The Only Cyberpunk Games That Actually Deserve Your Time (Forget That Overhyped Mess)
Hello everyone. Let’s get something out of the way right now – cyberpunk is not, and will never be, just about waving neon tubes in your face while blasting synth music into your eardrums until you either develop tinnitus or start wearing a trench coat in July. Oh no, it’s the genre that keeps giving, but not because of shiny billboards or chrome prosthetics. Cyberpunk thrives because it digs its wires right under your skin to show you the bleak, corporate-saturated, technology-suffocated mess we’re probably heading towards. But some games actually get it right. And some… well, they just play sci-fi dress-up and call it a day.
So, buckle up. Because we’re going to slice through the big hitters of this genre beyond your singular fixation on… that one big shiny open-world mess from 2020. These are cyberpunk games that remind you it’s as much about people trying to live another day as it is about cool katana kills. And yes, I’m looking directly at you, Ghostrunner – but we’ll get there.
System Shock Remake (2023): Technology Wants to Kill You, Surprise!
System Shock Remake is a claustrophobic reminder of why you should never let an AI run anything more complex than a toaster. SHODAN is the omnipresent cybernetic sadist whispering in your ear while you scramble around Citadel Station fighting off mutant rejects straight out of a medical experiment gone wrong. Every corridor feels like it was designed by someone who hates human comfort, and the atmosphere is suffocating in the best way possible. Unlike the flashy urban mess of Cyberpunk 2077, this is intimate horror. Less “neon nightlife,” more “how long before the life-support turns into a death trap?”
Cloudpunk (2020): Death Stranding, Now With Neon Lights
Flight-sim meets existential crisis. That’s Cloudpunk in a nutshell. You play Rania, a glorified Uber driver in a pixelated vertical nightmare called Nivalis. You don’t fight crime. You don’t hack an evil corporation. You just deliver packages, hear people’s horrible life stories, and try not to question why your boss sounds like a Reddit mod. The game thrives in its slower pace and atmosphere. It’s less ‘saving the world’ and more ‘surviving it.’ Like a meditative breathing exercise… if your meditation spot was a capitalist hellscape where skyscrapers block out the sun.
Ghostrunner (2020): Blink and You’re Dead
Ghostrunner is what happens when Mirror’s Edge and Hotline Miami take a Red Bull-fuelled trip to Bladerunner’s back alley. No time to admire the view – you’re too busy dying for the 48th time because you didn’t wall-run between two enemies in exactly eight frames. One hit, and you’re a smear on the floor. But the same rules apply to your enemies, which makes victory feel like performing heart surgery with a chainsaw – messy but immensely satisfying. Story? Yeah, something about authoritarian control and finding your place in the world. Whatever. The real narrative is timing your sword slash perfectly so you don’t look like an idiot.
VA-11 Hall-A (2016): Cocktails and Existential Dread
The “cyberpunk bartender action” game is actually one of the most quietly brilliant experiences you’ll ever have. You’re Jill, a bartender in a depressing little hole called Valhalla. You don’t overthrow corporations. You don’t save the day. You make drinks and listen to the personal tragedies of your patrons. It’s basically the surgeon’s lounge in an ER: everyone’s broken, no one’s fine, and the only way forward is through small kindnesses… and alcohol. The drink mixing mechanic is satisfying enough to keep you invested, but it’s the intimacy and storytelling that hook the scalpel in your brain and twist.
Detroit: Become Human (2018): Android Civil Rights, Now With Quick Time Events
Detroit: Become Human asks big, complicated questions about civil rights, free will, and what it means to be human… then smacks you in the face with dialogue so preachy it feels like a motivational speaker’s YouTube ad. The branching choices are genuinely impressive – parallel universes spun from your decisions in ways most games can only dream of. But the subtlety of its message? Nonexistent. This is the narrative equivalent of a patient screaming their diagnosis before you even check their pulse. Still, it’s worth playing at least once if only to appreciate the ambition… and maybe laugh at the melodrama.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution & Mankind Divided: The Gold Standard
Pre-2077, Deus Ex was the cyberpunk king. Human Revolution gave us Adam Jensen, a man forcibly turned into a cybernetic Swiss Army knife, unraveling conspiracies so tangled they make QAnon threads look like children’s doodles. It balanced complex themes – humanity versus augmentation, corporate greed, environmental collapse – without ever becoming a chore to play. Then Mankind Divided followed with a darker, more fractured world where augmented individuals are oppressed and society teeters on the brink. Both games are the masterclass in how to marry gameplay, worldbuilding, and philosophical gut-punches. It’s criminal the next sequel was canceled. If cyberpunk has a patient zero for excellence, this is it.
Final Prognosis
Cyberpunk is not about the toys. It’s about the humans – fragile, flawed, stubborn – standing under the neon glow, trying to make it through one more day in a system designed to grind them down. The games here, from System Shock’s isolationist tech-horror to VA-11 Hall-A’s quiet bar stool confessions, prove that the genre is infinitely bigger than one buggy blockbuster that’ll remain nameless. Games, like medicine, hurt less when done right – precision, insight, and a bit of style.
Overall verdict? Good. Very good. But only if you’re willing to look beyond the shiny distractions and embrace the messy, complex humanity underneath the chrome plating. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is entirely my opinion.
Article Source: 6 must-play cyberpunk games that are not Cyberpunk 2077, https://www.xda-developers.com/the-greatest-cyberpunk-games-like-cyberpunk-2077/
