#cyberpunk

#cyberpunk

Turning a beloved animated series into live action is always tricky. For every success, there's something like the 2010 film version of Avatar: The Last Airbender, a complete calamity. But arguably, the adaptation process gets trickier with source material that edges into the transgressive. So, in 2005, when the 1990s dark, animated cyberpunk series Aeon Flux became a movie starring Charlize Theron, something strange happened.

We're all living in a cyberpunk novel now. Unconstrained billionaires have space programs and robot armies. People are falling in love with and marrying AI chatbots. You can make movies where you're the star by typing a few sentences. Companies offer designer babies as a service. We've got brain implants for controlling computers, flying cars, robotic surgery, AI-controlled prosthetic limbs, and millions of drones in the sky. So why is the most effective form of communication still a hand-written note?

is a sprawling, hand-made cyberpunk ensemble film following detectives, streamers, pop stars, struggling families, corporate conspiracies and a rave-dancing hitman. Eschewing direct references to our world's online space, In the Glow of Darkness constructs a parallel reality of tech-run nightclubs, LAN party fraternities and a "meme-tripping" drug culture, where users get have their subconscious uploaded to a QR-code tramp stamp, which, when scanned, gives them euphoric hallucinations as well as sending AI-generated targeted ads directly to their brains.

From start to finish, it offers hardly a moment of reprieve from its fast-paced parkour and swordplay. That can be a lot to handle, and it's certainly not my preferred mode in most games, but the total focus that it demands becomes so absorbing it's hard not to find some appeal in it. Getting into the flow of Ghostrunner 2 means letting everything else slip out of mind so you can better concentrate on what's in front of you.

Cyberpunk Cinema, presented by Thrillhouse Records, showcases classic cyberpunk films every second Monday at The Knockout, starting with Cowboy Bebop at 6:30 pm.

Cyberpunk 2077 swings back and forth on the pendulum from 'thoughtful meditation on what it means to be human in a depersonalizing corporate hellscape' to 'satire that occasionally feels so comically exaggerated, it's like a Borderlands gag.'

Cyberpunk for Mac showcases how Apple Silicon can provide varied performance levels, allowing for tailored graphics settings that adapt dynamically to individual hardware configurations.

"The background mech was an unusual decision for me, but I feel as though it gives a nice sense of scale compared to the main characters."

Designer JinTae Tak's Cyber Tonka embodies the brutal utilitarianism of off-road vehicles, combining childlike simplicity with a stark dystopian aesthetic.

Cyberpunk Legends: Into the Night is a co-op, story-driven card game you can learn in 5 minutes. No prep, no DM, just pure dystopian strategy.

Silvia Park's Luminous explores the hybridization between humans and technology through characters like Ruijie and Yoyo, tackling themes of identity and authenticity in a cyborg future.

Metal Eden is an ambitious cyberpunk boomer shooter that marries slick aesthetics and creative worldbuilding, offering a fast-paced experience reminiscent of Doom and Ghostrunner.