Cyberpunk DefinitionAnswering What is Cyberpunk?
As a sub-genre of science-fiction, Cyberpunk has managed to branch out and be so much more than its origins. That said, there is still a basic concrete definition from which many authors and artists start with when making something in this field. This is, essentially, what Cyberpunk meant and still means from the outset.
Cyberpunk is a science-fiction sub-genre dealing with the integration of society and technology in dystopian settings. Often referred to as low-life and high tech, Cyberpunk stories deal with outsiders (punks) who fight against the oppressors in society (usually mega corporations that control everything) via technological means (cyber). If the punks arent actively fighting against a megacorp, theyre still dealing with living in a world completely dependent on high technology.
The name Cyberpunk was coined by author Bruce Bethke, who used it as the title for one of his short stories. The author has said he didnt intend the name to represent this new category, and that the name itself came about through synthesis as he tried to combine different words together. The idea of the name a punk or troublemaker with insane computer skills remains.
The history of Cyberpunk origins, and what it consists of, is surprisingly extensive. So for the sake of all you readers at home, well condense it a bit here. But for those who have the time, take a look at the first part of Indigo Gamings documentary on Cyberpunk below.
What is Cyberpunk A documentary
The exact date from which this sub-genre emerged is not set in stone. However, certain books can point to its creation. In particular, Philip K. Dicks Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is seen as one of the first examples of this type of fiction (proto-Cyberpunk). It was part of the New Wave science fiction literature scene, which included many well-known authors, such as Dick, John Brunner, J.G. Ballard, and Bruce Sterling.
In the 1960s and 70s, these authors and others created science fiction worlds that rejected optimistic utopias. Instead, they opted for dystopian near-futures, where technology had advanced too far and nations as we knew them ceased to exist. These were also topics of popular sci-fi cinema of the 70s, but as far as Cyberpunk goes, it was still in the zygote phase of its creation.
It would not be until the 1980s that the sub-genre would truly make itself known to the world with the iconic film Blade Runner (1982). Based on Dicks Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Blade Runner is not 100% Cyberpunk by definition, but its look, feel, and setting means it qualifies.
It introduced the world to a dystopian near future of constant rain, overpopulation, electric billboards, and humanoid androids. Whats more, it influenced William Gibson, a man frequently referred to as the godfather of Cyberpunk. Additionally, Katsuhiro Otomos manga series AKIRA began serialization in Japan the same year Blade Runner released.
Cyberpunk origins Blade Runner
But lets not digress from Gibson, for in 1984 he released Neuromancer, which is known as the Cyberpunk novel. Featuring a console cowboy, clear divisions between the rich and poor, a pre-internet internet (the matrix, aka cyberspace), and artificial intelligence, this novel more or less announced the arrival of Cyberpunk as we know it.
By the mid to late 80s, Cyberpunk already had its own anthology book and a tabletop game. Which later became the basis for CD Projekt Reds video game adaption Cyberpunk 2077.
Additionally, Neuromancer had two sequels (and a video game) and Otomos AKIRA was made into a groundbreaking animated film, further influencing how the genre would look in the world of anime.
Cyberpunk AKIRA
By the 1990s, Cyberpunk had seriously hit the mainstream, to extremely questionable success. Some of William Gibsons short stories were even made into movies, with Johnny Mnemonic (1995) and New Rose Hotel (1998) (they were box office failures). And in-between those movies, filmmakers took influence from the genre and made movies like RoboCop (1987), The Running Man (1987), The Lawnmower Man (1992), Judge Dredd (1995), Strange Days (1995), and Ghost in the Shell (1995).
The Matrix (1999) eventually wound up being the most mainstream Cyberpunk influenced movie of its era. And by the time the Wachowskis they themselves influenced by Japanese Cyberpunk anime like Ghost in the Shell made The Matrix, the sub-genre of Cyberpunk had evolved in dramatic ways.
Cyberpunk in film The Matrix
Not getting into the overwhelming number of derivatives that exist, Cyberpunk was no longer just punks against the system (though that was certainly still a part of it). More than anything, films, television, and other mediums had taken elements from it to create stories that evoked Cyberpunk imagery and themes. Even if they themselves were not overly Cyberpunk in nature.
At the same time, Cyberpunk was moving away from literature, soon finding a home with movies, television, and above all else, video games. Seminal games like Shadowrun, Snatcher, Perfect Dark, the Metal Gear series, and the Deus Ex series have been among the most prominent and acclaimed examples of Cyberpunk fiction anywhere.
Cyberpunk retrospective Deus Ex
Even with Cyberpunk making a name for itself in video games, movies have continued to tackle its themes in different ways. Philip K. Dick keeps getting adapted with Minority Report (2002), Paycheck (2003), andA Scanner Darkly (2006).
Meanwhile, other filmmakers either keep adapting Japanese Cyberpunk anime/manga Ghost in the Shell (2017), Alita: Battle Angel (2019) or make their own stories with Cyberpunk themes, like Ex Machina (2015), Upgrade (2018), and Possessor (2020).
And of course, there is Blade Runner 2049 (2017), the ultimate example of just how much the original film and the sub-genre it helped create has influenced science-fiction as a whole.
Cyberpunk movie Blade Runner 2049
As the future seen in older Cyberpunk works has become both paradoxically outdated and real, the genre has found new life in new forms of media. It has spawned too many other sub-sub-genres to count, with post-Cyberpunk, dieselpunk, and steampunk being among them.
Theres even an entire Japanese film genre called Cyberpunk that takes the body modification element to unnerving (and horrific) extremes.
Its a sub-genre that exists as an attitude, a fashion trend, a political call to arms, and as a form of entertainment. Cyberpunk is no longer just one type of thing, but rather a greater and ever changing life form, one which never stops being relevant or cool to old and new fans alike.
Now that your crash course on Cyberpunk is complete, its time to look at what some of the best movies in the sub-genre have to offer. Our list ranks 10 of the best movies for filmmakers, ranging from under-seen gems to bonafide classics, all of which interpret cyberpunk in their own unique ways.
The rest is here:
What is Cyberpunk Genre Definition, Origins & Examples - StudioBinder
- Cities Skylines 2 goes full Cyberpunk 2077 in stunning new city building game coming to Steam - PCGamesN - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
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- Cyberpunk 2077 publisher giving away one of gaming's most controversial titles free - GAMINGbible - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Palworld Has Huge Weekend, Sells 5 Million and Overtakes Cyberpunk 2077 in Steams Most-Played Games List - IGN - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- CD Projekt Red Is "Considering" Multiplayer In Cyberpunk 2077 Sequel - TheGamer - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Palworld beats Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2 and Cyberpunk 2077 with an all-time peak player count of more than 1.8 million - PC Gamer - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Cyberpunk 2077 collides with Assassin's Creed in slick new action game - GAMINGbible - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- CD Projekt latest: next Cyberpunk game might have multiplayer, Witcher 4 enters "production phase" - Rock Paper Shotgun - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
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- Cyberpunk 2077 sequel: everything we know about the sci-fi game - Evening Standard - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
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- Palworld Passes Impressive Steam Concurrent Player Milestone, Beats Cyberpunk and Elden Ring - GameRant - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Follow-up to The Witcher 3 will be in development this year - ReadWrite - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Former Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk Devs are Developing a New Game that Could Be Better than Both - FandomWire - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- Palworld Beats CS2, Dota 2, and Cyberpunk 2077 to Become the Second Most-Played Game on Steam - Beebom - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
- The Witcher 4 Could Enter Production This Year - TheGamer - January 27th, 2024 [January 27th, 2024]
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- Cyberpunk 2077 Is the Cheapest It's Ever Been - GameRant - November 26th, 2023 [November 26th, 2023]
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- Cyberpunk 2077 and Witcher 3 story lead "won't talk about" his favourite Easter eggs until players find them - VG247 - November 26th, 2023 [November 26th, 2023]
- How To Complete Forward To Death Quest In Cyberpunk 2077 - TheGamer - November 26th, 2023 [November 26th, 2023]
- Cyberpunk 2077: How To Get Inside The Riot Club - GameRant - November 26th, 2023 [November 26th, 2023]
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- Here's Austin Powers Being A Huge Nuisance In Cyberpunk 2077 - Kotaku Australia - November 26th, 2023 [November 26th, 2023]
- Cyberpunk 2077 finally has 'very positive' rating on Steam, 2 years later - GAMINGbible - July 19th, 2023 [July 19th, 2023]
- Why Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty Being the Only DLC is For the Best - GameRant - July 19th, 2023 [July 19th, 2023]
- Cyberpunk 2077: Things You Never Knew About Johnny Silverhand - GameRant - July 19th, 2023 [July 19th, 2023]
- Bringing A Baofeng Into The Cyberpunk 2077 Universe - Hackaday - July 19th, 2023 [July 19th, 2023]
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- More Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty DLC News Coming In June - GameSpot - March 31st, 2023 [March 31st, 2023]
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- Nvidia's RTX And DLSS3 Cyberpunk Support Demonstrate Why These Features Are The Future Of Gaming - Forbes - February 7th, 2023 [February 7th, 2023]
- How to hack the Cyberpunk 2077 Militech Datashard - pcgamer - January 6th, 2023 [January 6th, 2023]
- The Last Of Us Updates, An Award For Cyberpunk 2077 And More Gaming News For Wednesday, January 4 - Forbes - January 6th, 2023 [January 6th, 2023]
- Why Playing Cyberpunk 2077 As A Melee Character Is The Most Fun You Can Have With It - Kotaku Australia - January 6th, 2023 [January 6th, 2023]
- Win NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 GPU with Cyberpunk 2077 backplate! - December 28th, 2022 [December 28th, 2022]
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- Cyberpunk 2077's First Big DLC Stars Idris Elba - Kotaku - December 12th, 2022 [December 12th, 2022]
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- Cyberpunk 2077 Hits 90% Positive Reviews On Steam For The First Time - Forbes - October 25th, 2022 [October 25th, 2022]
- Cyberpunk 2077 Tips To Break Hearts, Romance Everyone After All The Updates - Kotaku - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Cyberpunk 2077 is a revelation with Nvidia's new DLSS 3.0 technology - VG247 - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Cyberpunk 2077 is a Strand game with this courier mod - Gamesradar - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Cyberpunk 2077 Happy Together walkthrough guide: How to complete the side job and more - Sportskeeda - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
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- Cyberpunk 2077 Johnny Silverhand Items Locations Guide - RespawnFirst - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Shares of Cyberpunk 2077 publisher surge after announcing a slew of new games - CNBC - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- 'Cyberpunk 2077' Re-Review: Two Years Later, What's Changed? - Forbes - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- Cyberpunk 2077's revival continues as it becomes one of the most popular games on Steam Deck - Eurogamer.net - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- Want to play Cyberpunk, Ghost Runner through a set-top box? Heres how 5G will help - Business Today - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- How to Read Shards in Cyberpunk 2077 - Attack of the Fanboy - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
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- Destiny 2: Lightfall is cyberpunk battle when it launches in February - The Verge - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]
- Tower Of Fantasy Will Receive New Land & Character Soon - Bleeding Cool News - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]
- Turn-Based Cyberpunk RPG 'Jack Move' Will Boot Up On Switch Next Month - Nintendo Life - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]
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