Alternative Quintet

Due to the ongoing pandemic, winter weather, and general economic downturn, a lot of people are stuck at home with time to burn.  Adding insult to injury is the drip feed of new games coming out right now.  In part this is because the industry is transitioning to next gen hardware, but also because of disruptions made to game development for aforementioned reasons.  Enter Cyberpunk 2077, the last big title of 2020 and the game everyone is talking about (for good or ill).  Now, I wouldn't consider myself a big fan of the cyberpunk genre, but I have seen "Akira," "Alita," "Robocop," "Hackers," "Minority Report," "Elysium," "Inception" (Yes, that's cyberpunk), "Ghost in the Shell," and the "Bladerunner" duology...to name a few.  I've also read William Gibson's "Sprawl" trilogy and "Bridge" trilogy along with the more contemporary "Altered Carbon" by Richard Morgan.  As far as video games in the genre go there aren't that many well known titles outside of Shadowrun and Deus Ex, but if you don't limit yourself to RPGs and are willing to a bit of poking around there are some interesting oddball titles that have their own unique charms.  Here are five that I think are worth mentioning.

Technobabylon is a classic point-and-click adventure game.  The story is told from the perspective of three different characters including a hardboiled detective and shut-in computer nerd.  The plot revolves around murder, blackmail and an AI construct.  While not likely to win much praise for originality, the game does have it's moments.  Defiantly worth checking out, if you are a fan of both cyberpunk and old-school adventure games.

Invisible Inc. is a turn-based strategy game in which the player is charged with carrying out a series of high stakes corporate espionage missions using an elite team of operatives.  Each individual player controlled character has their own strengths and weaknesses, as well as quirks.  The level layout, object and enemy placement is procedurally generated ensuring that things never quite play out the same way twice.

Observer, or if you want to get technical, >observer_ is a first-person adventure game staring the voice talents of Rutger Hauer (of "Bladerunner" fame).  It recently received an updated "system redux" version which improves the visuals and gameplay slightly.  At it's core though, this is a cyberpunk horror title, and a rare pairing of those two genres.  While it lacks much in the way of action, it does make up for it with a whole lot of style.

VA-11 HALL-A is best described as a visual novel.  Players take the roll of a bartender serving drinks to eccentric bunch of clientele.  Between sometimes lengthy chats with patrons, the player has to mix and serve drinks.  In their free time they can spend earnings on furnishings for their home.  A sequel is in the works entitled N1RV Ann-A, but it's unclear when (or even if) this title will come out.

Snatcher is what you get if you combine "Bladerunner" with the "Terminator" and have it made by Hideo Kojima (creator of Metal Gear and Death Stranding).  It's actually quite old, having originally been released back in 1988, there are over a dozen different ports of the game on various platforms.  It's an eclectic mix of action and puzzle solving from the first and third-person perspective with a little bit of nudity and gore sprinkled in.  Many versions are full voice acted to boot.

So, there you go.  If you're in the mood for some cyberpunk, but don't have a high tolerance for cyber bugs or eurojank, then maybe check one or more these games instead.  They may not have the breadth or flash of a big budget title, but a lot of heart went into creating them...and, when you get down to it, isn't that what all those mega-corps are lacking in cyberpunk stories?