Genre Discussion: Cyberpunk

[Reynard]

I would say that it lacks one very important element that keeps it from being cyberpunk: electronics of any sort.

Also, Arcane puts a strong focus on the craftsmanship of individuals, rather than on the mass-produced power of the corporate-state, which again, leans it away from cyberpunk. And also carries a stronger thread of the individual actually having power against the corporate-state.

That puts is pretty solidly in steampunk/magitech arena, rather than cyberpunk.

I think a lot of cyberpunk gives its heroes some leverage against the corporate state. All of it is dystopian, but it isn't all completely bleak.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I've gotten to a point where the last piece of media that really screamed 'cyberpunk' was CY_BORG.

Everything else in the more mainstream has become too clean, slick, and hopeful, that it just misses the point for me.

Then CY_BORG came along, and has really just dumpstered everything else for me, to the point where I see kickstarters for other cyberpunk themed content and I just cannot get on board.

Tuesday Night Games is talking about a Mothership book about Earth that will be hardcore bleak cyberpunk and I have high hopes for that, given the tone of the rest of the game. But otherwise, yes to all of this.

 

[Kichwas]

I like how shadowrun dips it's chocolate magic into cyberpunk peanutbutter. I just hated the system.

There's a couple of games that do this.

My current favorite is the newer Otherscape.

Cyberpunk genre as a general topic: My favorites have always been the stories that are not about the future internet nor cybernetics. But about larger society or otherwise deeper topics.

 

[Deset Gled]

These days I think that there's a lot of genre mixing that blurs the lines, but it's not a bad thing. ...

There's not a lot of pure Cyberpunk around anymore

I think that its getting harder to do "pure" cyberpunk for the same reason its harder to do a modern version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea or The First Men in the Moon. Science marches on.

"Twisters" (2024) is an example of something that would have been cyberpunk once. Rogue teams racing across the countryside while live streaming, hacking satellites, and fighting each other for data. But they're all united in a common battle against the evil corp that tries to profit off the misfortune of others. Of course, those are the parts of the movie that are considered grounded today. John Wick is another; the huge sections of those movies would be awesome cyberpunk in the 1980s, but now they're just "action".