There’s more to the cyberpunk genre than rain-soaked future-cities, flying cars, and geishas winking from video billboards. The following games capture the essence of cyberpunk beyond just visuals, holding a cracked mirror up to our own society and sending us a warning from the future. And, well, they’re just really cool too. If your aesthetic is sulky, leather-clad hackers with cybernetic implants brooding in rainy, neon-lit alleyways, then you’ll get a kick out of these games as well. There’s something here for every kind of cyberpunk.

Deus Ex

Year 2000

Developer Ion Storm

Link Steam



Play it if you like Stealth, immersive sims, conspiracies, freedom



Augmented government super-agent JC Denton gets tangled up in a conspiracy that threatens the future of the entire world, and takes it upon himself to bring the people responsible down. A peerless stealth sandbox with a brilliantly dark, paranoid story that takes Denton from New York City to Area 51.



Read more Revisiting Deus Ex, Ion Storm’s classic cyberpunk RPG

Blade Runner

Year 1997

Developer Westwood Studios

Link Wikipedia



Play it if you like Atmosphere, puzzles, rain, Blade Runner



Rookie cop Ray McCoy hunts a group of rogue replicants on the grimy, rain-sodden streets of Los Angeles. An inventive point-and-click adventure game that riffs a little too heavily on the movie it’s based on, but gives you the chance to explore a gorgeous recreation of Ridley Scott’s influential dystopian city.



Read more Returning to Westwood’s Blade Runner

Technobabylon

Year 2015

Developer Technocrat Games

Link Steam



Play it if you like Mysteries, dystopian cities, puzzles



Taking place in a city controlled by a sinister, all-seeing AI, this dark sci-fi mystery uses its dystopian setting to craft a brilliantly compelling and ever-twisting police procedural. Multiple playable characters, well-designed puzzles, and a rich story make this one of the finest modern point-and-click adventures on PC.



Read more Technobabylon review

Shadowrun: Dragonfall

Year 2014

Developer Harebrained Schemes

Link Steam



Play it if you like City hubs, RPG-style quests, turn-based combat, hacking



Set in a dystopian vision of the city of Berlin, this tech-noir RPG features a rich urban setting to explore, satisfyingly tactical turn-based combat, and an array of different ways to play, whether you want to be an elite hacker or a futuristic samurai. Its unlikely blend of cyberpunk and high fantasy works surprisingly well.



Read more Shadowrun: Dragonfall review

Beneath a Steel Sky

Year 1994

Developer Revolution Software

Link Official site



Play it if you like Classic adventures, the art of Dave Gibbons, jokes



An early adventure by Broken Sword creator Revolution. Crash landing on a huge, sprawling future-city, hero Foster and his robot pal Joey have to make their way to ground level, witnessing a brutal class divide and a city ruled by a fascist police state. However, despite the grim premise, it has a very silly sense of humour too.



Read more Rediscovering the quirky futurism of Beneath a Steel Sky

Neon Struct

Year 2015

Developer Minor Key Games

Link Official site



Play it if you like Stealth, immersive sims, freedom, Deus Ex



Don't let the simple graphics fool you: this is one of the best systems-based stealth games since Deus Ex, with a surprisingly well-told story and big levels with many alternate routes. The city and its omnipresent CCTV cameras makes for an effective cyberpunk setting, even if your imagination has to do a lot of the work.



Read more Neon Struct review

Final Fantasy VII

Year 1997

Developer Square

Link Wikipedia



Play it if you like Big RPGs, motorcycles, stories about injustice, chocobos



An unlikely entry, but the seventh Final Fantasy is cyberpunk as hell: especially the grim, futuristic city of Midgar, where the impoverished live in dingy slums below the wealthy above. It gets less cyberpunk outside of the city walls, but the influence of artists such as Giraud and Otomo is felt throughout.



Read more A tribute to Final Fantasy VII’s weird monsters

Uplink

Year 2001

Developer Introversion Software

Link Official site



Play it if you like Pretending to be a hacker, the '90s thriller aesthetic



When characters in cyberpunk fiction are tapping away at computers, this is what they're probably doing. An early game from DEFCON creator Introversion, it's a hacking/puzzle game with a really cool visual style. And if the art style’s a little retro for you, try the fantastic (and developer approved) Uplink OS mod.



Read more Why I love hacking in Uplink

2064: Read Only Memories

Year 2015

Developer MidBoss

Link Steam



Play it if you like Humour, puzzles, friendly robots



Set in a futuristic vision of San Francisco, this Snatcher-inspired point-and-click adventure tells a wonderfully heartfelt story, and stars an obscenely likeable robot sidekick called Turing. The colourful, vivid artwork, diverse cast of characters, and twisting plot make ROM an easy game to love.



Read more It’s time for cyberpunk games to remember how to be punk

The Red Strings Club

Year 2018

Developer Deconstructeam

Link Developer site



Play it if you like Thinking, mixing drinks, having hope for the future



The Red Strings Club is a cyberpunk adventure game with multiple playable characters, and a heavy focus on dialogue and character interaction over puzzles and exploration: whether it’s bartender Donovan teasing information out of his patrons, hacker Brandeis tricking people on the phone with a voice-changer, or Akara manipulating emotions by crafting cybernetic implants.



Read more The Red Strings Club review

Syndicate Wars

Year 1996

Developer Bullfrog Productions

Link Wikipedia



Play it if you like Strategy, satire, miniguns



Probably the best of Bullfrog's Syndicate series, Wars is a tactical RTS set in a bleak dystopia ruled by evil corporations. The totalitarian status quo of the city is under threat from a virus, and it’s up to you to keep the populace from rebelling—usually through violence. Dark, but also satirical, it has a touch of Paul Verhoeven about it.



Read more Let’s reboot Syndicate

System Shock 2

Year 1999

Developer Looking Glass Studios

Link Steam



Play it if you like Stealth, horror, customisation



A horror/FPS/RPG hybrid that would go on to inspire the much more well-known BioShock series. Set aboard a stricken starship, it's perhaps most famous for its sinister AI antagonist, SHODAN. There’s nothing more cyberpunk than an artificial intelligence gone rogue, and this is one of the finest examples of that on PC.



Read more Reinstall: System Shock 2

Transistor

Year 2014

Developer Supergiant Games

Link Developer site



Play it if you like Stylish combat, heartfelt stories, great music



Supergiant's follow-up to indie hit Bastion is one of the prettiest games on our list, but also boasts fast, kinetic combat, an engaging story, great voice acting, and a really amazing soundtrack. Cyberpunk doesn’t always have to be grey and drained of colour, as the vivid cityscapes of Transistor delight in proving.



Read more Transistor review

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Year 2011

Developer Eidos Montréal

Link Official site



Play it if you like Stealth, immersive sims, future settings, freedom



Eidos Montréal had a tough act to follow, but their take on the Deus Ex universe is fantastic. City hubs packed with missions and vivid world-building, a conspiracy-laden plot, and awesome augmentations (including punching through walls and turning invisible) make this a modern classic.



Read more Why I love Adam Jensen’s apartment

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