Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cyberware, juxtaposed with societal collapse, dystopia or decay. Much of cyberpunk is rooted in the New Wave science fiction movement of the 1960s and 1970s, when writers like Philip K. Dick, Michael Moorcock, Roger Zelazny, John Brunner, J. G. Ballard, Philip José Farmer and Harlan Ellison examined the impact of drug culture, technology, and the sexual revolution while avoiding the utopian tendencies of earlier science fiction.
Cyberpunk is a tabletop role-playing game in the dystopian science fiction genre, written by Mike Pondsmith and first published by R. Talsorian Games in 1988. It is typically referred to by its second or fourth edition names, Cyberpunk 2020 and Cyberpunk Red, in order to distinguish it from the cyberpunk genre after which it is named.
R. Talsorian Games (RTG) is a publisher of role-playing game books and accessories. Originally based in Berkeley, California, but moved to Renton, Washington in 1997. Their titles include the Cyberpunk 2020 series and anime-related titles such as Dragonball Z. Their major product line today is the Fuzion system.
Mekton is a role-playing game which centers on the conventions of mecha anime and science fiction. It has seen several editions since its introduction in 1984, the most recent, Mekton Zeta being first published in 1994.
Michael Alyn Pondsmith is an American roleplaying, board, and video game designer. He is best known for founding the publisher R. Talsorian Games in 1982, where he developed a majority of the company's role-playing game lines. Pondsmith is the author of several RPG lines, including Mekton (1984), Cyberpunk (1988) and Castle Falkenstein (1994). He also contributed to the Forgotten Realms and Oriental Adventures lines of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, worked in various capacities on video games, and authored or co-created several board games. Pondsmith also worked as an instructor at the DigiPen Institute of Technology.
Japanese cyberpunk refers to cyberpunk fiction produced in Japan. There are two distinct subgenres of Japanese cyberpunk: live-action Japanese cyberpunk films, and cyberpunk manga and anime works.
Western role-playing video games are role-playing video games developed in the Western world, including The Americas and Europe. They originated on mainframe university computer systems in the 1970s, were later popularized by titles such as Ultima and Wizardry in the early- to mid-1980s, and continue to be produced for modern home computer and video game console systems. The genre's "Golden Age" occurred in the mid- to late-1980s, and its popularity suffered a downturn in the mid-1990s as developers struggled to keep up with changing fashion, hardware evolution and increasing development costs. A later series of isometric role-playing games, published by Interplay Productions and Blizzard Entertainment, was developed over a longer time period and set new standards of production quality.
Cyberpunk 2077 is a 2020 action role-playing video game developed by CD Projekt Red and published by CD Projekt.
CD Projekt S.A. is a Polish video game developer, publisher and distributor based in Warsaw, founded in May 1994 by Marcin Iwiński and Michał Kiciński. Iwiński and Kiciński were video game retailers before they founded the company, which initially acted as a distributor of foreign video games for the domestic market. The department responsible for developing original games, CD Projekt Red, best known for The Witcher series, was formed in 2002. In 2008, CD Projekt launched the digital distribution service Good Old Games, now known as GOG.com.
Run the Jewels, also known by the initials RTJ, is an American hip hop super-duo composed of Brooklyn-based rapper and producer El-P and Atlanta-based rapper Killer Mike. They released their critically acclaimed self-titled debut studio album as a free download in 2013 and have since released the follow-up albums Run the Jewels 2 (2014), Run the Jewels 3 (2016), and RTJ4 (2020), all of which have been released for free and received critical acclaim.
Bubblegum Crisis is a near-future cyberpunk role-playing game published by R. Talsorian Games in 1996 that is based on the anime television series Bubblegum Crisis.
The Witcher is a fantasy series of short stories and novels by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski.
Hardwired: The Sourcebook is a supplement published by R. Talsorian Games in 1989 for the dystopian near-future science fiction role-playing game Cyberpunk.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is a 2022 cyberpunk web anime series based on the video game Cyberpunk 2077 by CD Projekt Red. The series was animated by Japanese Studio Trigger under the supervision of Polish CD Projekt and premiered on Netflix in September 2022. Set in the Cyberpunk universe created by Mike Pondsmith, the anime serves as a prequel to the game and takes place about a year before the events of Cyberpunk 2077.
Rockerboy is a supplement published by R. Talsorian Games in 1989 for the dystopian near-future role-playing game Cyberpunk.
The Ascent is a cyberpunk-themed action role-playing video game developed by Swedish indie game studio Neon Giant and published by Curve Digital for Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One on 29 July 2021. It was developed using Unreal Engine 4 by a team of 12 people and is Neon Giant's debut in the industry. The game received positive reviews from critics upon its release, with praise for its visuals, combat, and soundtrack, but criticism for the emphasis on grinding.
Disco4 is the fifth studio album by American noise rock band Health. A double album focused on collaborative pieces, it was released in two parts: DISCO4 :: PART I on October 16, 2020, and DISCO4 :: PART II on April 8, 2022. PART I also received a remix album, titled DISCO4+, on August 20, 2021. PART I and PART II are also to be released as a combined set called DISCO4 :: Generations. All of these were released through Loma Vista Recordings. Speaking on the album, the band said: "In the past each HEALTH LP has been accompanied by a corresponding remix record, this time, despite being called DISCO 4 in the interest of continuity, we offer you a collection of original collaborations with artists we admire. Also, FUCK 2020." The album is notable for having been made over years; some of the collaborations, like "HATE YOU" with JPEGMafia, "DELICIOUS APE" with Xiu Xiu, and "MASS GRAVE" with Soccer Mommy were previously released, however it includes new tracks like "POWER FANTASY" with 100 gecs and two new, non-collaborative songs, "CYBERPUNK 2.0.2.0." and "STRANGE DAYS 2.0.2.1.".
"I Really Want to Stay at Your House" is a song by British singer Rosa Walton written for the 2020 video game Cyberpunk 2077. Featured in the fictional radio station 98.7 Body Heat Radio, the song was included by Lakeshore Records on the soundtrack album Cyberpunk 2077: Radio, Vol. 2 , which was released on 18 December 2020. The song would later on go viral in 2022 after being utilised heavily in the 2022 cyberpunk anime series Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and chart in the United Kingdom at number 68.
The development of Cyberpunk 2077, an action role-playing video game, began following the release of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Blood and Wine expansion in May 2016. CD Projekt published Cyberpunk 2077 in December 2020 for PlayStation 4, Stadia, Windows, and Xbox One, and in February 2022 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. Set in the Cyberpunk universe, its development was led by a 50-person team at CD Projekt Red, who partnered with several companies. The team quickly grew, surpassing the development team for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015).
