What I like about CP2077 is that when you take the setting as a whole, not just as presented in the game (though visually and aurally they really do a fantastic fucking job, I really must stress that) it’s basically the most purely distilled essence of the genre you can get anywhere. I’m not sure how bleak Watch Dogs 2 is, but is it “Africa and a good chunk of South Asia pretty much entirely depopulated due to starvation since no corporations wanted to invest in hydroponics skyscrapers there” bleak? Is it “rats and homeless people are mentioned in the same breath and both disposed of with nerve gas” bleak? It’s so fucking ridiculously bleak that it becomes humorous, and then keeps going to become sad again, because it’s so fucking believable. It’s entirely believable that US intelligence agencies would just fucking coup the country and do drug wars in South America to line their pockets and strengthen their grip until it just collapses into an economically broken heap. It’s disturbingly plausible that corporations would gain so much power that they engage in open warfare with each other over security contracts. It’s a setting that’s ridiculous and over the top and cheesy but in a way that somehow resonates deeper than one which takes itself more seriously.
There’s a powerful manic energy to the setting that is barely masking a despair that runs to its deepest hollows. Articles you find discuss the horrors of companies being allowed to enforce cyberware installations like dress codes, and how it’s not a big leap for them to enclose and monetize and entirely control human reproduction, creativity, and thought. It’s a society that has entirely given up hope and is running out the clock in as flashy and fun a way as possible. The highest aspirations most mercs have is dying violently and gloriously, in a way that makes people remember you.
It is, in a word, Jokerfied
(Or maybe I’m just a pretentious drunken fuckwad lol)
Again, you do you. I have problematic favorites of my own, but when it comes to bleak future dystopias, I could easily find something a lot more diverse, creative, and complex that isn’t so rigidly confined in the tropes under whatever excuse and dares to reach out from there, including into the supernatural. By that I mean Shadowrun as the first and most shining example, rough patches and bad editions at times and all.
I actually enjoy grim fantasy medieval settings, as a parallel example, but if the bleakness is all that there is to emphasize, I’m going to lose focus and interest fairly quickly if it isn’t even going to try to reach beyond that and just wallow in it the way ASOFAI does. That’s my same issue with the franchise you like; it just… stops there. It’s fine if it goes there, but I want more, without any “doing more is not as bleak, we have a doctor’s note to stop here” excuses.
What I like about CP2077 is that when you take the setting as a whole, not just as presented in the game (though visually and aurally they really do a fantastic fucking job, I really must stress that) it’s basically the most purely distilled essence of the genre you can get anywhere. I’m not sure how bleak Watch Dogs 2 is, but is it “Africa and a good chunk of South Asia pretty much entirely depopulated due to starvation since no corporations wanted to invest in hydroponics skyscrapers there” bleak? Is it “rats and homeless people are mentioned in the same breath and both disposed of with nerve gas” bleak? It’s so fucking ridiculously bleak that it becomes humorous, and then keeps going to become sad again, because it’s so fucking believable. It’s entirely believable that US intelligence agencies would just fucking coup the country and do drug wars in South America to line their pockets and strengthen their grip until it just collapses into an economically broken heap. It’s disturbingly plausible that corporations would gain so much power that they engage in open warfare with each other over security contracts. It’s a setting that’s ridiculous and over the top and cheesy but in a way that somehow resonates deeper than one which takes itself more seriously.
There’s a powerful manic energy to the setting that is barely masking a despair that runs to its deepest hollows. Articles you find discuss the horrors of companies being allowed to enforce cyberware installations like dress codes, and how it’s not a big leap for them to enclose and monetize and entirely control human reproduction, creativity, and thought. It’s a society that has entirely given up hope and is running out the clock in as flashy and fun a way as possible. The highest aspirations most mercs have is dying violently and gloriously, in a way that makes people remember you.
It is, in a word, Jokerfied
(Or maybe I’m just a pretentious drunken fuckwad lol)
Again, you do you. I have problematic favorites of my own, but when it comes to bleak future dystopias, I could easily find something a lot more diverse, creative, and complex that isn’t so rigidly confined in the tropes under whatever excuse and dares to reach out from there, including into the supernatural. By that I mean Shadowrun as the first and most shining example, rough patches and bad editions at times and all.
I actually enjoy grim fantasy medieval settings, as a parallel example, but if the bleakness is all that there is to emphasize, I’m going to lose focus and interest fairly quickly if it isn’t even going to try to reach beyond that and just wallow in it the way ASOFAI does. That’s my same issue with the franchise you like; it just… stops there. It’s fine if it goes there, but I want more, without any “doing more is not as bleak, we have a doctor’s note to stop here” excuses.
To be clear: if it was a book I’d entirely agree. But as a giant digital diorama to fuck around in, I adore it