What to watch: Blade Runner. What to read, watch and play before Cyberpunk 2077
Table of Contents
ON THIS PAGE YOU'LL FIND
The reason we chose Blade Runner over the sequel called Blade Runner 2049, released in 2017, is simple – even if Denis Villeneuve's picture is an absolutely top-shelf movie, in some ways surpassing the original, Ridley Scott's 1982 masterpiece was a breakthrough. Who knows what cyberpunk style would look like today without it? Would it even gain such popularity? Of course, Villeneuve created a wonderful film that updated the original on climate change and wasn't afraid to ask tough questions about human nature, but the foundations were laid by Scott himself. It is therefore with a heavy heart – because it is a truly phenomenal movie – that Blade Runner 2049 is overlooked.
Don't think we'd forget about cyberpunk's great-grandfather. Until the release of Blade Runner, many novels or films used elements of this style, but none featured it as prominently as Ridley Scott in 1982. Illuminated by neon lights, an deprived of an identity metropolis dominated by the headquarters of Tyrell's megacorporation - one frame from this image was enough to ignite the minds of hundreds of artists with a futuristic twist.
Anyway, without even looking at its gigantic influence on the development of science fiction (and not just in cinema), it's just a sensational film. Today it may seem a little slow - you can see the influences of the noir genre classics and the maximum length shots that saturate the frames with a palpable atmosphere. If you don't get thrown off by the pace, immerse yourself in this incredible experience, and fully engage in the story of a former special agent tracking down four deadly replicants – you're going to get an experience out of this earth. Blade Runner, despite nearly forty years on his back, still manages to delight in the visual side, Vangelis's magnificent soundtrack and the fascinating world, the atmosphere of which has been more or less captured by every mainstream artist for decades.
What to play: Ruiner
One of Ruiner's strongest assets is its excellent soundtrack – virtually every artist whose track appeared in it would fit this list you're reading. In the end, we decided to introduce you only to Zamilska as most songs there were written by her, but if you want more similar vibes, you can check out all the music used in the game – in particular pieces of Sidewalks and Skeletons and Susumu Hirasawa's beautiful composition, which appears as you walk the streets of Rengkoku.
The developers of Reikon Games in Warsaw took a different approach to the style of cyberpunk than most European studios. Ruiner does not follow Blade Runner or Gibson's book as its primary inspiration, but visions of the future from the Far East – the ones depicted in the manga and anime. As a result, the world created by the said studio, on the one hand, plays on familiar motifs, such as implants or neon-lit metropolis, while on the other hand, it is so different from what Western artists have become accustomed to, and it is impossible not to be fascinated about it.
Let us add that the interesting setting is accompanied by intense and satisfying gameplay. Ruiner can be described briefly as a cyberpunk Miami Hotline – with special abilities, character development, and loads of weapons. All of these elements make fighting a little easier, but it's still a very challenging game, in which we eliminate dozens of opponents in a minute while juggling a few guns. At higher difficulty levels, the game requires extreme dexterity and inhuman reflexes, but believe it – it's worth a try.
What to read: Neuromancer
Just as Blade Runner is widely regarded as the grandfather of cyberpunk in cinema, William Gibson's Neuromancer is undoubtedly the progenitor of this genre in literature. It may be far from a perfect book – the somewhat chaotic style and mass of technological nomenclature can scare a person uninterested in the subject away – but it's still the foundation of the whole genre. The elements in Gibson's novel today are permanent themes of the cyberpunk formula: corporations with power like state governments, artificial intelligence creeping into every aspect of life, implants that alter human capabilities, dehumanization associated with the loss of one's identity, and pervasive technology.
And in the middle of it all, one of the archetypal heroes of the mainstream – a rogue hacker, acting for his own benefit, and on the other hand, against a system that enslaves society. In 1984, it was an absolutely groundbreaking work, and it's no wonder Gibson quickly wrote two sequels that, along with Neuromancer, formed the award-winning Sprawl trilogy.
What to listen: Perturbator
In 2017, Perturbator revealed his involvement in the creation of the soundtrack for Cyberpunk 2077, telling one fan that his possible involvement was "top secret for now". Many considered this a confirmation that the French artist's music will be included in the game created by CD Projekt RED. Unfortunately, in 2018, the artist stated on Twitter that his performance in Cyberpunk 2077 was "unlikely" – although he later deleted the post.
Perturbator seems to remain an artist for me, whom I will always confuse with Carpenter Brut – mentioned in this compilation. There are many similarities: both musicians are from France, have a history with metal bands, have a penchant for satanic and futuristic symbolism, and are heavily inspired by the 1980s movie soundtracks. Songs written by both of them were featured on the soundtrack to Hotline Miami, and they even collaborated on one song. Still, it's hard to call Perturbator the second Carpenter Brut – or vice versa, because it's the former who started his career early.
Perturbator's work is even more clearly based on expressive, sometimes somewhat kitschy synth sounds, and it has a slightly slower tempo, which tends to generate a characteristic atmosphere rather than brutal, galloping beats. The French artist also draws even more heavily from horror films – particularly the B–grade ones - and sometimes uses dialogues from them as introductions to his songs. That specificity has allowed him to become one of synthwave's loudest brands – and it's hard to expect that to change in the coming years.
