Old is New: Cyberpunk

With CD Project Red's recent announcement that they would take a stab at making a CRPG set in the Cyberpunk 2020 universe, I decided to take a look at a trend I've noticed.




Cyberpunk is a genre I find near and dear to my heart.  Even though my usual players don't seem to have much of an appreciation for non-fantasy settings, I have quite a soft spot for the soaring megalopolises, the ultraviolent and morally bankrupt hopeless future whose only hope is transhumanism, and the sheer style present in a gritty near-future projected from the later half of the 20th century, where corporate greed reigned unchecked, technology progressed unrestrained, the government was apathetic at best or actively conspiring at worst, the middle class join the poor while the poor join the homeless, and the only way to get ahead was to take advantage of these things in a rather amoral way -- perfect for your average chaotic-profiteering adventuring party.

If you're not familiar with the genre, I do recommend the following three books: William Gibson's "Sprawl" trilogy, Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Blade Runner), and Neil Stephenson's Snow Crash.  The genre has changed with age, as Dick and Gibson predated modern technology, and as corporations began to nominally respect anti-monopoly laws, but it still exists -- to the point where, it seems, there's been quite a glut of cyberpunk gaming properties advancing.  Only two years ago, the genre seemed quite dead after nearly a decade of disinterest, and now it's blossoming, bringing forth old properties.  Part of this has much to do with the Occupy Wall Street movement's opposition of everything that is core to the Cyberpunk genre, for sure, but I'm as happy as a kid in a candy store.  Here's an overview, with titles I recommend bolded.

• February 24, 2011 -  Gemini Rue, an adventure game, is released.
• April, 2011 - Deus Ex: Human Revolution seemed a bit ahead of the curve, returning us to Warren Spector's universe of cybernetics, government conspiracies, and corporate greed.
• July 29, 2011 - E.Y.E.: Divine Cybermancy, an action/roleplaying hybrid, is released.
• September 13, 2011 - Kalypso releases Hard Reset, a cyberpunk first person shooter.
• November, 2011 - EA releases a lackluster first-person shooter re-make of the classic title Syndicate, which only has two things in common with the original: a) cyberpunk, b) guns.
• February, 2012 - Altered Carbon is being made into a movie.
•  April, 2012 - Jordan Weisman, creator of Shadowrun, announces Shadowrun Returns on Kickstarter, bringing the first serious attempt at a Shadowrun video game since the SNES.
• May, 2012 - CD Project Red announces a Cyberpunk 2020 CRPG.
• May, 2012 - Lucasarts announces Star Wars: 1313, a game that's more about cyberpunk than it is about Jedi.
• June, 2012 - Infiltration, a board game about a cyberpunk gang breaking into a corporate installation, is released by Fantasy Flight Games.  This is a follow up to 2008's Android.
• August 3, 2012 - Total Recall, a remake of the 1990 film, focuses more on cyberpunk and less on Mars.
• September 21, 2012 - Judge Dredd is getting rebooted.  I kid you not.
  
• Unknown, 2012 - Fantasy Flight will release Android: Netrunner, the third game in the Android series.
• 2013 - Shadowrun Online is set to launch, essentially a Shadowrun-themed Jagged Alliance: Back in Action.
• 2013 - Shadowrun Returns is set to launch.
• Who knows?  - A Neuromancer film continues to be in the works.

While I'm certain there's plenty I'm missing, I'm quite happy, and plotting my own foray into a tabletop Cyberpunk campaign, dragging my players kicking and screaming.