Every Cyberpunk 2077 Fan Should Read, Watch & Play These 10 Video Game Alternatives

CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 has proved enduringly popular, but it’s not without numerous peers and direct influences. The first-person RPG takes its name from a whole subgenre of science fiction, and there are plenty of essential pieces of media both in and immediately adjacent to cyberpunk that any fan of 2077 should look into, from defining novels to all-time great films.

The list below excludes two obvious points of reference: CDPR’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, the popular anime created by Studio Trigger, which just recently had its second season announced. The Witcher 3 is a must-play for any RPG fan, and shares many of its strengths with 2077. Edgerunners is similarly recommended, but many 2077 fans have likely already watched the series.

10

Cyberpunk Red

Tabletop RPG, 2020

Although it’s another obvious next step, Cyberpunk Red deserves its own special mention. Cyberpunk 2077 borrows its world and many mechanics from the Cyberpunk tabletop roleplaying game, of which Cyberpunk Red is the latest edition, released right around the time 2077 came out in 2020. Playing with pen and paper is obviously a very different experience, but video roleplaying games are direct descendants of TTRPGs, so even though the medium changes, avid 2077 fans will find a lot of familiar elements.

Cyberpunk‘s various editions take place at specific times in the franchise’s canon timeline. Cyberpunk Red is set in 2045, and serves as something of a prequel to 2077, putting players in the aftermath of the Fourth Corporate War, which had its climactic incident in the Night City Holocaust, where Johnny Silverhand helped detonate a nuclear device in Arasaka Towers.

9

Neuromancer

Novel, 1984

Put simply: Cyberpunk 2077 would not exist in its current form if it weren’t for William Gibson’s Neuromancer. The 1984 novel is widely considered a foundational, massively influential entry in the cyberpunk genre, even going as far as to define some of the terms that crop up in Cyberpunk 2077‘s slang – Intrusion Countermeasure Electronics (ICE), for instance, is used throughout Cyberpunk 2077 when discussing Net security, and was popularized by Gibson’s work.

Neuromancer also helped pioneer a lot of concepts that are now inextricable from cyberpunk fiction, including cyberspace being navigable by “jacking in,” as Gibson called it. The story follows a hacker known as Case, who is recruited into a heist by an artificial intelligence. Just like Cyberpunk 2077, Neuromancer‘s world is filled with unchecked corporate power and a devaluation of human life. Neuromancer is now over 40 years old, but it’s still just as pertinent as it ever was.

8

Akira

Film, 1988

Akira is a masterpiece; everyone should watch it. Katsuhiro Otomo’s acclaimed opus takes place in Neo-Tokyo in a dire 2019 where rampant biker gang violence is just the most immediate threat next to massive corruption and vicious government crackdown. The story follows Kaneda and Tetsuo as the latter grapples with telekinetic powers he can’t control. Homage has been paid to Kaneda’s iconic motorcycle slide in an exceptional number of influenced works, from Adventure Time to Jordan Peele’s Nope.

Otomo also wrote the manga of the same name that Akira is based on.

Akira‘s influence on Cyberpunk 2077 is felt overtly in a version Kaneda’s motorcycle being purchasable in-game, called the Yaiba Kusanagi CT-3X (named after the protagonist of another influential anime film, Ghost in the Shell). Akira shares Cyberpunk 2077‘s ruminations on transhumanism, but takes those themes to an extreme, ultimately dealing with far larger metaphysical ideas.

7

Deus Ex: Human Revolution & Mankind Divided

Video Games, 2011 & 2016

The entire Deus Ex series is a classic cyberpunk tour de force, but its two most recent entries will likely be the most familiar to play for Cyberpunk 2077 fans. 2011’s Deus Ex: Human Revolution and 2016’s Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, both developed by Eidos Montreal, have their fair share of RPG elements, but they are also well within the immersive sim genre, giving players a tightly designed sandbox to pursue objectives however they see fit.

The duology follows Adam Jensen, a key member of the security team for a company that creates human augmentations. After he’s nearly killed in an attack on his employer’s headquarters, Jensen is given extensive body modifications so he can investigate those responsible. Human Revolution begins in 2027, with both games taking you to various cities and exploring many of the same quandaries that Cyberpunk 2077 grasps at.

6

The Matrix

Film, 1999

A major component of Cyberpunk 2077 is the pervasive performance by Keanu Reeves as Johnny Silverhand, and he stars as Neo in The Matrix, one of the greatest sci-fi movies ever made. Johnny Silverhand’s consciousness existing on a Relic slotted into V’s brain in Cyberpunk shares many thematic parallels to the Wachowski sisters’ 1999 classic, where humanity has been enslaved by robots and lives a docile, false existence within a simulation known as the Matrix.

Don’t overlook The Animatrix either. The collection of animated short films set in The Matrix universe is similarly fantastic.

In the film, Thomas Anderson, aka Neo, is thought to be the One, a prophesied savior that will save humanity from the machines. Its numerous, technically impressive action set pieces are filled with slo-mo, thin sunglasses, and an incredible number of leather outfits, and while its sequels are frequently derided, I enjoy all four films quite a lot. The Matrix is exceptionally influential, and even though it was made before the turn of the millennium, the special effects still hold up very well.

5

Blade Runner & Blade Runner 2049

Films, 1982 & 2017

Joining Akira and The Matrix in the pantheon of legendary science fiction films is Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and, arguably, its legacy sequel, Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049. The biggest parallel to Cyberpunk 2077 is the Blade Runner setting. The first takes place in 2019, with the sequel set in its eponymous year, in and around Los Angeles after much of the world has been ravaged by nuclear war. Amid the widespread societal collapse, megacorporations have risen to dominate society both on Earth and in off-world colonies.

Based on the Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, the original film centers on Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard, a jaded Blade Runner, a specialist in hunting down and retiring (executing) androids known as Replicants, which are illegal on Earth. 2049 stars Ryan Gosling as K, a Replicant working for the LAPD as a Blade Runner, who discovers evidence that Replicants could potentially reproduce biologically. Both films ooze an astounding amount of ambiance and wrestle with many of the same transhumanist themes as Cyberpunk.

4

Citizen Sleeper

Video Game, 2022

Citizen Sleeper is within the wide reach of The Matrix‘s aforementioned influence. In this dice-rolling RPG, you play as a Sleeper, whose consciousness has been implanted in a robot to serve the Essen-Arp corporation. As opposed to The Matrix (and Cyberpunk 2077), though, Citizen Sleeper is light on action. You interact with a wide cast of characters, rolling dice for vaious activities throughout each day.

Its text-heavy and methodical approach may appeal to those who enjoy Disco Elysium, but its writing shares a lot in common with Cyberpunk 2077‘s myriad quest lines. Citizen Sleeper was principally developed by one person, Gareth Damian Martin, who put out a sequel, Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector earlier this year.

3

Minority Report

Film, 2002

Another adaptation of a Philip K. Dick work, this time a novella, Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report follows Tom Cruise as John Anderton, chief of the federal Precrime unit in 2054. Precrime uses three psychics called Precogs to arrest would-be criminals before they’ve actually committed a crime. Anderton finds himself accused of planning to murder a man he doesn’t even know.

Like some of Cyberpunk 2077‘s more spine-chilling quests, Minority Report has a dizzying number of layers to its story. Power is well under the federal government’s control, rather than held by megacorporations like in Night City, but the level of surveillance and the voraciousness of the police force is reminiscent of key plot points throughout Cyberpunk.

2

Johnny Mnemonic

Film, 1995

I won’t pretend Johnny Mnemonic is a great movie, but it has some fascinating ideas, mainly due to being written by Neuromancer author William Gibson. Most importantly to its Cyberpunk connection, it stars Keanu Reeves in an almost reverse role. He plays the titular Johnny, who uses a brain implant to personally deliver data of the utmost importance to various megacorps, and whose most recent job requires carrying a potentially fatal amount of data.

The parallels to Neuromancer are numerous, from the keen focus on a cyberpunk criminal underworld, to Johnny using a headset and connected gloves to navigate cyberspace. That said, Johnny Mnemonic is fun if you don’t take it incredibly seriously. Reeves’ performance is passable, and the concept is interesting, but it won’t strike anyone as top-tier cinema. It’s a really charming look at pre-Matrix Reeves-led sci-fi, though, and Cyberpunk fans will likely find it entertaining.

1

Stray

Video Game, 2022

Finally, after all the dire, dystopic science fiction above, Stray is the pallet cleanser you might be looking for. It took the gaming world by storm with its release in 2022, and remains a must-play for anyone who likes cyberpunk – and cats. The nameless protagonist is separated from his family at the beginning of the game, and must platform and solve puzzles through a robot-populated city based on Kowloon Walled City.

Stray is exceedingly cute, but doesn’t shy away from the emotion of its premise, nor the melancholic vibe of its setting. BlueTwelve Studio’s charming adventure was a stand-out of 2022 and remains great. It has some aesthetic companionship with Cyberpunk 2077, but you won’t find as much violence, making Stray a unique entrant among the cyberpunk genre.