this post was submitted on 13 Feb 2024
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Cyberpunk

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What is Cyberpunk?

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 aren’t actively fighting against a megacorp, they’re still dealing with living in a world completely dependent on high technology.

Cyberpunk characteristics include:

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I know the Watch_Dogs series has always received mediocre scores and reviews, but I've always enjoyed them. Sure, hacking a CCTV camera by looking at it from another CCTV camera makes no sense, but hacking is never realistic in movies or video games. At least this series makes hacking fun without being a bunch of mini-games. And you use your cellphone to hack everything, which is also fun.

I do think it's funny that when the first Watch_Dogs came out, everyone complained about how bland the main character was. So with Watch_Dogs 2, they changed the main character to be a fast-talking wise-cracking kid. And people complained about that too. So then when Watch_Dogs Legion finally came out, it's almost as if you could hear the company say "Fine! You think it's so easy to come up with a main character? You pick one!" and they spent a lot of effort introducing an entire game mechanic where you can recruit and play as any NPC you see walking down the street.

For what it's worth, my favorite character has always been Aiden Pearce, from the first Watch_Dogs game. He was the closest to a hard-boiled detective and it made the game feel more cyberpunk, even though the setting for Watch Dogs Legion was actually more of a cyberpunk world.

It's possible I enjoyed the games so much because I always went the pacifist route and played it like a stealth game. I liked when Watch_Dogs 2 introduced a remote-controlled car you could use to hack things remotely, even though it wasn't capable of opening doors. But then in Watch Dogs Legion they expanded it so you had a remote-controlled drone and it could open doors. I was basically able to play the entire game by walking to the edge of a hostile area, deploying my drone, and playing the entire mission that way. If my drone was ever caught, it'd blow up and control would return to my character, who was safely standing outside the hostile area. I'd just deploy another drone and try again.

Anyway, if you haven't played any of the games, I recommend them. While I think the first one is the most cyberpunk, it also has the most dated game mechanics. Also, you can start with any of the games. There really isn't any connecting plot between the three games, just minor references here and there. So pick whichever one looks the most interesting and give it a try.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I really liked trying to get past every mission without resorting to violence. 1 was alright, really liked 2.

The "every npc is a playable character" got old too quickly in Legion, it didn't allow me to connect with any character. Loved the London setting but left it half played.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago

Yeah, I think having every NPC potentially playable hurt the game more than it helped. They were trying to let the you choose who you wanted to play as but could only hire so many voice actors to read all the lines. So no matter what the stats said for a random NPC, they all had the same generic personality and the same voice.