Games to let me live out my Blade Runner fantasies

[specton]

I'm pretty sure that the City in Blade Runner is meant to be mostly abandoned and not crowded. Most of the people had left for off world. People who live there are not fit enough to travel to the colonies, can't afford it or have some other reason to stay behind. Maybe I just got confused about something between the PKD book and the movie. I haven't read or seen either in many years.

The novel "Metal Fatigue" by Sean Williams is a good example of Cyber Noir. An investigator in a closed off American city investigates a series of murders after a Nuclear war while trying to keep his military cyborg past a secret.

Neuromancer (1988) was made into a game but I don't think I would really call it Noir.

[specton]

Moby games has a category for Cyberpunk/Dark Sci-Fi There are many games on there you could check out.
http://www.mobygames.com/genre/sheet...k-dark-sci-fi/

[GameCat]

Specton, you're talking about book now. Ridley Scott cut off most themes like Deckard's wife, "cult" of having electronical animals, Mercerism etc and focused almost only on replicants.

The "problem" with BR movie is that except for replicants all futuristic devices and gadgets are just decoration. You could easily cut them out without any impact for story, while in typical cyberpunk all these nanotechnology, cyber-implants, network etc. are used as plot devices. Cut them and plot will be broken. That's why Blade Runner (movie) is somewhat unique.

[c-Row]

[...] and put http://perturbator.bandcamp.com/ on repeat.

Nice recommendation - sounds interesting so far.

[alms]

Most of the people had left for off world. People who live there are not fit enough to travel to the colonies, can't afford it or have some other reason to stay behind. Maybe I just got confused about something between the PKD book and the movie. I haven't read or seen either in many years.

Same situation here, but the off-world colonies pitch in the film always sounded ominous enough to me that the implication is they really are a slaughterhouse for the herd.

[lys]

It depends if you're only looking for a setting or a general feeling/mood.

Blade Runner is really unique as a movie, and also the universe within it. Sure, there were/is some similar stuff, but what makes Blade Runner is more than futuristic, overcrowded, always night Los Angeles (I assume that's what you seek).

If you put aside the impressive setting, art direction, clothing, lighting, framing and everything that defines a movie in the visual sense (this is what influenced most of cyberpunk/noir sci-fi videogames today), what's unique is the somewhat cryptic narrative/flow, and how much (important) info is given by little details. It's really a one of a kind movie, one of the best the west has produced (Thank you Philip K Dick and Sir Scott).

And the closest to all of that is Blade Runner, the game, by Westwood Studios. Not really a great game, but nailed a lot of things about BR right.
Second is of course Gemini Rue, great little game.

[TheXand]

Dunno if you're taking the piss or you really missed the point.

Cyberpunk is by nature dystopian; that's kinda why punk is right there in the name. If it wasn't making a pointed argument about class division, it'd just be futurist sci-fi.

In Blade Runner, we have off-world mining gulags, a sprawling black market dealing in synthetic life forms and organ farming, crowding that would make this Manhattanite feel cramped, and a clear class divide between an undercity gone to seed and the relatively glossy overcity of corporate magnates and their robot labor.

So either you're saying you missed all that, or you're saying modern cities are that bad now, which leads me to come to the conclusion that you only know modern cities from crime dramas.

Every country and city have clear differences between people living in poor block district and these living in penthouses or villas. Check.
Black market? Guns, drugs, rare animals (alive or their skin), ivory etc. Check.
Huge crowd - most of China and Japan big cities are crowded. Check. Also notice that there are many asians on the street in Blade Runner.

Organ farming? That Chinesse guy killed by Roy Batty was MAKING organs, not cutting them from living person.
Gulag like mines was for criminals and/or replicants. At least I remember it that way from MOVIE (not book).

It's not that different from present, except of poor weather conditions and probably greater pollution.

I have to disagree with GameCat and feel that Nalano is quite correct. I live in Aberdeen, one of the wealthiest cities in Europe and the oil capital of aforementioned continent. Everything is widely spaced, made of granite and only has a population of two hundred and twenty thousand people.

As for games - City of Lost Children (PSX), but it's just poor game adaptation of awesome movie with the same title.
It looks like mix of Blade Runner and Bioshock (even one character wears diving suit similiar to Big Daddy's one) with some Dickensian (is it even a word?) plot.

I'll have to check that out actually, looks pretty interesting.

Did anyone say
E.Y.E.: Divine Cybermancy?

This game had a very cyberpunk/blade runner type feel for me. I rather enjoyed it despite it's quirks. It will likely go on sale for 75% off over the XMAS sale on steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/91700/

Also, try Neuromancer for C64 : http://www.lemon64.com/?game_id=1780
I still play through this from time to time...great game. Make sure to get the C64 and not the MSDOS version. C64 is the superior version of the two.

Aha, yes that game is excellent indeed and nails the sort of feel I'm looking for.

what about tex murphy games i suggested before? noir, cyberpunk, adventure.

I'm not so keen on them. They look like those old live action PC games that I try to pretend never happened.

I'm pretty sure that the City in Blade Runner is meant to be mostly abandoned and not crowded. Most of the people had left for off world. People who live there are not fit enough to travel to the colonies, can't afford it or have some other reason to stay behind. Maybe I just got confused about something between the PKD book and the movie. I haven't read or seen either in many years.

The novel "Metal Fatigue" by Sean Williams is a good example of Cyber Noir. An investigator in a closed off American city investigates a series of murders after a Nuclear war while trying to keep his military cyborg past a secret.

Neuromancer (1988) was made into a game but I don't think I would really call it Noir.

I didn't really get the impression that the city was meant to be mostly abandoned, just that the wealthiest and most ambitious and productive of that city had migrated offworld, essentially removing the cream of the crop and leaving only the dregs thus leaving the city with a large population but in an economic and cultural slump.

[Nordom]

If you don't have any issue with moving into emulation territory, Snatcher (http://www.mobygames.com/game/sega-cd/snatcher) from Hideo Kojima is almost a complete Blade Runner rip off in graphical adventure format. Nice little game.

[GameCat]

Everything is widely spaced, made of granite and only has a population of two hundred and twenty thousand people.

Not every big city is like this. At least here in Poland where I live. I'm studying in Lodz city right now.
Sure, it looks nice sometimes:


But it have also some bad and ugly places like this:
http://images32.fotosik.pl/264/ec8893d6e5beba18.jpg
http://oksano.files.wordpress.com/20...kosciuszki.jpg
http://gfx.mmka.pl/newsph/354523/616228.3.jpg

Also there are some streets that better avoid at night, if you care for your health and money.

Or search for New York's Bronx district. Or "<insert city name here> poor district".

You should be happy to live in nice (part of) city. And you said one important thing that you're living in one of the most wealthiest city in UK. Not all big cities are rich and inhabitet by at least middle class only, Baltimore, USA for example.

And you should definitely check City of Lost Children, it was directed by the same guy who directed Amelie and have great music from Angelo Badalamenti (he provided score for most David Lynch's movies).

OK, I think this is enough, let's stop spamming this thread. :)

[onestepfromlost]

This won't be helpful at all, but what the hell. There were two adventure games of old, with an excellent atmosphere and quite a lot of freedom. The sequel is not as dark and Blade Runnerish, though.

B.A.T.
B.A.T. II - Koshan Conspiracy

ive always wanted to play bat but never did, Dont know how i would even go about it now. Probably need to dick about with dosbox quite a bit eh?

[hamster]

Loved the ambiance and the world of Blade Runner and realize that it was probably a huge inspiration for other works but the movie was kind of meh to me.

[Aerothorn]

Is there a reason no one recommended Blade Runner (the game)? Maybe too obvious? Just making sure the OP is aware it exists. You'll need to do this stuff to get it running on a modern OS, though: http://www.davidmillington.net/news/..._game_vista_64

[Nalano]

Or search for New York's Bronx district. Or "<insert city name here> poor district".

The fact that you have to say "the Bronx district" tells me you really have no experience with what you're talking about. It's The Bronx, and those of us who've lived there know exactly what it's like.

re: pix - Oh gee, peeling paint on a building. My heavens! Someone get the smelling salts!

[Casimir Effect]

Kick it old school and go play Syndicate, not the bloomy 2012 one, and Syndicate Wars if you can find a copy. Murder Agents, murder Zealots and murder Civilians, all in the name of EuroCorp.

You should be happy to live in nice (part of) city. And you said one important thing that you're living in one of the most wealthiest city in UK. Not all big cities are rich and inhabitet by at least middle class only, Baltimore, USA for example.)

While Aberdeen is wealthy that money is tied to only a small percentage of the population. That city has some grim parts that you don't want to end up in unless your dress sense involves tracksuits, trainers, and buzzcuts, with a bottle of buckie to accessorize.

[fiddlesticks]

Is there a reason no one recommended Blade Runner (the game)? Maybe too obvious?

Someone did:

I don't want to sound stupid, but have you considered the Westwood Blade Runner game? It's rather good.

You know, I'd considered it and it looks brilliant but I heard it had problems running on modern systems, 64 bit systems especially. It's not on GOG or Steam either :'(

The link you posted is new though, so thanks for that.

[TheXand]

Kick it old school and go play Syndicate, not the bloomy 2012 one, and Syndicate Wars if you can find a copy. Murder Agents, murder Zealots and murder Civilians, all in the name of EuroCorp.


While Aberdeen is wealthy that money is tied to only a small percentage of the population. That city has some grim parts that you don't want to end up in unless your dress sense involves tracksuits, trainers, and buzzcuts, with a bottle of buckie to accessorize.

Ahh, Torry. A more wretched hive...

Is there a reason no one recommended Blade Runner (the game)? Maybe too obvious? Just making sure the OP is aware it exists. You'll need to do this stuff to get it running on a modern OS, though: http://www.davidmillington.net/news/..._game_vista_64

Cheers mate, that should come in very handy indeed.

Loved the ambiance and the world of Blade Runner and realize that it was probably a huge inspiration for other works but the movie was kind of meh to me.

That's not too unusual actually. I personally felt the same way about the Lord of the Rings books.

[Dekkard]

Three pages about cyberpunk games and not a single mention of Neocron?

[Lukasz]

Three pages about cyberpunk games and not a single mention of Neocron?

it is dead isn't it?

[BillButNotBen]

If you don't mind emulation, then the shadowrun RPG was pretty good. there are two shadowrun games on SNES and Megadrive, and one was an awesome top down RPG and the other was a boring kinda adventure game - but i can nver remember which was which.
Ah, good one was this one: http://www.mobygames.com/game/shadowrun
(actually the other might not be bad, i never got out of the first building ;-) http://www.mobygames.com/game/snes/shadowrun_

Also, I don't know if it counts as cyberpunk, but how about The Nomad Soul? Not that it's aged well.

Given that bladerunner and aliens were such huge influences on movies and games, it's strange that there aren't many actual cyberpunk games. I think it's because the cyberpunk trend was back in the NES/SNES days and that's eons in gaming terms.

[TheXand]

Three pages about cyberpunk games and not a single mention of Neocron?

I'm not really interested in playing old MMO's that aren't active any more, sorry :/