Released on July 19, 2022, Stray is a cyberpunk action-adventure title made notable thanks to a major twist; rather than adopt the role of a downtrodden human protagonist ala Cyberpunk 2077, Stray sees players step into the role of an ordinary cat.
Already one of the most well-received Steam games of the year, Stray seems destined to clean up during awards season, and that’s due in no small part to its excellent art direction. Melding striking neons with the somber darkness of its subterranean city, Stray joins a select few titles that really made the most of their cyberpunk settings.
11 Beneath A Steel Sky
Union City
Far removed from the action platformers which dominated consoles in the mid-90s, Beneath A Steel Sky was a thoughtful point-and-click adventure title developed by Revolution Software and published in 1994. Borrowing from other genre hits like LucasArts’ Maniac Mansion and The Secret of Monkey Island, Beneath A Steel Sky stands among the most smartly-written PC titles of all time.
That said, while it is set in a cyberpunk world ruled by a tyrannical AI, Union City has a very different look relative to other urban dystopias. Rather than adding a neon smear over the oppressive iron sprawl, Beneath A Steel Sky‘s city prefers to show its true colors, with greys and browns dominating a solemnly beautiful far-future hellscape.
10 Ghostrunner
Dharma Tower
Ghostrunner takes place in Dharma Tower, a colossal architecture that serves as the home for humanity following some kind of apocalypse. Its creators, however, proved to be power-hungry megalomaniacs who sought to subjugate the tower’s populace. As a result, it’s up to the newly-awakened protagonist—the last of a superhuman group known as the Ghostrunners—to ascend the tower and unseat its rulers.
The plot, however, takes a back seat to the snappy, lightning-fast gameplay and wonderful art direction. Dharma Tower is a graffiti-covered brutalist masterpiece, and Ghostrunner certainly makes the most of its unique premise and setting.
9 VA-11 Hall-A
Glitch City
Narrative-focused indie games with pixel art aesthetics have been done to death in the modern gaming era, but 2016’s VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartending Action managed to stand out from its deluge of contemporaries. Players assume the role of a bartender named Jill living in the charmingly cliché Glitch City in the year 207X, and, while the principle conceit revolves around interacting with patrons, this can only be done by mixing drinks, as there are no direct dialogue options.
Though it’s rarely actually seen, Glitch City is very much a part of the game. It’s gritty and desperate, and most of its citizens are in thrall to a totalitarian government. The game’s black, pink, and purple look adds quite a bit of flair to the city’s seedy underbelly.
8 Observer
Krakow
Developed by horror walking simulator phenoms Bloober Team, Observer is a dark cyberpunk horror experience set in Krakow, Poland in the year 2084. After a plague known as the nanophase brings about a kind of digital apocalypse, the megacorporation Chiron gains control and instills a new government. To help maintain control, they employ detectives known as Observers, who are able to hack into the minds of citizens.
Observer tells a bleak, dread-filled tale that’s reflected by its Bladerunner-inspired environment. The Krakow slums are brutal, and the hyper-advanced technology only seems to have furthered the oppression under which its residents suffer.
7 Ion Fury
Neo D.C.
Ken Silverman’s Build Engine was instrumental to the development of the burgeoning first-person shooter genre in the mid-90s, and it was used to power such classic titles as Blood, Shadow Warrior, and Duke Nukem 3D. Duke Nukem is particularly important, as 2019’s Ion Fury is essentially a spiritual successor to that franchise.
Duke Nukem 3D‘s first levels took place in the future city of Neo Los Angeles, and, appropriately, Ion Fury takes place in Neo D.C. Brutish concrete slabs and gritty neon are rendered with authentic late-90s charm and culminate in a beautiful panache of retrofuturism.
6 The Surge 2
Jericho City
Developer Deck13 was among the first to join the souls-like trend, releasing Lords of the Fallen in 2014 and the much more unique The Surge three years later. The Surge introduced a distinctive cyberpunk aesthetic, and this was further explored in the semi-open world sequel.
Taking place in the fictional Jericho City, the future depicted in The Surge 2 is less about glitzy urbanism and more about RoboCop-esque body modification. Still, from the sunken Seaside Court to the elysian Gideon’s Rock, Jericho City featured all of the major hallmarks of a cyberpunk cityscape.
5 Cloudpunk
Nevalis
Cloudpunk tells the tale of Rania, a delivery driver who works for the eponymous organization. Though she initially plans to lay low, she’s eventually roped into an adventure involving class inequality and corrupt artificial intelligence.
The game initially turned heads when it debuted in 2020 due to its direct Bladrunner influence; no game could more closely replicate the feeling of driving a Spinner through a far-future Los Angeles. Aside from the occasional-clunky on-foot sections, Cloudpunk is a near-perfect video game representation of a cyberpunk world.
4 Mirror’s Edge
The City of Glass
As was the case with Beneath A Steel Sky, the unnamed city seen in EA and DICE’s Mirror’s Edge offers a very unique take on the cyberpunk aesthetic. Sterling and sterile, the game’s bleached rooftops and barren streets make for an almost eerie parkour escapade.
The same city took on a slightly more traditional cyberpunk look in 2016’s pseudo-prequel Mirror’s Edge Catalyst with large billboards and ultramodern color pallets making for a Mondrian-like look. Though an atypical visual approach, the cyberpunk dystopia seen in the Mirror’s Edge games was stunningly beautiful.
3 Cyberpunk 2077
Night City
One of the most anticipated games of 2020 and one of the most infamously buggy titles of the eighth console generation, CD Projekt’s Cyberpunk 2077 is, despite its numerous controversies, one of the greatest cyberpunk games of all time. Set in the almost impossibly-dense Night City, Cyberpunk 2077‘s environments feel simultaneously fantastical and strikingly tangible.
From the dirty city streets to the electric highrises, Cyberpunk 2077‘s neon-lit world is endlessly varied and makes for an excellent setting for a game that requires dozens of hours to beat.
2 Stray
Walled City 99
Famed for its unique approach, 2022’s Stray sees players explore a sealed cyberpunk city as a cat and work to help its robot populace escape to the surface. Adorable and delightfully atmospheric, Stray is a combination of more than a few disparate elements that mix together surprisingly well.
While the ability to play as a cat is the main draw, Walled City 99 comes across as remarkably cozy despite its dystopic overtones. Full of all kinds of amazing nooks and crannies and made memorable thanks to some fantastic vistas, it’s a cyberpunk city almost unparalleled in modern media.
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