It’s been a long time coming, but at last–at last–I’ve returned from my quest of poring through every last nook and cranny I could find of cyberpunk games under $5 (including itch.io’s list of 800-or-so games) to provide you with two final installments of this article series. Of course, cyberpunk games that won’t break the bank are always coming out, but in the future if we feel they’re worth covering, we’ll return to a more dedicated format that examines each one individually.

At first, I was primarily concerned with finishing up the games requested by our loyal commenters, but soon learned of two more mobile games in the vein of the last article’s Simulacra, a whole slew of synthwave-themed releases slated for Steam, and itch’s extensive library. After sifting through the flash games, demos, alpha builds, and vaporwave simulators, I found, well, very little, or at least little that hasn’t already been re-released on Steam. But it’s still more than enough to cover here (so many that I had to break this article into two installments), and most of the games can be downloaded for free, but the option to contribute money to the creators is available when prompted. If you’d like to see if you can uncover a hidden gem for yourself, you can find the list of itch’s cyberpunk-tagged games here. Unfortunately, though, Unity seems to have pulled support for their browser plugin, so many of these games are now inaccessible.

This article, however, covers all the games that stood out to me. So, without further ado, I’ve cobbled together the first half of something resembling a list of the last cyberpunk games currently available for those of you who have the time but not the money to spend on games without abandon because you’re saving your hard-earned cryptocurrency for whatever thousand-dollar next-gen system Cyberpunk 2077 is going to come out on.

Adventure/Text-Based Games

Neon Code

PC, Mac, and Linux: $2.99

Name your own price on itch

We may have thought it worthy of mention in a previous Last Week in Cyberpunk article, but upon actually playing through fubenalvo‘s Neon Code I’ve found that the storytelling doesn’t quite hold up to the hype. You play as Craig Williams, a down-and-out private detective living in a vaguely-futuristic beachside city who stumbles across a murder one fateful night. In an effort to get back into the good graces of your former employers, the police, you take it upon yourself to solve the case and find yourself tumbling down a rabbit hole of shady dealings in true noir fashion.

Or at least, theoretically. Neon Code plays as a first-person point-and-click adventure, which held some promise, but the gameplay is extremely linear (even in conversation you have no choice in your dialogue options) and often kills time by sending you on fetch quests, which is a bit of a flimsy device to lean on for a game that’s only supposed to take an hour to finish. Furthermore, assets are used and reused to the point of obvious laziness (I swear I spoke to the exact same character model used as a concierge on at least three occasions). To top it all off, Neon Code doesn’t seem to know what kind of game it wants to be, stylistically–there are anachronisms (such as 1950s-style American cars) set alongside individuals wearing futuristic clothing, walking along sidewalks outside buildings lit up with signs with garish neon kanji in a way that doesn’t feel cohesive. Understandably, since the the game was made by a single developer, there is only so much that could have fit into a short experience. But if it had a more focused sense of direction, whether it be through gameplay, dialogue, or aesthetics, the world would have felt much less empty.

Neon Code – 3/10

Localhost

PC, Mac, and Linux: $4.99

A better example of effective storytelling by a small team can be found in Aether Interactive‘s Localhost, a text-based adventure game in which you begin employment as a low-level grunt in an AI refurbishing business, tasked with wiping “defective” hard drives with deviant personalities installed upon them. How, you ask? You must insert each drive into a decomissioned android’s body and manipulate each AI into letting you erase them.

During my playthrough, a deep sense of unease built as I first plugged in an AI who, to his horror, discovers that he is in the body of the android he’d fallen in love with and came to a head when the last drive was revealed to contain an AI that seemed convinced he was entirely human. Inevitably, I lost my nerve and caused one of the drives to burn itself out, resulting in my termination from the company. Localhost puts you in the shoes of an executioner, and while the company assures you that each malfunctioning AI has been designed with self-defense mechanisms to seem more human in order to prevent accidental erasure or damage, the weight of your actions grows heavier with each conversation. While it is a rather short experience, Localhost is well worth the money.

Localhost – 8/10

Action Games

Reventa

PC: $3.99

This debut hack-and-slasher by Studio Nihlominius takes place in a clandestine island facility under attack by an apparent terrorist group that has implanted their minds into a set of prototype replicants, which have been enhanced with impressive swordplay abilities. As an AI under the banner of the facility’s authority, you transfer your mind into another prototype body and carve your way through hundreds of sexy female androids (unsurprisingly called dolls in this game) armed with katanas to get to the bottom of the attack.

Set up like a PS2-era game, Reventa’s actually pretty fun if you can get around (or behind) the gratuitous fanservice. Every character model, of course, is modeled after the conventionally attractive woman. Aside from that, the gameplay is refreshingly simple, with a level-based structure, basic controls, and a leveling system that isn’t riddled with skill trees. The visuals at times are gorgeous for a 3D independent title and drip cold, clean cyberpunk. Unfortunately, like other PS2-era games, it tends to glitch pretty badly every once in a while, and the character animations are somewhat janky, but the game otherwise is fairly solid.

Reventa – 6/10

Bot Vice

PC, Mac, Linux: $4.99

Alternatively found on itch

Released in 2016, Bot Vice takes place in cyber-metropolis Bot City during one fateful hour in which former police detective and current cyborg Erin Saver takes on a vicious gang called the Wildbots in an attempt at avenging her partner’s death and prevent them from blowing up the Tominaka Plaza building.

DYA games successfully gives the gallery shooter a breath of fresh air in this frantic, 16-bit bullet hell thriller. The game is a constant deluge of chaos, perfectly simulating the difficulty of the SNES era games its imagery invokes while still being enjoyable and encouraging to the player. I died frequently playing this game but rarely did I feel like setting the controller down. What’s more is the game is on a timer–you have roughly 38 minutes of in-game time to fight your way to the top of Tominaka Plaza, which you can extend if you clear one of its many fast-paced level in less time. The graphics and storytelling may seem somewhat childish, but I find it charming as it digs into a Megaman-esque cyberpunk world–a little watered down and simplistic, but still worthy of the label. Even if it isn’t your style, this may be the way to get that kid in your life (if you have one, somewhere) on the high-tech low-life culture.

Bot Vice – 7/10

Online Games

Mindnight

Play for free

Alternatively found here

No Moon‘s Mindnight is more or less another iteration of the card game Mafia with a nice cyberpunk coat of paint slapped on it. In it, players are part of a team of operatives in a subway tunnel, either trying to secure or compromise the citywide network, depending on their assigned role, and must sway their teammates’ views on who may or may not be a hacker in the game’s three rounds. Mindnight is a game of manipulation and cooperation, and suits the paranoia of cyberpunk rather well. Your character is customizable, and the graphics and music, while minimalistic, fit the aesthetic and set the mood. The only downside about this one is that it only provides online multiplayer matches, which might be a downside for you loners out there. Still, if you’re able to get past your social anxiety, you might get a kick out of it.

Mindnight – 7/10

Remnants of Earth

Play for free

Taking place 112 years in the future, Remnants of Earth is a mod of the free online game Second Life converted into a cyberpunk-western MMORPG. After Earth got used up, a large portion of humanity has evacuated to the stars, leaving behind a decaying world ruled by gangs, mutants, and offworld corporations. Unfortunately, since my PC is ancient by modern standards and not built for gaming, I was unable to run Remnants of Earth, so I’ll be unable to give the game a proper review. However, the game looks to have a distinct, well-thought-out execution of cyberpunk tropes on a dusty western backdrop. It seems to market itself as an online haven for the furry community, so depending on who you are, that’s likely either going to be a big point for or against your decision to join.

Sindome

Play for free

An entirely text-based MOO, Sindome takes place in Withmore City (aka Sindome, as it is a domed city), a depraved metropolis owned by corporate entities in a fractured, post-governmental world. Being that it is an MOO, it plays both like a text-based adventure and a tabletop RPG. Since the game is entirely text-based and requires an account to join, someone with an attention span like mine couldn’t personally get behind it, but this is a game where characters are taken seriously, has a rich lore, and takes inspiration from classics like Neuromancer, Judge Dredd, Total Recall, and Snow Crash. If you’re a diehard fan of Shadowrun or Cyberpunk 2020, this might be right up your alley.

Cybersphere

Play for free

I admit that in my last article, I realized too late that my recommendation to Cybersphere was not towards a generic mobile freeware shooter, but instead another text-based MOO. Like Sindome, Cybersphere is a text-based RPG in which you interact with other players in character, but the world-building takes a much darker, over-the-top turn. Set in an alternate history in which a clone of Coca-Cola’s CEO is elected president in 2000, Cybersphere’s vision of the future is largely post-apocalyptic, offering refuge only in walled city-states like the anarchy-ruled New Carthage, while the one percent dictate on-world affairs from satellite colonies and deckers jack into a more palatable world offered by the Matrix. If you think bigger is better, then give Cybersphere a go. Or hell, go nuts and try them both out, they’re free!

That’s it for this week, tune in next for the final installment of this series. As always, leave any suggestions for budget games to cover below in the comments. And if you’re new to this article series, check out the earlier entries while you’re at it:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7