4 ms·
I'm a HUGE fan of Gibson's books, but let's be honest: he's 72 years old, and might not be the best judge of modern video games. He was also involved in (and wr
by nkohari 6y ago
I'm a HUGE fan of Gibson's books, but let's be honest: he's 72 years old, and might not be the best judge of modern video games. He was also involved in (and wrote the screenplay for) the Johnny Mnemonic movie, which was one of the blandest attempts at mainstreaming cyberpunk ever.
The Japanese stereotypes and Haitian gangs are lifted straight off the pages of Neuromancer and Count Zero. I dig the retrofuturist 80s vibe, but then I love retrofuturism in general so that's not surprising.
In the end, CP2077 is a AAA video game. It has to appeal to the general population, so yeah, it's probably not going to be the most experimental take on the genre. As mainstream cyberpunk attempts go, can we at least agree it's heads-and-shoulders better than Netflix's Altered Carbon? :)
- ineedasername 6y agoNetflix's Altered Carbon? Yes. It definitely fell flat for me. Having read the source material probably didn't help there since it was so much better. Although even the book... I re-read about 2 years ago and it wasn't nearly as good as I remembered it from around 2006.
- Pfhreak 6y agoI agree on altered carbon for sure. The Haitian gangs, however, are based on the Voodoo Boys from the original source material. (Though I understand why they changed the game to have them not be a bunch of racist white dudes with dreads.)
- nkohari 6y agoYeah, but Mike Pondsmith no doubt drew inspiration for the Voodoo Boys from the Rastafarians living in orbit in Neuromancer, and from the AIs representing themselves as Haitian voodoo gods in Count Zero. The tabletop game draws heavily on Gibson and Philip K. Dick by the way of Blade Runner. (And to be clear, I love that!)