To be fair to the setting, “scary 80s Pajan” is a core part of the 1980s conception of what Cyberpunk was, and this is an adaptation of a specific setting first created in the 1980s. I also don’t think the main plot does a good job of really getting the setting across at all, as it’s pretty laser-focused on V and Johnny. It’s laden with side content and lore that paints a much more fleshed-out picture of the world.
I will admit the plot is kinda meh. They made a serious error having V be an apolitical dickbag for the entire plot. He’s supposed to be just some average Night City low-life player stand-in, and it’s entirely appropriate that you eat shit and die going up against a giant corporation, but it means that V can’t properly engage with anything that Johnny is saying. Not like there are any factions to engage with anyway.
If nothing else, remember this: Yorinobu Arasaka did nothing wrong
I’d be fine with some homage/nostalgia bits if it went more past that instead of just digging in, then and there, while moving the calendar date up some decades.
I’m going to be a real asshole now and argue that the total cultural stagnation adds a bit to the bleakness of the setting and Johnny even points it out in several instances
I know what it’s doing. It’s awfully convenient too, to just extend what was in the 2020s to the 2070s and say “it’s the same because it’s bleaker that way, maaaan.”
Could have been bleaker in newer, updated ways, the way Watch Dogs 2 was, for example.
Shadowrun, as a counter-example that you definitely can’t dismiss as easily as the other one I gave, is a franchise that decade after decade, for better or for worse, does change. It can be a bleak, even dark setting, but it doesn’t wallow in creativity-stifling excuses like “if nothing changes, that’s actually the message. Yeah, that’s the ticket.” It also helps that there’s a lot of urban-legend style street magic and lots of color and variety so it isn’t just 1980s aesthetics forever and ever.
The “punk” part of the cyberpunkerinos is so thoroughly bleached out that it’s unbearable.
Uh, punk is just being angry and doing drugs
Idk why you have to bring politics into music
Cyberpunkerinos is about sexy sex with prosthetics and neon and helping cops and saving the president.
Cyberlumpen 2077
Considering just how stale the political views and even the aesthetics are (dae le scary 80s Japan corps), may as well call it Cyberboomer.
Fucking Watch Dogs 2 had a more convincing and thought out cyberpunk setting with some actual punk vibes.
To be fair to the setting, “scary 80s Pajan” is a core part of the 1980s conception of what Cyberpunk was, and this is an adaptation of a specific setting first created in the 1980s. I also don’t think the main plot does a good job of really getting the setting across at all, as it’s pretty laser-focused on V and Johnny. It’s laden with side content and lore that paints a much more fleshed-out picture of the world.
I will admit the plot is kinda meh. They made a serious error having V be an apolitical dickbag for the entire plot. He’s supposed to be just some average Night City low-life player stand-in, and it’s entirely appropriate that you eat shit and die going up against a giant corporation, but it means that V can’t properly engage with anything that Johnny is saying. Not like there are any factions to engage with anyway.
If nothing else, remember this: Yorinobu Arasaka did nothing wrong
I’d be fine with some homage/nostalgia bits if it went more past that instead of just digging in, then and there, while moving the calendar date up some decades.
I’m going to be a real asshole now and argue that the total cultural stagnation adds a bit to the bleakness of the setting and Johnny even points it out in several instances
I know what it’s doing. It’s awfully convenient too, to just extend what was in the 2020s to the 2070s and say “it’s the same because it’s bleaker that way, maaaan.”
Could have been bleaker in newer, updated ways, the way Watch Dogs 2 was, for example.
Shadowrun, as a counter-example that you definitely can’t dismiss as easily as the other one I gave, is a franchise that decade after decade, for better or for worse, does change. It can be a bleak, even dark setting, but it doesn’t wallow in creativity-stifling excuses like “if nothing changes, that’s actually the message. Yeah, that’s the ticket.” It also helps that there’s a lot of urban-legend style street magic and lots of color and variety so it isn’t just 1980s aesthetics forever and ever.