Ooh and ahh at VirtuaVerse's cyberpunk city
Glitch in the system
Upcoming cyberpunk point and click adventure game VirtuaVerse has exposed my moth-like attraction to pink and purple neon. I know that cyberpunk is more than this and I hope that the game will critically engage with the genre's roots beyond kanji street signs and something called “cryptoshamans.” And yet. Look how pretty this trailer is.
If that wasn’t enough, the Steam page also includes other teases laser targeted at me, specifically. Look at these good video game plants, for example.
I assume this is a trick of the artificial intelligence that’s taken over the world in VirtuaVerse, making me see only things that I really want to see. Like the strange floppy disk/QR code mashup that makes me suddenly very invested in seeing how they integrate the clunky, touchable tech with the sleek interfaces of the world’s permanent AR. Hopefully, thoughtfully!
The story follows Nathan, who’s looking for his missing girlfriend, Jay. Which is my name, further making me assume that this is all a glitch in the chip in my brain. I do extremely want to be “a talented AR graffiti writer,” in real life, and extremely hope that my video game counterpart is not a damsel in distress. Or dead.
Nathan, who of course lives off the grid and “is among the few that can still switch AR off and see reality for what it is” must explore the world to find her, aided along the way by her hacker friends and “guild of AR technomancers.”
VirtuaVerse says it’ll be available “...in a future not so far away,” but for now you can find its store page on Steam.