The Top Five Cyberpunk Games

Though cyberpunk is probably on its way out, there's still a great selection of games in the genre -- most of them over a decade old. Here are the best cyberpunk games ever made.

5. Syndicate (PC, SNES)

Usually, cyberpunk's protagonists are people who suffer at the hands of corporations; the corporations themselves rarely receive much focus. But in Syndicate you play the role of an executive at a multinational business and must command a team of agents in missions to rub out the competition. It brings to life an interesting facet of the cyberpunk world.

The action takes place from a top-down isometrical view, usually in an urban environment, and your missions usually involve either killing a target or capturing an object. You're told not to kill civilians excessively, but as you might expect, there is no penalty even for wiping out the map's entire population.

Syndicate introduced a lot of interesting concepts, most notably the Persuadertron, a device that brainwashes anyone within its short radius. When enough civilians are brainwashed, you can start brainwashing armed police, and with enough police you can even brainwash enemy agents, who then join your ranks. It made a less violent approach feasible, if not very easy.

4. Decker (PC)

A fantastic hacking simulation, Decker is based on the cyberspace rules from the pen-and-paper RPG Shadowrun. The premise is a familiar one: You're an underequipped, underfunded hacker. You take contracts that require different objectives to be completed, and if you're successful, you might get enough cash to pay the rent. Extra cash can be spent on hardware, software and utilities like chip burners, while extra time can be used for programming and firmware burning.

Gameplay itself involves moving from node to node in the target system, bypassing Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics, or ICE, resorting to cybercombat if you can't sneak past them. The game's author says the graphics were done in MSPaint, so it looks crude, but the gameplay is riveting. There's a little tension in the time between choosing your target and clicking the program to run -- will it work as planned, or will you trip an alarm? The only downside to this game is the fact that once you've gotten good software, it gets too easy. But that's OK, because by then you're already looking for something new.

3. Neuromancer (PC)

An old DOS game based on the book byWilliam Gibson, Neuromancer pulls from other Gibson work, especially the short story "Burning Chrome." A fairly straight adventure game, Neuromancer has the player running around the Sprawl, checking BBSs (bulletin board systems) for messages, putting themselves on corporate payrolls and, eventually, hitting the Matrix and defeating computer systems there. Like in the book, finally reaching the Matrix is a satisfying turning point.

The atmosphere is there, though it is heavily dated in the twenty-first century. The Sprawl is dark and dour, populated by whores and hock shop salesmen, but it also has a solid sense of humor -- far more than in the novel. An instrumental version of Devo's "Some Things Never Change" plays through the motherboard speaker every now and then, adding a nice aural element to the game's cyberpunk feel. It's a challenging but rewarding game.

2. Dreamweb (PC)

Dreamweb is perhaps the most atmospheric cyberpunk game there is. While all that atmosphere comes at the cost of a sophisticated plot, there is just so much mood to this game that it more than makes up for the lack of a terribly complicated plot. You play Ryan, who calls himself the "deliverer," and drift through a seedy city that seems under perpetual rain, killing seven members of a loose group who threaten the fate of the Dreamweb.

Unlike Decker and Neuromancer, Dreamweb leans heavily on intense violence; it does add to the brooding feel of the game and, along with one of the first uncensored sex scenes in a computer game, gives it a lot of shock value. More often than not, you'll be solving puzzles with a handgun -- frustrating if you're looking for a cerebral game, but again, it's all about atmosphere.

An added treat, if you can get your hands on it, is the game's manual. No typical guide, it's done in a series of "handwritten" notes that grow eerie and incoherent, dropping subtle hints as to what you should be doing.

1. Shadowrun (Genesis)

The best cyberpunk game ever made, Shadowrun does everything the genre relies on, and does it all well. Gunfights with local gangs, cyberspace hacking, raiding corporate headquarters -- it's all here.

You play Joshua, a neophyte shadowrunner -- someone who takes on illegal jobs -- who comes to 2050 Seattle to learn the truth behind his brother's death. When you begin the game there are three classes to choose from: the combat-oriented street samurai, the Matrix-savvy decker or a shaman. Yes, unlike most cyberpunk literature and games, Shadowrun adds magic to the mix.

This game oozes atmosphere. Body modifications, gritty encounters, abandoned warehouses and shady contract handlers make you feel like you're reading Gibson. The graphics are primitive but serviceable, and the audio is made of a handful of catchy, very cyberpunk tunes.

Violence is common in Shadowrun, which may put off fans of the other titles on this list -- police, corporate security, and even innocent citizens will be killed over the course of the game..

There are some interesting plot twists, though by the end it feels like the story lost its way, and many complained bitterly about the final cutscene. The real reward of Shadowrun comes from raiding corporate buildings, starting with the small ones and eventually hitting Renraku; the tension is never missing from those jobs.

There are dozens of cyberpunk games around, but none can compare to these five. Most can be found at the Home of the Underdogs and are must-haves for cyperpunk fans.