Hammerjack

Demolition Man takes place in a world with a large income gap, where the rich (or at least the middle class) live on the surface while the poor (or at least those wanting to be "free") live underground. And there's a lot of futuristic tech involved (like cyber sex!). But this is primarily a story about political correctness in a police state and it doesn't include any all-powerful corporations (aside from Taco Bell, of course). So what do you think? Do you consider Demolition Man to be cyberpunk?

Here's a trailer. It isn't streaming anywhere right now though.

If anyone has nostalgia for Syndicate or Syndicate Wars, I recommend Satellite Reign. It's a similar real-time squad-based isometric cyberpunk game as those games. Also, Satellite Reign wasn't just influenced by Syndicate, it was made by the producer and lead programmer of Syndicate Wars.

Syndicate and Syndicate Wars were both real-time squad-based isometric games. EA published both of them. Since EA owned the rights, they decided to make a new Syndicate game in 2012. Except this time they made it a first-person shooter:

This pissed off the original programmer of Syndicate Wars so much he created a kickstarter to make his own game, following the original Syndicate style. Of course, since EA owned the name "Syndicate" he had to name it something else. He called it Satellite Reign. The kickstarter was successful and he made the game. And it's really good.

Here's a trailer. You can get it on Steam or GOG.

I was originally going to ask whether you consider Running Man to be cyberpunk or not. But then I figured, that's a stupid question, of course it is. Just look at how they depicted Los Angeles:

We can argue whether or not it's a good movie, but it's definitely cyberpunk.

I was just thinking this movie has a police state with a small rebellion rather than a megacorporation that didn't care about human life. Typically, I would say it's just dystopian fiction if the nation is run by a police state and it's cyberpunk if the nation is run by megacorporations. But that's probably too narrow a view when everything else in this movie fits a cyberpunk setting. Especially a game show that doesn't care about human life.

Anyway, here's a trailer. You can watch it on Pluto or Hoopla.

Embrace the ritual of classic game installation using 97,619 3.5” diskettes!

Huntdown is a really fun game. The setting is more "high-tech, low-life" than neon city lights but it's still cyberpunk. It's just heavily inspired by the 80s style of cyberpunk. You basically move from left to right mowing down enemies until you reach a boss fight at the end of the level. So basic arcade-y gameplay, but really fun.

Here's a trailer. And it's currently 80% off on both Steam and GOG.

Time for a vote! Since Lemmy doesn't support polls, I'm just going to create a comment for each option. Whichever comment has the most upvotes wins. I won't count downvotes (I'll have a separate "protest vote" option). And I'll probably give it a week to let everyone vote.

I don’t know how many people here listen to industrial metal but I think the line:

I don’t care if you live or you die,
As long as you’re willing to BUY

is perfectly cyberpunk.

VirtuaVerse is a standard point & click adventure game that really nails the cyberpunk aesthetic.

This isn't surprising since the game was created by Victor Love, a guy who has been making cyberpunk music under various names for years. He was the lead singer for the rock band Dope Stars Inc. but also made synthwave/chiptune music under the names Hacking the Wave, Victor Love, and Master Boot Record.

The game is really well-made, although I'm no expert on point & click adventure games. I don't have the patience to solve moon logic puzzles so I typically just open a walkthrough and enjoy myself with the game. And by doing that, I really enjoyed this world.

Here's a trailer. You can get it on Steam and GOG.

While it might be hard to tell, I do try to find something to say about each post. If it's an obscure cyberpunk work, I'll try to describe it. If I think the work is more well-known, I'll try to ask a question to start a discussion. I do my best not to just go "hey, 'member Blade Runner??" and "hey, 'member Ghost in the Shell?" because I can't think of anything to really discuss about those.

But, I give up. I've got nothing on this one. 'member Strange Days?? It's a great movie.
(and yes, I'm referencing an old South Park episode here.)

Here's a trailer for Strange Days. You can watch it on Max.

I was thinking about posting Deadstar Assembly's cover of Send Me An Angel because their hairstyles are more ridiculous in that video, but it's a cover so I figured I should post one of their original songs instead.

Black Mirror is a fantastic series. If you haven't seen it, it's basically a modern day Twilight Zone (anthology series) but each episode is centered around some new scifi technology. Being an anthology series, you can watch the episodes in any order or skip whichever ones you want. A lot of the episodes are pretty dark, and many of them lean into cyberpunk themes. So which episode do you think is the most cyberpunk?

• Nosedive, where every aspect of society is determined by how others rate you on a scale of 1-5?
• Fifteen Million Merits, where everyone is locked in their own room and can only come out to ride a stationary bike all day?
• Be Right Back, where an android is built with the knowledge of a dead person's social media posts?
• Hated In The Nation, where whoever gets the most hashtag mentions is murdered the next day?

Here's a trailer for the series. You can watch it all on Netflix. Also, season 7 has been announced for 2025 and will feature a sequel to USS Callister (the Star Trek-like episode).