People should read more cyberpunk outside of Gibson :/
Transhumanism means nothing, except for "random dude with implant".
It's just enhancing your body.
What is supposed to be the background in "transhumanism"?
Cyberpunk is mostly about transhumanism, but transhumanism isn't about cyberpunk
Just look at the tv show "real human"
It's filled with transhumanism themes and all,
"what make us human? can a robot become an human then?"
Yes it's cool, I recomend this show to everyone, but I'll suckerpunch the first person to call it "cyberpunk".
In Gibson, sure, Neuromancer is all about "omg, japan is badass" (mostly because... it happens in Japan), and to be honnest, Japan keep on ruling on a lot of things today, just check the "Toyota management guide", it's pretty creepy, and no, it's not cyberpunk, it's real life...
But check out some Sterling, Spinrad, Jon Williams, etc...
They barely talk about japan, or whatever, but it's all in the mood and all those things, you can still see our today's world in a over-the-top way.
And just to add this, in Cyberpunk 2077 it'll be almost once century that people hang around with cyber-body parts or implants, I think that no one give a fuck about the "transhumanism" anymore, it's common
Today, we're not like
"Omg a Cellphone! where are we going? are we still humans?"
We all have phones, etc... It doesn't scare anyone.
Now, just tell you that, in the cyberpunk 2077 world, they've dealed with cybernetics for longer than we have deal with cellphones and internet, so yes, excepted for a bunch of luddite, no one freak about cybernetics, it's all part of their world.
Now, it's what cyberpunk is supposed to be.
You don't "freak" about hi-tech, you just deal your daily shitty life, as a random person in a city populated by billions.
Cyberpunk is more about the "social" than the "Tech".
From a cyberpunk game, I'd expect a lot of work on the "social" side, with a lot of critics on our today world, not in a "direct" way (it's not Michael Moore lol), but by building a world, similar to our, pushed in the future, and pulling all the broken things over the top.
In 80's cyberpunk, they talked about rise of megacorporations eating the smaller one, the ultra rich living in their crystal city, explosion of poverty, no more work, no "social-evolution" because a bunch of fuckers keep the pie for themselves, etc...
Now, come tell me it's no more connected to the today world, a lot of country has a high unemployement rate, big corporation put people in the street and move their manufactures in the third world (an Iphone costs 5$ to build, and Apple use a 300% rent over it, so you just pay 600$ for nothing).
I don't want to go in a "politic" thread, but come on, Cyberpunk is more about "the people" than the tech.
I want Cyberpunk 2077 to present our current world, pushed in the future, if 80's cyberpunk was grim, and seeing that it somewhat happens today, the 2077's one should be even more hardcore. So people can think about those things and say
"wow, it's true that if you look at this like this... it's fucked up", but in a neutral way, so everybody can make their own opinion about it.
Deus Ex was more "Transhumanist", you know, because the main character was "out of the screen", he was one of the only people with advanced cybernetics
(when you look in the street, most people don't wear any, it's mostly for cops/security/thugs).
It revolved only about the fact the main character had his body changed, but beyond that... we had the Illuminati, sorry but that was just plain retarded.
Cyberpunk isn't dead, stop looking at the "box", and look what is inside, it's still fresh, and maybe fresher than "Star Wars Episode VII" that everybody know what to expect from.
Damn, we have hackers, Anonymous, politics going crazy, Google working on their "Wintermute IA-like", etc...
And you tell me that "Cyberpunk" is outdated?
Just give it a fresh look, update the "social" and "tech" side of it, and you have something up in it's time.
It's still more relevant to us and our world than "The witcher", or any "fantasy" world.
Sure, people would freak about it being all "politics / anarchist / No God - No Master", but hey...
It's Cyberpunk, it's just how it's supposed to be.
I know most people only have read "Neuromancer", but even if it has "launched" the style, Cyberpunk is far to be limited to it, it's a dense universe, adding stuff from book to book, author to author.
The only thing that worries me about Cyberpunk 2077 are the art-style, the gameplay and the "political" side out of it, because it's just what makes Cyberpunk "Cyberpunk".
Removing all of this would be like doing a Doom without guns and gore or whatever. I hope CDPR will really read a lot of books, the source material and really "nail" the core of Cyberpunk, because it's not just "bulky tech from blade runner", it's so much than this, and I'm really scared that they would miss the shot.
If they release a generic sci-fi game with not much to chew on "background wise", I'm honnestly not interested :/
Even if it looks like Blade Runner, that's not what Cyberpunk is about.
Cyberpunk is a setting, it's not an art style.
The same when people talk about "punk" and just come with the same old "The Clash, the Exploited, Sex Pistols, etc..."
the Punk "scene" is so much more than this, and the Cyberpunk is directly connected to the "Hardcore Punk" stain of mind.
Remove the hardcore punk from Cyberpunk and you have something... which isn't Cyberpunk, it's just Deux Ex with attitude, and it would suck.
I want to tag "Fuck Arasaka" on the wall and have a good reason to do it, more than "because they are the bad guys, it's written in the notice, you know, Illuminatis and Reptilian".