of detail (shops, trash, crowds). That's where most games that try to use an open world fail in my opinion. We just don't have the technology yet to create these dense detail rich scenes without a lot of work on the developers/artists side as well as keeping it performant so it can run on mainstream gaming PCs.
Cyberpunk 2077 is a prime example of that in my opinion. Most parts of the city look like it's Covid again and people must stay at home. Some parts of the map come remotely close but the illusion breaks once you inspect your surroundings.
I like Cloudpunk (https://store.steampowered.com/app/746850/Cloudpunk/) a fair bit but even that suffers from the walkways and buildings feeling slightly empty. At least the pixel art style helps it from falling in the uncanney valley that cyberpunk constantly dips in.
Is there any open world game in any genre that manages the "bustling city" effect well? I didn't play Cyberpunk 2077 but Witcher 3 never quite got there either. It seems like 'detail' is a fractal/exponential problem that scales poorly in many respects.
I started playing that at least three times along the years (if for nothing else, then for the dialogue: "You need a rad suit to go in there! -- What do you mean?! This suit is totally rad!"), but somehow never got very far...
I would add Citizen Sleeper to the list. Board-game inspired narrative cyberpunk RPG with a nice story. I loved it and currently I'm playing the second one. It's a short game. Took me around 10 hours to finish though I didn't go throught all the tasks or the full DLC.
Get Shadowrun 2058 for the Genesis/MegaDrive version ROM plus an IPS patcher and enjoy a much better gameplay experience (and balancing).
On Deus Ex (the first one) installing GMDX and playing it with that MOD it's a must. No, forget that crappy HDTP or whatever it's called, it has broken Chinese/Japanase Hanzi/Kanji in Hong Kong and it looks tacky as hell. GMDX it's tons better and it expands the game areas, interaction, objects and such a lot. For instance, the NYC Statue Park looks far more realist this way, with logically (and architecturally speaking) set objects for a more lifelike environment.
Gamedec is a cyberpunk story driven , sort of rpg game with a very interesting dialog system that makes reading the dialogs and sometimes picking bad options worth it.
What's a fluff text in other games in Gamedec gives you psychological affinity point. With enough points in relevant affinities you can retcon a specific background for your character that lets you to perform cool actions later (basically like a special perk/trait).
The story is decent too. Society where messy virtualization of huge chunk of human experience is common.
Not mentioned, but probably my favourite cyberpunk game of all time: Satellite Reign (2015).
It's a modern Syndicate remake in spirit, and a relatively small indie game (to set expectations), but the gameplay loop is tight and rewards experimenting. I still like to do a quick playthrough occassionally and it has aged great.
Also the author forgot Cataclsym DDA:Bright Nights. Contrary to the former CDDA, here you have a proper ending.
If you like something like a blend between a 2D Minecraft, object crafting, zombie/mutant/cyborg survival and tons of Cyberpunk references this is almost the game. It has everything.
Cloudpunk and its sequel City of Ghosts should be on the list. Very laid back games heavy on charming atmosphere with a great soundtrack. The voxel city design is excellent.
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> Gameplay Type: First Person Shooter Role Playing Game Summary: A long anticipated release with eight years of development time, the game’s launch has been plagued with bugs and poor performance as well as decidedly mixed reviews. Regardless, the title offers gamers the largest open world cyberpunk universe thus far, so despite the rather uninspired art design and a plot that brings nothing new to the genre, this game is the best available to allow players to immerse themselves in a cyberpunk setting.
This is a very dated and seriously opinionated review.
The gameplay itself was a bit rough, but the music and immersion I felt while playing it I still recall to this day.
Also missing the classic Dreamweb.
For me the cyberpunk aesthetic basically requires bustling small streets with tons of detail (shops, trash, crowds). That's where most games that try to use an open world fail in my opinion. We just don't have the technology yet to create these dense detail rich scenes without a lot of work on the developers/artists side as well as keeping it performant so it can run on mainstream gaming PCs.
Cyberpunk 2077 is a prime example of that in my opinion. Most parts of the city look like it's Covid again and people must stay at home. Some parts of the map come remotely close but the illusion breaks once you inspect your surroundings.
I like Cloudpunk (https://store.steampowered.com/app/746850/Cloudpunk/) a fair bit but even that suffers from the walkways and buildings feeling slightly empty. At least the pixel art style helps it from falling in the uncanney valley that cyberpunk constantly dips in.
It's freeware, available from GOG: https://www.gog.com/en/game/beneath_a_steel_sky
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectre_(1991_video_game)
An oversight. This was one of the very first viable multiplayer network games and it definitely belongs in the list ..
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_Streets_(video_game)
On Deus Ex (the first one) installing GMDX and playing it with that MOD it's a must. No, forget that crappy HDTP or whatever it's called, it has broken Chinese/Japanase Hanzi/Kanji in Hong Kong and it looks tacky as hell. GMDX it's tons better and it expands the game areas, interaction, objects and such a lot. For instance, the NYC Statue Park looks far more realist this way, with logically (and architecturally speaking) set objects for a more lifelike environment.
What's a fluff text in other games in Gamedec gives you psychological affinity point. With enough points in relevant affinities you can retcon a specific background for your character that lets you to perform cool actions later (basically like a special perk/trait).
The story is decent too. Society where messy virtualization of huge chunk of human experience is common.
It's a modern Syndicate remake in spirit, and a relatively small indie game (to set expectations), but the gameplay loop is tight and rewards experimenting. I still like to do a quick playthrough occassionally and it has aged great.
If you like something like a blend between a 2D Minecraft, object crafting, zombie/mutant/cyborg survival and tons of Cyberpunk references this is almost the game. It has everything.
https://github.com/cataclysmbn/Cataclysm-BN
https://store.steampowered.com/app/746850/Cloudpunk/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/250260/Jazzpunk_Directors...