Good Cyberpunk Stories

[shrekfan246]

Pretty straightforward thread, basically just what it says on the tin!

I've had a pretty strong interest in cyberpunk settings for a while now, but have been too lazy to investigate too deeply into finding media centered in cyberpunk universes. So I'm looking for films, books, games, etc. which are set in a compelling cyberpunk/-lite setting and figure what better place to ask than here (again, because I'm pretty lazy)!

I do already know all about Deus Ex and Shadowrun and Cyberpunk/Cyberpunk 2077, and Blade Runner is pretty much the only thing already on the list of "Stuff I should check out". So, Escapambilidandoes, suggest away!

 

[Username Redacted]

Somewhat surprised that William Gibson's novels didn't make it onto your radar already. In this care I would recommend starting with Neuromancer (sequels, in order, are Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive).

 

[Albino Boo]

Bruce Sterling, in particular the anthology he edited Mozart in Mirrorshades. That book defined cyberpunk.

Walter Jon Williams - Hardwired, Voice of whirlwind, Angle station.

Lucius Shepard - Life During wartime. Perhaps a bit literary for some tastes.

Rudy Rucker- Ware Tetralogy

Marc Laidlaw - He later worked on half life and half life 2

John Shirley - Eclipse Trilogy

K W Jeter - Dr Adder

 

[shrekfan246]

Somewhat surprised that William Gibson's novels didn't make it onto your radar already. In this care I would recommend starting with Neuromancer (sequels, in order, are Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive).

Yeah, like I said, I hadn't done much in the way of active searching. And a lot of things which were created in the 80's tend to fly right by me, because they were before my time and often aren't brought up in everyday conversation. I didn't even know the Song of Ice & Fire series existed until a year or two ago, because I was only four when A Game of Thrones was first published.

Thanks for the recommendation though, that definitely looks like something I'll have to check out, especially given the history there.

Bruce Sterling, in particular the anthology he edited Mozart in Mirrorshades. That book defined cyberpunk.

Walter Jon Williams - Hardwired, Voice of whirlwind, Angle station.

Lucius Shepard - Life During wartime. Perhaps a bit literary for some tastes.

Rudy Rucker- Ware Tetralogy

Marc Laidlaw - He later worked on half life and half life 2

John Shirley - Eclipse Trilogy

K W Jeter - Dr Adder

Well now, that's quite the list! I don't quite have an unlimited budget to work with, so are there any in particular you'd recommend as things I should grab first?

 

[Albino Boo]

Bruce Sterling, in particular the anthology he edited Mozart in Mirrorshades. That book defined cyberpunk.

Walter Jon Williams - Hardwired, Voice of whirlwind, Angle station.

Lucius Shepard - Life During wartime. Perhaps a bit literary for some tastes.

Rudy Rucker- Ware Tetralogy

Marc Laidlaw - He later worked on half life and half life 2

John Shirley - Eclipse Trilogy

K W Jeter - Dr Adder

Well now, that's quite the list! I don't quite have an unlimited budget to work with, so are there any in particular you'd recommend as things I should grab first?

The best place to start with cyberpunk novels is William Gibson, as recommended by Thing What Squeaks. They were the best of the bunch by far. Neuromancer, Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive drip with atmosphere , you can almost smell the damp. You could also add the Gibson's short story collection Burning Chrome to the list. Those books are the start point.

After that I would get Mirrorshades (not as put in my post Mozart in Mirrorshades, that is name of one of the stories in it). It contains work by most writers on my list and gives you taste of their work.

The writers not in Mirrorshades

Walter Jon Williams's work is good solid adventure stories with strong elements of cyberpunk. Not brilliant but readable and entertaining

Lucius Shepard's Life During Wartime is my personal favorite because it has the best English and crosses over with the literary genre of magic realism. Not to everyones taste, so I wouldn't buy straight out of the box. Maybe when you are looking for a slightly different version of cyberpunk.

K W Jeter's Dr Adder is the oldest on the list and was written in 1974. The book could not get published because of its graphic sex and violence. Only after Gibson hit the big time was it published. The "hero" of Dr Adder is plastic surgeon who makes his living by surgically modify prostitutes for extreme sexuall fetishs. The content is quite strong and again not to everyones taste.


You should be able to pick most of these books secondhand on Amazon. They are 25-30 years old and I don't think Dr Adder and Mirrorshades is even in print.

 

[Mr.Savage]

Haven't really read or watched any cyberpunk things not already mentioned, but there are a few obscure games I've played, and they were pretty darn good to boot.


First up, Gemini Rue.

A point'n'clicker made in the style of the old Lucas Arts / Sierra games, like Full Throttle or King's Quest.
Unlike most Adventure games of old, all of the puzzles are very logical, never slowing down the pace of the story.

The story itself is nothing short of brilliant, I found myself thinking about it even days after I'd finished it. Something most games never achieve.

It's pretty light on actual Cyberpunk-y stuff, instead leaning toward a more Noir atmosphere like Bladerunner.

Probably one of the best parts of the game, besides the story, would be the stunningly beautiful soundtrack, which just sucks you right in to the world.

So...Yeah, highly recommend it. Here's the trailer, if you're interested.

Spoiler

Second game would be Hideo Kojima's lesser known work, Snatcher.

This one is quite the oddity, it plays kind of like how a mix between a visual novel of bladerunner and duck-hunt would turn out.

The gameplay can get annoying on this one, and the voice acting isn't the greatest, but I found it to be surprisingly enjoyable. Even though Hideo basically ripped off Bladerunner wholesale, it's still worth checking out.

You'll need a Sega CD emulator for it, though. As it was never released in english on any other format.



Lastly would be Anachronox.

Haven't played more than the opening cinematic, but I guess it plays like Deus Ex with Final Fantasy style combat (Which I usually don't like). However the story seems interesting enough from what I saw, and it gets absolutely rave reviews on GoG...So that may be worth checking out as well.

That's all I can think of at the moment...Should be quite interesting to see what other people suggest.

 

[shrekfan246]

Lucius Shepard's Life During Wartime is my personal favorite because it has the best English and crosses over with the literary genre of magic realism. Not to everyones taste, so I wouldn't buy straight out of the box. Maybe when you are looking for a slightly different version of cyberpunk.

Well, it is my intention to become an author myself some day, so it stands to reason that I should expand my horizons as broadly as possible.

You should be able to pick most of these books secondhand on Amazon. They are 25-30 years old and I don't think Dr Adder and Mirrorshades is even in print.

I appreciate it! I had a look around the website of the local bookstore chain and it does appear I'll have to go to Amazon for some of them (like Mirrorshades), but it's a great starting point to work with all the same.

Haven't really read or watched any cyberpunk things not already mentioned, but there are a few obscure games I've played, and they were pretty darn good to boot.


First up, Gemini Rue.


Second game would be Hideo Kojima's lesser known work, Snatcher.

I was wondering if someone was going to bring those up.

You mentioned the puzzles in Gemini Rue already but I feel like I could use a little more information, because both of those games came up during the cursory look I had around Google last night but I feel I can't stress enough how much I tend to not enjoy point&click adventure games because of their puzzles.

Snatcher I've wobbled back and forth on for a while because it's Kojima and I love Metal Gear, but it's another one where I think I could use a little more information on how the game actually plays and whatnot. Adventure games just aren't my forte.

Lastly would be Anachronox.

Haven't played more than the opening cinematic, but I guess it plays like Deus Ex with Final Fantasy style combat (Which I usually don't like). However the story seems interesting enough from what I saw, and it gets absolutely rave reviews on GoG...So that may be worth checking out as well.

I do actually already have that one, as it happens. It grabbed my attention because a lot of people really talked up the humor in it and I actually quite like Final Fantasy-style combat, so having a system like that in a PC game for once intrigued me. Haven't played it yet either, though, because I'm terrible at actively working through my backlog.

 

[Objectable]

May I reccomend the Webcomic Fisheye Placebo?
http://tapastic.com/series/fisheye

 

[Mr.Savage]

I was wondering if someone was going to bring those up.

You mentioned the puzzles in Gemini Rue already but I feel like I could use a little more information, because both of those games came up during the cursory look I had around Google last night but I feel I can't stress enough how much I tend to not enjoy point&click adventure games because of their puzzles.

Snatcher I've wobbled back and forth on for a while because it's Kojima and I love Metal Gear, but it's another one where I think I could use a little more information on how the game actually plays and whatnot. Adventure games just aren't my forte.

I can totally understand how you feel about the puzzles in adventure games. In many games they're either completely illogical, or worse, they plop in something like a jigsaw puzzle you'd see in a hidden object game. Luckily (Depending on how you look at it), Gemini Rue has only inventory based puzzles, except for one instance, which you can use a guide to quickly bypass (I did without consequence).

I suppose your enjoyment of the game will hinge on whether or not you feel the puzzles will enhance or damper your experiencing of the story. The answers to them are usually readily obvious, serving more as just a way to interact with the world, than an intellectual conundrum to be solved.

You'd instantly be able to see if you like it by downloading the Demo, which is pretty much the first 30 minutes/hour of the game. It managed to sell me on it.


As for Snatcher...That's a harder sell. It feels pretty dated with the interface, and I recall having to use a guide on multiple occasions.

Basically the way it plays is this:

Between cutscenes, you control the game via a selection of categories, such as look, talk, move, etc. Which when clicked expand into a selection of choices. The problem with this, is that in some cases the game wont let you leave an area until you've discovered something, and the only way to do so is to repeatedly click the same task over and over until it gives a new option.

For instance, you may select 'Look > Wall' multiple times and it'll give the same response or a slightly varied one each time, until the 6th time it'll say "Oh you found something this time!" And the game itself gives no hints or indication as to which tree to go down to get that response. So it becomes trial and error.

Besides that, the shooting portion is kinda lame, since it was made for a light gun originally (Which would make it pretty neat).

Soo...It's kind of an interactive detective game...Thing? It's clunky. But it does have some pretty sweet music to back it up, and it was mostly a fun game for me. However, if the game was based around something I wasn't interested in, I would never be able to put up with that interface.

I'd watch a bit gameplay off youtube to see if you'd be into it...Plus you'd get to see the swanky intro!

Spoiler

 

[Knight Captain Kerr]

Oh, I love Cyberpunk. There are quite a few.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is a great Anime series.

Ergo Proxy is another Anime series worth watching, not as good as Ghost in the Shell but still good.

Dollhouse is a good live action series, you might consider it a bit 'lite' it deals with technology that allows you to backup human minds and change bodies.

If you want an interesting Cyberpunk setting than Eclipse Phase is excellent, check it out. A lot of the PDFs for it (core book and supplements) are available for free off the creator's website [http://robboyle.wordpress.com/eclipse-phase-pdfs/]. Even if you aren't interested in RPGs it contains numerous short pieces of fiction that are worth reading and the setting details are just really interesting to read.

Can't think of much in the way of Cyberpunk video games that haven't already been mentioned. System Shock 2 (haven't played 1 but I've heard it is good) is a really good game with cyberpunk elements. It is the spiritual precursor to Bioshock.

 

[plugav]

A Scanner Darkly (the 2006 movie) has some cyberpunk vibes, even though the original story (much like the one Blade Runner is based on) predates the genre, as far as I know.

Also, the Transmetropolitan comic book series by Warren Ellis is supposed to be really good. I haven't read it yet, but I do like the author's other work and his style seems perfectly suited to cyberpunk.

 

[shrekfan246]

Oh, I love Cyberpunk. There are quite a few.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex is a great Anime series.

Ergo Proxy is another Anime series worth watching, not as good as Ghost in the Shell but still good.

Dollhouse is a good live action series, you might consider it a bit 'lite' it deals with technology that allows you to backup human minds and change bodies.

Thanks for the suggestions. I've heard about Ghost in the Shell from a few different places, but it wasn't until a year or so ago that I actually started really watching anime to begin with, so I'll have to add those to the list. And I'd forgotten Dollhouse was a thing! I should check that out, too, I'm generally a fan of Joss Whedon's work.

If you want an interesting Cyberpunk setting than Eclipse Phase is excellent, check it out. A lot of the PDFs for it (core book and supplements) are available for free off the creator's website [http://robboyle.wordpress.com/eclipse-phase-pdfs/]. Even if you aren't interested in RPGs it contains numerous short pieces of fiction that are worth reading and the setting details are just really interesting to read.

I'm not terribly into PnP RPGs simply because I have nobody to play them with, but I think I'll bookmark that website all the same.

Can't think of much in the way of Cyberpunk video games that haven't already been mentioned. System Shock 2 (haven't played 1 but I've heard it is good) is a really good game with cyberpunk elements. It is the spiritual precursor to Bioshock.

I've actually got that already too, and haven't played much of it yet either. XD

A Scanner Darkly (the 2006 movie) has some cyberpunk vibes, even though the original story (much like the one Blade Runner is based on) predates the genre, as far as I know.

Also, the Transmetropolitan comic book series by Warren Ellis is supposed to be really good. I haven't read it yet, but I do like the author's other work and his style seems perfectly suited to cyberpunk.

I was wondering if I should add A Scanner Darkly, book and film, to my list. Sounds like that's a yes!

As far as comic books are concerned, it takes a very specific set of circumstances for me to really be interested, and that usually is determined by how readily accessible it is. If I can find the entire thing compiled into a single volume or set, then I'd be perfectly willing to check it out, but I don't have the willpower to track down tens of different comic books or anything.

May I reccomend the Webcomic Fisheye Placebo?
http://tapastic.com/series/fisheye

Thanks for that, it was pretty amusing. Love the artwork, bookmarked to potentially follow updates in the future.

 

[Buzz Killington_v1legacy]

Everyone else has already name-checked the classics, so I'll bring up a lesser-known story: Vernor Vinge's "True Names". I'm not sure if it's still in print, but you should be able to find a used copy of one of the collections with it pretty cheaply online.