I'm going to say up front that I prefer Cyberpunk to Shadowrun even though I like both. While I think there might be something to the fantasy element that helps Shadowrun endure, I don't think that's really it. As much as I love Mike Pondsmith and Cyberpunk 2020, new editions of the game continue to disappoint whereas Shadowrun has largely improved.
Cyberpunk - 1989
Cyberpunk 2020 - 1991
Cyberpunk v3.0 - 2005
Cyberpunk Red - 2020
Cyberpunk v3.0 presented us with what is essentailly a post apocalyptic setting in the aftermath of the 4th Corporate War and the total collapse of the net. They used a different set of rules for this version of the game and inexplicably used photographs of dolls dressed up and edgerunners for all their art. Seriously, look below. This version of the game was met with almost universal negativity and they only published 2-3 books.
"Look upon my works and weep." -- Mike Pondsmith (Editor's note: citation needed)
The new game,
Cyberpunk Red, went back to a simplified set of the rules used in
Cyberpunk 2020, and they've advanced the timeline from the 2030s to 2045. Probably the biggest problem with this game is that a lot of people who played
Cyberpunk 2077 on their consoles/computers at home or watched the anime
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Netflix are going to be disappointed that Red is nothing like it. I ran one campaign of
Red and my players and I all agreed that it wasn't a very good system and the setting just isn't conducive to the kinds of adventures the game purports to be all about. If I ever run another game of Cyberpunk I will probably go back to
2020.
While I don't care for
Cyberpunk Red, at least I was willing to give it a try. I read through 5th edition Shadowrun and said, "No #%$ing way."