Cyberpunk 2077 has continued gaming’s love affair with the cyberpunk aesthetic, with the medium’s infatuation with the style stretching all the way back to 1988’s Snatcher. Several games, however, appear to rival the upcoming title’s mastery of its source material, ranging from first-person shooters to seminal action RPGs. With Cyberpunk 2077’s groundbreaking gameplay reveal still fresh in the mind, here are six games that nail the aesthetic.
Cyberpunk Games CD Projekt RED Probably Used as Homework
VA-11 HALL-A
You know the one place that consistently looks incredible in futuristic fiction? That’s right: bars. Whether it’s Blade Runner or Mass Effect, futuristic pubs and clubs are a tidy summation of the genre’s tropes and sensibilities. VA-11 HALL-A, from start to finish, takes place in a solitary future bar in Glitch City, never leaving the confines of its neon-glazed watering hole. Players assume the role of a bartender as they talk to a variety of different people, solving what is essentially a puzzle to work out which type of drink will push the narrative forward.
The characters always encompass a fascinating facet of dystopian fiction, with their stories and personalities subtly leaking out information about VA-11 HALL-A’s corporation-dominated future. The title’s cutesy 8-bit aesthetic serves as a contrast to its gritty stories. Whether the patrons of the bar are discussing the domination of nanomachines or the tyrannical police forces known as The White Knights, VA-11 HALL-A remains consistently embedded in the cyberpunk canon.
