Cyberpunk Source Material: Games, Movies, Books

[PHYKUR]

The Cyberpunker Handbook - (Cyberpunk Source Material)

What exactly is Cyberpunk?
The question seems to be continuously resurrected in cyberpunk communities without ever coming to a conclusion as to a definition.
While it is true that cyberpunk may mean different things to different people, there certainly is a common thread.
Cyberpunk is about expressing (often dark) ideas about human nature, technology and their respective combination in the near future.
It consists of basic ideas, such as:​

• Impact of technology on humanity
• Transhumanism (Mix between man and machine)
• Anarcho-Capitalism or Corporativism
• The Underground
• Low life, high tech
• Futuristic Visuals

But Cyberpunk is more than that​

​

• Cyberpunk is an attitude
• Cyberpunk is an awareness
• Cyberpunk is a subculture
• Cyberpunk is a subgenre
  
  And it's just a matter of research to find out more about that, here goes some cyberpunk stuff you can dive in with no worries.

Roleplaying and Board Games:

• Cyberpunk 2020
• Android:Netrunner
• SLA Industries
• Shadowrun

CD-I:

• Angel Devoid
• Burn:Cycle
• Cholo
• CYBERMAGE: Darklight Awakening
• I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream
• Paradroid
• Circuit's Edge
• Snatcher
• Rise of the Dragon
• Johnny Mnemonic

PC / MAC:

• A.I. Wars
• Blade Runner
• Gunpoint Launch
• Distance
• Interference
• NeuroHunter
• CyberKnights
• Cell Factor Revolution
• Oni
• Enter The Matrix
• Shadowrun Returns (Alpha)
• BloodNet
• Quarantine
• Collateral
• Neuromancer
• Restricted Area
• Messiah
• Quadrilateral Cowboy
• Nikopol Secrets of the Immortals
• Syndicate
• Cyberpunk 2077
• Anachronox
• Deus Ex
• Deus Ex 2
• Chaos Overlords
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution (And Missing Link)
• Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
• Dex
• Dystopia (A Half Life 2 Source Mod)
• G-String (A Half-Life 2 Source Mod)
• HacX (A Doom II Total Conversion)
• Hard Reset
• Beneath A Steel Sky
• Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller
• Metal Gear Solid
• Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty
• Mirror's Edge
• Hacker Evolution
• Hacker Evolution Untold
• Hacker Evolution Duality
• Defcon: Global Nuclear Domination Game
• Darwinia
• Multiwinia
• Neocron
• Syndicate
• System Shock
• System Shock 2
• Frozen Synapse
• Reset
• Nikopol Secrets of The Immortals
• Binary Domain
• Uplink
• CYPHER Cyberpunk Text Adventure
• E.Y.E. Divine Cybermancy
• Omikron
• Crysis Series
• Mass Effect Series
• Anarchy Online
• Infernal
• Dead Space Series
• Battlefield 2142
• Quake 4
• Project Lodus
• Dreamfall Chapters
• Shadowrun
• Lost Planet: Extreme Condition
• Lost Planet: 2
• OpenOutcast Oasis
• Remember Me
• Marathon
• The Journeyman Project 1: Project Turbo!
• The Journeyman Project 2: Buried in Time
• The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time
• ShadowGrounds
• ShadowGrounds: Survivor
• Prototype Series
• Space Siege
• Outcast
• Red Faction: Armageddon
• Legendary
• MDK Series
• Project Eden
• Gemini Rue
• Paradise Cracked
• Dark Sector
• Satellite Reign
• Section 8
• Section 8: Prejudice
• Hydrophobia: Prophecy
• Mercury: Red
• Invisibility Inc.

Console Exclusive:

• Fear Effect Series
• Project Snowblind
• Megaman Series
• Ghost in the Shell Series
• Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots
• Appleseed
• Advent Rising

Books:

• Neuromancer
• Count Zero
• Mona Lisa Overdrive
• Burning Chrome
• Hardwired
• Voice of the Whirlwind
• Snow Crash
• Islands in The Net
• Vickers
• Mirrorshades
• Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep
• -When Gravity Fails
• A Fire In The Sun
• The Exile Kiss
• Transmetropolitan
• Idoru
• Otherland Book 1
• Otherland Book 2
• Otherland Book 3
• Otherland Book 4
• Cyberdonkey The Tales Of Hatchback Hernandes
• Finnegans Wake
• Altered Carbon
• Donnerjack
• Software
• Wetware
• Freeware
• Eclipse
• Eclipse Penumbra
• Eclipse Corona

Anime:

• A.D Police
• A.D Police Files (ova)
• AKIRA
• Appleseed
• Appleseed: Ex Machina
• Appleseed XIII (ongoing)
• Armitage III (ova)
• Armitage III: Poly-Matrix
• Armitage III: Dual Matrix
• Battle Angel
• Black Magic-M66 (ova)
• Bubblegum Crisis
• Bubblegum Crash
• Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040
• Cowboy Beebop
• Cowboy Beebop: Knockin on Heavens Door
• Cyber City Oedo 808
• Dominion: Tank Police
• Ergo Proxy
• Eve no Jikan
• Fist of the North Star
• Genocyber (ova)
• Ghost in the Shell
• Ghost in the Shell: Innocence
• Ghost in the Shell: SAC
• Ghost in the Shell: 2nd GIG
• Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society
• Ghost in the Shell: Arise
• Heat Guy J
• Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade
• Mardock Scramble: The First Compression
• Mardock Scramble: The Second Combustion
• Mardock Scramble: The Third Exhaust
• Mezzo
• Mezzo Forte (ova)
• New Dominion Tank Police
• Parasite Dolls
• Psycho Pass
• Real Drive
• Serial Experiments Lain
• Spriggan
• Texhnolyze
• Vexille: 2077 Isolation of Japan

Manga:

• A.D Police
• AKIRA
• Appleseed
• Battle Angel Alita
• Black Magic
• Blame!
• City of Darkness - (ongoing)
• Dorohedoro
• Eden: It's an Endless World
• Geno Cyber
• Ghost in the Shell
• Ghost in the Shell 2 Man-Machine Interface
• Ghost in the Shell 1.5 Human-Error Processe
• Legen of Mother Sarah
• Noise

Comics/GNs/Bande Dessinée:

• Automatik Kilombo
• Avatar (3 volumes)
• Bubblegum Crisis
• Cyberella
• The Dirty Pair
• Ficcionario
• Hard Boiled
• The Monster Tetralogy
• Judge Dredd (2000AD)
• The Last Days of American Crime
• Neurotrans
• The Nikopol Trilogy
• Ranx (Formerly known as Ranxerox)
• Ronin
• Robocop
• The Surrogates
• Narcopolis
• Vampi
• Gipsy
• Zhong Guo

 

[Sydanyo]

I can list all the Cyberpunk 2020 games for the PC or any console. It's a short list, with zero games on it, as far as I know.

The singular reason why Cyberpunk 2077 is such an awaited game.

 

[Aditya]

wait, blade runner had a video game on it? well thanks for the compilation

 

[PHYKUR]

Yes, im waiting for people to help me complete that list, and iil add links to videos of the games also, just need help from you guys people!

 

[SkycladGuardian]

Are all these games for PC?
By the way, neat to include Mirror's Edge, since its aesthetic style is at first glance the exact opposite of Cyberpunk standards.

 

[pewps]

E.Y.E. Divine Cybermancy. Hard to get into, but it's a very rewarding game.

 

[ed-209]

By the way Neocron 2 has been revived and is free to play now. Can be a good time killer before CP2077 see the light of day.

 

[Jayve]

CYPHER Cyberpunk Text Adventure , an oldschool text adventure game with fantastic art and music

 

[PHYKUR]

Update: 18/Jan/2013
- Added Links to almost all games
- Added 2 games to the list

 

[BigTinz]

Probably my first experience with a cyberpunk game...Dreamweb for the Amiga, although the PC-CD version includes voice acting and is superior. It certainly belongs on your list!

 

[zoorex]

damn i miss shadowrun

 

[arixson]

Shadowrun is not Cyberpunk , it is dystopian / dark future , but Cyberpunk is really it's own seperate genre where there is NO Magic , NO Psychic powers , NO Demons , Dragons , Undead , Elves etc... , sorry thats a huge bone I pick with people , Neocron is closer to being Cyberpunk even with it's inclusion and partial focus on Psychic powers.

 

[kingbrendarr]

Shadowrun is not Cyberpunk , it is dystopian / dark future , but Cyberpunk is really it's own seperate genre where there is NO Magic , NO Psychic powers , NO Demons , Dragons , Undead , Elves etc... , sorry thats a huge bone I pick with people , Neocron is closer to being Cyberpunk even with it's inclusion and partial focus on Psychic powers.

Shadowrun is a Dystopian/Dark Future with heavy cyber punk elements in it that include cyberization, megacorperations, and the matrix.

sorry but your probably going to have to keep picking that fight

 

[zeithri]

Shadowrun is not Cyberpunk , it is dystopian / dark future , but Cyberpunk is really it's own seperate genre where there is NO Magic , NO Psychic powers , NO Demons , Dragons , Undead , Elves etc... , sorry thats a huge bone I pick with people , Neocron is closer to being Cyberpunk even with it's inclusion and partial focus on Psychic powers.

No matter what grudge Mr. Gibson has against it, Shadowrun is Cyberpunk.
It features cybernetic implants, complete replacement of limbs, concealed weapons inside your arms, wired / boosted reflexes, Cybereyes and ears, the classic fingernail razors, hand spurs, subdermal plating, muscle replacement and more. It also has bioware. Yes, it do have magic and dragons and spiritual beings because Shadowrun's twist is that it's mixed with fantasy elements so we can have jacked up Elves and Trolls wearing leather jackets.

Cyberpunk does not equal a dark and dystopian future - Just how dark and dystopic is Appleseed or Ghost in the Shell? How dark is Blade Runner?

/End.

[HR][/HR]

Enter The Matrix & Matrix Online (only private servers are available due to official one closing down) counts into Cyberpunk games as well. That's all I can think of, the others been named already.

ADD; Oh! As I read in another thread that reminded me, the Megaman series of games has, believe it or not, cybernetic implants for humans. In fact by Megaman ZX, there exists a very low amount of 'true humans' as most are half-reploids and most reploids now have a lifespan.

Bungie's ONI is also a Cyberpunk game.

 

[Sardukhar]

Cyberpunk does, actually, in my opinion and that of the people who invented and popularized the term, equal a dark and dystopian future. It's essential.

All you're doing in y our list of gear is describing cyber. Whoop. Cyber does not equal the mix of self-interest, rebellion, oppression and near-tech that is cyberpunk.

That said, Shadowrun is pretty cyberpunk. Of course.

 

[PHYKUR]

Can we get back at adding games to the list please? Start em by saying below this comment please.
Thanks

 

[Sardukhar]

No. We've added them all. There are NO more...oh, wait. There might be one more.

 

[zeithri]

Cyberpunk does, actually, in my opinion and that of the people who invented and popularized the term, equal a dark and dystopian future. It's essential.

All you're doing in y our list of gear is describing cyber. Whoop. Cyber does not equal the mix of self-interest, rebellion, oppression and near-tech that is cyberpunk.

That said, Shadowrun is pretty cyberpunk. Of course.

I'd counter-argue with; Police.
If it's so dark and dystopian, why would anyone become a cop?
Like my two examples of both Appleseed and GITS, both of them features the main protagonists to be law enforcers.
Motoko is heavily cybered up BUT is the world dystopic? Why? Why not?

And if that's not Cyberpunk, then what is it?

A lot of the stories revolving Cyberpunk features an anti-hero as protagonist living for him/herself but that doesn't mean that everything has to follow that goldenrule of thumb.

 

[Sardukhar]

I'd continue this argument, but Killah is from 1981 and I try never to annoy time travelers.

 

[Littature]

Got 2 more for the list:

- Remember Me (Is not out yet. I think it's due to release this year though.)
- Frozen Synapse (Fun little turn-based strategy game I picked up on Steam.)