Daily Archives: June 19, 2016

Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a future setting that tends to focus on the society of the proverbial "high tech low life";[1][2] featuring advanced technological and scientific achievements, such as information technology and cybernetics, juxtaposed with a degree of breakdown or radical change in the social order.[3]

Cyberpunk plots often center on conflict among artificial intelligences and among megacorporations, and tend to be set in a future Earth, rather than in the far-future settings or galactic vistas found in novels such as Isaac Asimov's Foundation or Frank Herbert's Dune.[4] The settings are usually post-industrial dystopias but tend to feature extraordinary cultural ferment and the use of technology in ways never anticipated by its original inventors ("the street finds its own uses for things").[5] Much of the genre's atmosphere echoes film noir, and written works in the genre often use techniques from detective fiction.[6]

Classic cyberpunk characters were marginalized, alienated loners who lived on the edge of society in generally dystopic futures where daily life was impacted by rapid technological change, an ubiquitous datasphere of computerized information, and invasive modification of the human body.

Primary exponents of the cyberpunk field include William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, Bruce Sterling, Bruce Bethke, Pat Cadigan, Rudy Rucker, John Shirley and Philip K. Dick (author of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, from which the film Blade Runner was adapted).[8]

Blade Runner can be seen as a quintessential example of the cyberpunk style and theme.[4]Video games, board games, and tabletop role-playing games, such as Cyberpunk 2020 and Shadowrun, often feature storylines that are heavily influenced by cyberpunk writing and movies. Beginning in the early 1990s, some trends in fashion and music were also labeled as cyberpunk. Cyberpunk is also featured prominently in anime and manga:[9]Akira, Gunnm, Ghost in the Shell, Serial Experiments Lain, Dennou Coil, Ergo Proxy and Psycho Pass being among the most notable.[9][10]

Cyberpunk writers tend to use elements from hardboiled detective fiction, film noir, and postmodernist prose to describe the often nihilistic underground side of an electronic society. The genre's vision of a troubled future is often called the antithesis of the generally utopian visions of the future popular in the 1940s and 1950s. Gibson defined cyberpunk's antipathy towards utopian SF in his 1981 short story "The Gernsback Continuum," which pokes fun at and, to a certain extent, condemns utopian science fiction.[13][14][15]

In some cyberpunk writing, much of the action takes place online, in cyberspace, blurring the border between actual and virtual reality.[16] A typical trope in such work is a direct connection between the human brain and computer systems. Cyberpunk settings are dystopias with corruption, computers and internet connectivity. Giant, multinational corporations have for the most part replaced governments as centers of political, economic, and even military power.

The economic and technological state of Japan in the 80s influenced Cyberpunk literature at the time. Of Japan's influence on the genre, William Gibson said, "Modern Japan simply was cyberpunk."[12] Cyberpunk is often set in urbanized, artificial landscapes, and "city lights, receding" was used by Gibson as one of the genre's first metaphors for cyberspace and virtual reality.[17]

One of the cyberpunk genre's prototype characters is Case, from Gibson's Neuromancer.[18] Case is a "console cowboy," a brilliant hacker who has betrayed his organized criminal partners. Robbed of his talent through a crippling injury inflicted by the vengeful partners, Case unexpectedly receives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be healed by expert medical care but only if he participates in another criminal enterprise with a new crew.

Like Case, many cyberpunk protagonists are manipulated, placed in situations where they have little or no choice, and although they might see things through, they do not necessarily come out any further ahead than they previously were. These anti-heroes"criminals, outcasts, visionaries, dissenters and misfits"[19]call to mind the private eye of detective fiction. This emphasis on the misfits and the malcontents is the "punk" component of cyberpunk.

Cyberpunk can be intended to disquiet readers and call them to action. It often expresses a sense of rebellion, suggesting that one could describe it as a type of culture revolution in science fiction. In the words of author and critic David Brin:

...a closer look [at cyberpunk authors] reveals that they nearly always portray future societies in which governments have become wimpy and pathetic ...Popular science fiction tales by Gibson, Williams, Cadigan and others do depict Orwellian accumulations of power in the next century, but nearly always clutched in the secretive hands of a wealthy or corporate elite.[20]

Cyberpunk stories have also been seen as fictional forecasts of the evolution of the Internet. The earliest descriptions of a global communications network came long before the World Wide Web entered popular awareness, though not before traditional science-fiction writers such as Arthur C. Clarke and some social commentators such as James Burke began predicting that such networks would eventually form.[21]

The science-fiction editor Gardner Dozois is generally acknowledged as the person who popularized the use of the term "cyberpunk" as a kind of literature [according to whom?], although Minnesota writer Bruce Bethke coined the term in 1980 for his short story "Cyberpunk," which was published in the November 1983 issue of Amazing Science Fiction Stories.[22] The term was quickly appropriated as a label to be applied to the works of William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, Pat Cadigan and others. Of these, Sterling became the movement's chief ideologue, thanks to his fanzine Cheap Truth. John Shirley wrote articles on Sterling and Rucker's significance.[23]John Brunner's 1975 novel The Shockwave Rider is considered by many[who?] to be the first cyberpunk novel with many of the tropes commonly associated with the genre, some five years before the term was popularized by Dozois.[24]

William Gibson with his novel Neuromancer (1984) is likely[according to whom?] the most famous writer connected with the term cyberpunk. He emphasized style, a fascination with surfaces, and atmosphere over traditional science-fiction tropes. Regarded as ground-breaking and sometimes as "the archetypal cyberpunk work,"[7]Neuromancer was awarded the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick Awards. Count Zero (1986) and Mona Lisa Overdrive (1988) followed after Gibson's popular debut novel. According to the Jargon File, "Gibson's near-total ignorance of computers and the present-day hacker culture enabled him to speculate about the role of computers and hackers in the future in ways hackers have since found both irritatingly nave and tremendously stimulating."[25]

Early on, cyberpunk was hailed as a radical departure from science-fiction standards and a new manifestation of vitality.[26] Shortly thereafter, however, some critics arose to challenge its status as a revolutionary movement. These critics said that the SF New Wave of the 1960s was much more innovative as far as narrative techniques and styles were concerned.[27] Furthermore, while Neuromancer's narrator may have had an unusual "voice" for science fiction, much older examples can be found: Gibson's narrative voice, for example, resembles that of an updated Raymond Chandler, as in his novel The Big Sleep (1939).[26] Others noted that almost all traits claimed to be uniquely cyberpunk could in fact be found in older writers' worksoften citing J. G. Ballard, Philip K. Dick, Harlan Ellison, Stanisaw Lem, Samuel R. Delany, and even William S. Burroughs.[26] For example, Philip K. Dick's works contain recurring themes of social decay, artificial intelligence, paranoia, and blurred lines between objective and subjective realities, and the influential cyberpunk movie Blade Runner (1982) is based on his book, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. Humans linked to machines are found in Pohl and Kornbluth's Wolfbane (1959) and Roger Zelazny's Creatures of Light and Darkness (1968).[citation needed]

In 1994, scholar Brian Stonehill suggested that Thomas Pynchon's 1973 novel Gravity's Rainbow "not only curses but precurses what we now glibly dub cyberspace."[28] Other important[according to whom?] predecessors include Alfred Bester's two most celebrated novels, The Demolished Man and The Stars My Destination,[29] as well as Vernor Vinge's novella True Names.[30]

Science-fiction writer David Brin describes cyberpunk as "the finest free promotion campaign ever waged on behalf of science fiction." It may not have attracted the "real punks," but it did ensnare many new readers, and it provided the sort of movement that postmodern literary critics found alluring. Cyberpunk made science fiction more attractive to academics, argues Brin; in addition, it made science fiction more profitable to Hollywood and to the visual arts generally. Although the "self-important rhetoric and whines of persecution" on the part of cyberpunk fans were irritating at worst and humorous at best, Brin declares that the "rebels did shake things up. We owe them a debt."[31]

Fredric Jameson considers cyberpunk the "supreme literary expression if not of postmodernism, then of late capitalism itself".[32]

Cyberpunk further inspired many professional writers who were not among the "original" cyberpunks to incorporate cyberpunk ideas into their own works,[citation needed] such as George Alec Effinger's When Gravity Fails. Wired magazine, created by Louis Rossetto and Jane Metcalfe, mixes new technology, art, literature, and current topics in order to interest today's cyberpunk fans, which Paula Yoo claims "proves that hardcore hackers, multimedia junkies, cyberpunks and cellular freaks are poised to take over the world."[33]

The film Blade Runner (1982)adapted from Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?is set in 2019 in a dystopian future in which manufactured beings called replicants are slaves used on space colonies and are legal prey on Earth to various bounty hunters who "retire" (kill) them. Although Blade Runner was largely unsuccessful in its first theatrical release, it found a viewership in the home video market and became a cult film.[34] Since the movie omits the religious and mythical elements of Dick's original novel (e.g. empathy boxes and Wilbur Mercer), it falls more strictly within the cyberpunk genre than the novel does. William Gibson would later reveal that upon first viewing the film, he was surprised at how the look of this film matched his vision when he was working on Neuromancer. The film's tone has since been the staple of many cyberpunk movies, such as The Matrix (1999), which uses a wide variety of cyberpunk elements.

The number of films in the genre or at least using a few genre elements has grown steadily since Blade Runner. Several of Philip K. Dick's works have been adapted to the silver screen. The films Johnny Mnemonic[35] and New Rose Hotel,[36][37] both based upon short stories by William Gibson, flopped commercially and critically.

In addition, "tech-noir" film as a hybrid genre, means a work of combining neo-noir and science fiction or cyberpunk. It includes many cyberpunk films such as Blade Runner, Burst City,[38]The Terminator, Robocop, 12 Monkeys, The Lawnmower Man, Hackers, Hardware, and Strange Days.

Cyberpunk themes are widely visible in anime and manga. In Japan, where cosplay is popular and not only teenagers display such fashion styles, cyberpunk has been accepted and its influence is widespread. William Gibson's Neuromancer, whose influence dominated the early cyberpunk movement, was also set in Chiba, one of Japan's largest industrial areas, although at the time of writing the novel Gibson did not know the location of Chiba and had no idea how perfectly it fit his vision in some ways. The exposure to cyberpunk ideas and fiction in the mid 1980s has allowed it to seep into the Japanese culture.

Cyberpunk anime and manga draw upon a futuristic vision which has elements in common with western science fiction and therefore have received wide international acceptance outside Japan. "The conceptualization involved in cyberpunk is more of forging ahead, looking at the new global culture. It is a culture that does not exist right now, so the Japanese concept of a cyberpunk future, seems just as valid as a Western one, especially as Western cyberpunk often incorporates many Japanese elements."[39] William Gibson is now a frequent visitor to Japan, and he came to see that many of his visions of Japan have become a reality:

Modern Japan simply was cyberpunk. The Japanese themselves knew it and delighted in it. I remember my first glimpse of Shibuya, when one of the young Tokyo journalists who had taken me there, his face drenched with the light of a thousand media-sunsall that towering, animated crawl of commercial informationsaid, "You see? You see? It is Blade Runner town." And it was. It so evidently was.[40]

Cyberpunk has influenced many anime and manga including the ground-breaking Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Ergo Proxy, Battle Angel Alita, Megazone 23, Neo Tokyo, Goku Midnight Eye, Cyber City Oedo 808, Bubblegum Crisis, A.D. Police: Dead End City, Angel Cop, Extra, Blame!, Armitage III, Texhnolyze, Neon Genesis Evangelion and Psycho-Pass.

There are many cyberpunk video games. Popular series include the Metal Gear series, Megami Tensei series, Deus Ex series, Syndicate series, and System Shock and its sequel. Other games, like Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell, and the Matrix series, are based upon genre movies, or role-playing games (for instance the various Shadowrun games). CD Projekt RED are currently developing a cyberpunk game, Cyberpunk 2077.[41]

Several role-playing games (RPGs) called Cyberpunk exist: Cyberpunk, Cyberpunk 2020 and Cyberpunk v3, by R. Talsorian Games, and GURPS Cyberpunk, published by Steve Jackson Games as a module of the GURPS family of RPGs. Cyberpunk 2020 was designed with the settings of William Gibson's writings in mind, and to some extent with his approval[citation needed], unlike the approach taken by FASA in producing the transgenre Shadowrun game. Both are set in the near future, in a world where cybernetics are prominent. In addition, Iron Crown Enterprises released an RPG named Cyberspace, which was out of print for several years until recently being re-released in online PDF form.

In 1990, in a convergence of cyberpunk art and reality, the United States Secret Service raided Steve Jackson Games's headquarters and confiscated all their computers. This was allegedly because the GURPS Cyberpunk sourcebook could be used to perpetrate computer crime. That was, in fact, not the main reason for the raid, but after the event it was too late to correct the public's impression.[42] Steve Jackson Games later won a lawsuit against the Secret Service, aided by the new Electronic Frontier Foundation. This event has achieved a sort of notoriety, which has extended to the book itself as well. All published editions of GURPS Cyberpunk have a tagline on the front cover, which reads "The book that was seized by the U.S. Secret Service!" Inside, the book provides a summary of the raid and its aftermath.

Cyberpunk has also inspired several tabletop, miniature and board games such as Necromunda by Games Workshop. Netrunner is a collectible card game introduced in 1996, based on the Cyberpunk 2020 role-playing game. Tokyo NOVA, debuting in 1993, is a cyberpunk role-playing game that uses playing cards instead of dice.

"Much of the industrial/dance heavy 'Cyberpunk'recorded in Billy Idol's Macintosh-run studiorevolves around Idol's theme of the common man rising up to fight against a faceless, soulless, corporate world."

Some musicians and acts have been classified as cyberpunk due to their aesthetic style and musical content. Often dealing with dystopian visions of the future or biomechanical themes, some fit more squarely in the category than others. Bands whose music has been classified as cyberpunk include Psydoll, Front Line Assembly, Clock DVA and Sigue Sigue Sputnik. Some musicians not normally associated with cyberpunk have at times been inspired to create concept albums exploring such themes. Albums such as Gary Numan's Replicas, The Pleasure Principle and Telekon were heavily inspired by the works of Philip K. Dick. Kraftwerk's The Man-Machine and Computer World albums both explored the theme of humanity becoming dependent on technology. Nine Inch Nails' concept album Year Zero also fits into this category. Billy Idol's Cyberpunk drew heavily from cyberpunk literature and the cyberdelic counter culture in its creation. 1. Outside, a cyberpunk narrative fueled concept album by David Bowie, was warmly met by critics upon its release in 1995. Many musicians have also taken inspiration from specific cyberpunk works or authors, including Sonic Youth, whose albums Sister and Daydream Nation take influence from the works of Phillip K. Dick and William Gibson respectively.

Vaporwave and Synthwave are also influenced by cyberpunk. The former has been interpreted as a dystopian[44] critique of capitalism[45] in the vein of cyberpunk and the latter as a nostalgic retrofuturistic revival of aspects of cyberpunk's origins.

Furthermore, many dubstep producers, such as Machine Man and Ghosthack, have found inspiration in cyberpunk themes for their works.

Some Neo-Futurism artworks and cityscapes have been influenced by cyberpunk, such as [12] the Sony Center in the Potsdamer Platz public square of Berlin, Germany,[46]Hong Kong, and Shanghai.[47]

Several subcultures have been inspired by cyberpunk fiction. These include the cyberdelic counter culture of the late 1980s and early 90s. Cyberdelic, whose adherents referred to themselves as "cyberpunks", attempted to blend the psychedelic art and drug movement with the technology of cyberculture. Early adherents included Timothy Leary, Mark Frauenfelder and R. U. Sirius. The movement largely faded following the dot-com bubble implosion of 2000.

Cybergoth is a fashion and dance subculture which draws its inspiration from cyberpunk fiction, as well as rave and Gothic subcultures. In addition, a distinct cyberpunk fashion of its own has emerged in recent years[when?] which rejects the raver and goth influences of cybergoth, and draws inspiration from urban street fashion, "post apocalypse", functional clothing, high tech sports wear, tactical uniform and multifunction. This fashion goes by names like "tech wear", "goth ninja" or "tech ninja". Important designers in this type of fashion[according to whom?] are ACRONYM, Demobaza, Boris Bidjan Saberi, Rick Owens and Alexander Wang.

The Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong (demolished in 1994) is often referenced as the model cyberpunk/dystopian slum as, given its poor living conditions at the time coupled by the city's political, physical, and economic isolation has caused many in academia to be fascinated by the ingenuity of its spawning.[48]

As a wider variety of writers began to work with cyberpunk concepts, new subgenres of science fiction emerged, some of which could be considered as playing off the cyberpunk label, others which could be considered as legitimate explorations into newer territory. These focused on technology and its social effects in different ways. One prominent subgenre is "steampunk," which is set in an alternate history Victorian era that combines anachronistic technology with cyberpunk's bleak film noir world view. The term was originally coined around 1987 as a joke to describe some of the novels of Tim Powers, James P. Blaylock, and K.W. Jeter, but by the time Gibson and Sterling entered the subgenre with their collaborative novel The Difference Engine the term was being used earnestly as well.[49]

Another subgenre is "biopunk" (cyberpunk themes dominated by biotechnology) from the early 1990s, a derivative style building on biotechnology rather than informational technology. In these stories, people are changed in some way not by mechanical means, but by genetic manipulation. Paul Di Filippo is seen as the most prominent biopunk writer, including his half-serious ribofunk. Bruce Sterling's Shaper/Mechanist cycle is also seen as a major influence. In addition, some people consider works such as Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age to be postcyberpunk.

Cyberpunk works have been described as well-situated within postmodern literature.[50]

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Cyberpunk - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Da Wikipedia, l'enciclopedia libera.

Il cyberpunk una corrente letteraria e artistica nata nella prima met degli anni ottanta del XX secolo, nell'ambito della fantascienza, di cui divenuto un sottogenere. Il nome si fa derivare da cibernetica e punk e fu originariamente coniato da Bruce Bethke come titolo per il suo racconto Cyberpunk, pubblicato nel 1983[1], anche se lo stile fu reso popolare ben prima della sua pubblicazione dal curatore editoriale Gardner Dozois. Il cyberpunk tratta di scienze avanzate, come l'information technology e la cibernetica, accoppiate con un certo grado di ribellione o cambiamento radicale nell'ordine sociale.

talvolta definita genericamente "cyberpunk-fantasy" o "cyberfantasy" un'opera di genere fantasy che riguardi internet o il cyberspazio.[senzafonte]

Tra gli esponenti pi noti vengono comunemente indicati William Gibson, per i racconti e romanzi fortemente innovativi e caratteristici dal punto di vista stilistico e delle tematiche, e Bruce Sterling, per l'elaborazione teorica. Sterling ha definito a posteriori il cyberpunk come un nuovo tipo di integrazione. Il sovrapporsi di mondi che erano formalmente separati: il regno dell'high tech e il moderno pop underground.[2]

Il curatore editoriale di fantascienza Gardner Dozois generalmente riconosciuto come la persona che ha reso popolare il termine "cyberpunk" come genere di letteratura, malgrado lo scrittore del Minnesota Bruce Bethke avesse coniato il termine nel 1980 per il suo racconto "Cyberpunk" che fu pubblicato nel numero del novembre del 1983 di Amazing Science Fiction Stories.[3] Il termine fu rapidamente riutilizzato come etichetta da applicare alle opere di William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, John Shirley, Rudy Rucker, Michael Swanwick, Pat Cadigan, Lewis Shiner, Richard Kadrey e altri. Questi scrittori in realt avevano deciso di chiamarsi Mirrorshades Movement' (movimento degli occhiali a specchio). Di questi, Sterling divenne il principale ideologo, grazie alla sua fanzine Cheap Truth. John Shirley scrisse articoli sull'importanza di Sterling e Rucker.[4]

William Gibson con il suo romanzo Neuromante (1984) di gran lunga il pi celebre autore connesso al termine cyberpunk. Egli enfatizz lo stile, una fascinazione per le superfici, l'aspetto del futuro e l'atmosfera oltre i topoi della fantascienza tradizionale. Considerato come l'opera che "ruppe il ghiaccio" e talvolta "l'archetipo dell'opera cyberpunk",[5]Neuromante fu insignito dei premi Hugo, Nebula e Philip K. Dick. Segu il debutto popolare dei romanzi di Gibson Gi nel ciberspazio (Count Zero, 1986) e Monna Lisa Cyberpunk (Mona Lisa Overdrive, 1988), costituenti la celeberrima Trilogia dello Sprawl. In base al Jargon File, "l'ignoranza pressoch totale di Gibson riguardo ai computer e all'odierna cultura hacker gli permise di speculare intorno al ruolo dei computer e degli hacker nel futuro in modi che gli hacker trovarono naif in modo irritante e tremendamente stimolanti al tempo stesso."[6]

Secondo lo stesso Gibson,[7] il cyberpunk non fu mai un vero e proprio movimento, quanto piuttosto una sensibilit comune ad alcuni autori, identificabili in quelli raccolti nella prima antologia del cyberpunk intitolata Mirrorshades (1986).

Non esistono dichiarazioni d'intenti firmate da pi autori, e si deve principalmente a Bruce Sterling l'idea di un movimento formale. William Gibson ha affermato: "Non sono mai stato davvero convinto che il Cyberpunk fosse mai stato un movimento letterario in senso formale. Questa visione viene distorta dal piacere di Sterling nell'utilizzare la retorica di un movimento radicale, pur sospettando che un certo elemento di umoristica autoconsapevolezza si perda nella traduzione"[8]; e poco pi avanti "Per Cyberpunk io intendo una tendenza della cultura pop degli ultimi dieci anni circa, qualcosa che noi possiamo scorgere nella narrativa, fumetti, musica, cinema, videoclip, moda".[8]

Secondo Gibson, il suo principale esponente, e significativa parte della critica, il cyberpunk, almeno in quanto corrente d'avanguardia, si pu considerare concluso gi alla met degli anni ottanta. Il suo successo in seguito avrebbe spinto molti altri autori a sfruttarne le tematiche, anche per scopi commerciali, favorendo appunto la nascita di un nuovo genere. In ogni caso la sua crescente popolarit tra lettori ed autori ha reso ormai stabilmente il cyberpunk un importante sottogenere della letteratura fantascientifica, con forti influenze estetiche sul cinema, sul fumetto e pi in generale sulla cultura mediatica.

Come movimento letterario, il cyberpunk nasce come una filiazione diretta della fantascienza americana, ma subito evidente un allontanamento dal mainstream di questa letteratura di genere. Nel contesto della letteratura di fantascienza, la linea che porta al cyberpunk quella che parte da Aldous Huxley e da 1984 di George Orwell e che passa per i maggiori modelli di James Ballard e soprattutto di Philip K. Dick.

Il cyberpunk, come tutte quelle correnti che possono essere inserite nel clima postmoderno, si caratterizza per la grande variet di fonti da cui attinge per l'elaborazione del proprio immaginario. Un clima culturale molto favorevole alle ibridazioni di generi. proprio grazie a questo clima che fu possibile ad autori come William S. Burroughs, esponente di spicco della Beat Generation, di essere tra gli ispiratori del movimento.

Altri elementi concorrono alla scelta dei temi della prima produzione cyberpunk. Evidenti sono gli influssi della psichedelia degli anni sessanta e settanta, con le sue promesse di nuove percezioni offerte dalla chimica e dalle droghe sintetiche, di aprire nuove porte verso mondi fino ad allora relegati alla sfera dell'inconscio.

Queste visioni sono spesso associate a particolari interpretazioni del romanticismo, soprattutto William Blake, ma non solo, un parallelo spesso messo in evidenza dalla critica. Orlin Damyanov, ad esempio, mette in relazione il romanticismo del Frankenstein di Mary Shelley con Neuromante di William Gibson. In questo confronto, messo in evidenza da pi critici, emerge uno degli elementi di maggior interesse del cyberpunk: lo spostamento dell'attenzione sulla percezione soggettiva, seppure condivisa, spazi virtuali che cessano di essere tali almeno nel significato letterale del termine. Il mondo cessa di essere una tensione al divenire, storicamente comprensibile coi suoi rapporti di causa ed effetto come lo aveva disegnato il Romanticismo, per diventare, come ha scritto Valmerz, "il dispiegarsi di un codice nella sfera della comunicazione".[senzafonte][9]

Un altro dei maggiori temi del cyberpunk il rapporto che emerge tra l'essere umano e la tecnologia, che tende ad esprimersi prioritariamente nel rapporto con il corpo umano, mostruoso o, in modo aggiornato, cyborg. Nei racconti degli autori di Mirrorshades sono molto frequenti i personaggi che presentano innesti meccanici nel proprio corpo. Tecnologie che diventano parte integrante del corpo umano, aumentano le sue capacit, consentono azioni altrimenti impossibili. Il corpo umano cessa in questo modo di essere qualcosa di immutabile, naturale, e diventa un elemento modificabile e tecnologico, recuperando una visione del corpo in realt molto antica, gi presente nella cultura popolare medievale[10]

Anticipato e prefigurato sotto certi aspetti nelle opere di Philip K. Dick, all'aspetto tecnologico tipico della fantascienza il cyberpunk aggiunge una forte connotazione politica e sociale.

I romanzi cyberpunk sono ambientati in un futuro prossimo, in un mondo decadente e ipertecnologico dominato dalle grandi multinazionali commerciali, le Zaibatsu, spalleggiate dalla Yakuza, la potente mafia giapponese. I protagonisti, in genere degli hacker, sono in costante fuga da questa cupa realt e trovano la loro ragion d'essere in un mondo virtuale parallelo, il cyberspazio, teatro delle loro battaglie.

Lo stile narrativo caratterizzato dall'apparente assenza di un intreccio ben definito il racconto si concentra sulle azioni dei personaggi e dall'uso di un linguaggio barocco che mischia tecnicismi informatici ed espressioni gergali della strada, molto difficile da rendere in una traduzione.

Elenco degli autori presenti nella raccolta Mirrorshades del 1986, e che secondo quanto dichiarato da William Gibson sarebbero da ritenersi gli unici autori cyberpunk originali:

Alcuni autori e opere che sono stati ritenuti precursori del genere cyberpunk (in ordine cronologico di pubblicazione delle opere):

Il cyberpunk ha avuto una notevole influenza sulla narrativa fantascientifica e non, dal cyberpunk sono ritenuti derivati (o paralleli) lo steampunk, che propone argomenti cyberpunk in un'ambientazione storica, lo splatterpunk e il postcyberpunk, un filone non omogeneo di nuovi autori che si propone un aggiornamento delle tematiche cyberpunk, con relativi sottogeneri quali biopunk e nanopunk. Imparentato e, almeno parzialmente, discendente il gothicpunk. In Italia le istanze del cyberpunk sono germinate nell'avanguardia del connettivismo.

"Atompunk" un'espressione utilizzata da Bruce Sterling per definire delle opere accostabili al cyberpunk e ambientate in un'epoca pre digitale, dal 1945 al 1965, caratterizzata dall'uso dell'energia atomica, dall'esplorazione spaziale e dalla paranoia anticomunista negli Stati Uniti.[14] Spesso l'ambientazione post apocalittica, come nella serie di videogiochi Fallout.

Clockpunk un termine coniato in un supplemento del gioco di ruolo GURPS[15] e si riferisce a storie di fantascienza ambientate in un mondo rinascimentale dove le invenzioni di Leonardo da Vinci sono state non solo costruite e usate, ma anche migliorate. Il maggiore autore clockpunk Jay Lake[16]. Nel clockpunk si assiste al trionfo della meccanica e dei congegni a orologeria, portati fino a conseguenze retrofuturistiche.[15]

Proposto inizialmente quale genere dai creatori del gioco di ruolo Children of the Sun,[17] il dieselpunk riferibile alle opere di immaginazione ispirate ai pulp magazine della met del Novecento ed ambientato in un mondo analogo allo steampunk, bench specificamente caratterizzato dall'ascesa del potere del petrolio e dalla percezione tecnocratica, incorporando elementi neo-noir e condividendo temi pi con il cyberpunk che con lo steampunk.[18] Bench la rilevanza del dieselpunk come genere non sia del tutto priva di contestazioni, quale quintessenza della narrativa dieselpunk sono state suggerite[19][20] opere che vanno dal film retrofuturistico Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow al videogioco dell'Activision Return to Castle Wolfenstein (2001).

Catherynne M. Valente coni il termine mythpunk per indicare un sottogenere del fantasy in cui elementi mitologici si fondono completamente con la realt comune. I maggiori scrittori mythpunk sono Catherynne M. Valente, Ekaterina Sedia, Theodora Goss, Sonya Taaffe e Neil Gaiman.[21][22] Il mythpunk differisce dal fantasy mitologico perch quest'ultimo usa elementi mitologici senza fonderli con la nostra realt. Nelle ambientazioni mythpunk, le creature mitologiche sono viste come normali e non creano stupore negli esseri umani. Spesso, inoltre, le creature mitologiche sono rielaborate in chiave moderna.

Sono state definite Stonepunk tutte quelle storie che presentano una tecnologia retrofuturistica e anacronistica ispirata a quella neolitica. Un esempio popolare rappresentato dalla serie tv I Flintstones, ma anche dai romanzi della saga I figli della Terra di Jean M. Auel e dal romanzo Back to the Stone Age (1937) di Edgar Rice Burroughs.[23]

Il cyberpunk considerato, in senso ristretto, come il movimento letterario della prima met degli anni ottanta non produsse un filone cinematografico, dato che tra i suoi promotori non vi erano cineasti. L'unica trasposizione cinematografica di un romanzo cyberpunk di William Gibson (escludendo qui New Rose Hotel per motivi di attinenza) il film Johnny Mnemonic del 1995, girato a molti anni di distanza e ritenuto in generale poco fedele alla storia originale e "banalizzante"[24] (malgrado il contributo alla sceneggiatura da parte dello stesso Gibson). Ad ogni modo vari film influenti, tra cui anzitutto Blade Runner e in seguito la trilogia di Matrix, sono stati visti come esempi di cyberpunk.[25] Volendo ampliare l'ambito fino a comprendere film che trattano temi tipici del cyberpunk come la contaminazione tra corpo e digitale, tra la carne e l'artificiale, allora si potrebbe indicare David Cronenberg come uno dei pi attivi cineasti.[26]

Una lista di film che hanno a che fare col cyberpunk. Alcuni sono tratti o ispirati da autori cyberpunk, altri precedono il filone.

Il primo gioco di ruolo cyberpunk fu Cyberpunk (Mike Pondsmith, 1984), pubblicato dalla R. Talsorian Games e che ottenne un ottimo successo. Negli anni successivi venne supportato da diversi supplementi e da un paio di ambientazioni basate su licenza, Hardwired basata sull'omonimo romanzo di Walter Jon Williams (edito in Italia come Guerrieri dell'interfaccia) e When Gravity Falls basata sull'omonimo romanzo di George A. Effinger (edito in Italia come L'inganno della gravit). Nel 1990 venne pubblicata con altrettanto successo la seconda edizione, Cyberpunk 2020, ed altri editori tentarono di seguirne il successo, nel 1989 la ICE pubblic Cyberspace e la FASA Shadowrun, seguiti l'anno dopo dal supplemento per GURPS GURPS Cyberpunk[30] della Steve Jackson Games, mentre alcuni giochi di fantascienza pi vecchi cercano di aggiornarsi ai temi cyberpunk, come per esempio 2300AD della GDW con il supplemento Earth/Cybertech Sourcebook (1989).[31]

Di questi altri regolamenti l'unico altro a ottenere un buon successo fu Shadowrun, che mescola i temi del fantasy classico con quelli del cyberpunk, immaginando un futuro in cui la magia era riemersa da uno stato dormiente e che nel 2005 arrivato alla quarta edizione. Cyberpunk venne pubblicato fino alla chiusura della R. Talsorian Games nel 2000, una terza edizione venne pubblicata dalla nuova R. Talsorian Group nel 2005, senza incontrare il successo delle precedenti edizioni.[31]

Altri giochi di genere cyperpunk sono:

Nella musica EBM e Aggrotech sono presenti molte tematiche cyberpunk; alcuni tra i principali sono Clock Dva, Front Line Assembly, Velvet Acid Christ, Front 242, Haujobb e molti altri.

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Cyberpunk - Wikipedia

Un article de Wikipdia, l'encyclopdie libre.

Le cyberpunk (association des mots cyberntique et punk) est un genre de la science-fiction trs apparent la dystopie et la hard science-fiction. Il met souvent en scne un futur proche, avec une socit technologiquement avance (notamment pour les technologies de l'information et la cyberntique).

Le courant cyberpunk provient d'un univers o le dingue d'informatique et le rocker se rejoignent, d'un bouillon de culture o les tortillements des chanes gntiques s'imbriquent.

Bruce Sterling

Les mondes cyberpunks sont empreints de violence et de pessimisme; ils sont souvent lugubres, parfois ironiquement grinants; les personnages sont des antihros dsabuss, cyniques et cupides. C'est en ce sens que l'on qualifie les univers cyberpunk de dystopies. Il a depuis essaim ses thmatiques dans de nombreux mdias, notamment dans la bande dessine, le cinma, la musique, les jeux vido et les jeux de rle.

En opposition avec les rcits de science-fiction se droulant dans une perspective plus large: voyages dans l'espace, dcouverte de nouveaux espaces, conflits mettant en jeu l'univers connu et inconnu. Le cyberpunk est un confluent et conflit des thmatiques du hacker, de l'intelligence artificielle et des multinationales se droulant la plupart du temps dans un futur proche sur Terre; Le lieu o l'histoire se droule possde des caractres dystopiques, punk, en ce sens que les personnages faisant leur possible pour se dbrouiller dans un univers dsorganis, o le futur est dj pass, se retrouvant dans la zone d'incertitude sparant une presque-apocalypse et l'univers post-apocalyptique, voient leurs actions se heurter des intrts inamovibles, impalpables. L'assimilation du terme punk est aussi induite par le slogan de ce mouvement, No Future!, et par son esthtique la fois familire et particulirement agressive (en particulier celle de la branche dite no-punk comprenant notamment le mohawk, la coupe iroquois). L'implication politique anarchiste vaut surtout par son opposition l'organisation des pouvoirs totalement dpourvue d'thique, trs fortement dnonce et la plupart du temps combattue.

Les crivains cyberpunk empruntent divers lments aux romans noirs, policiers et rcits post-modernistes pour exprimer un cot underground, chaotique et nihiliste d'une socit entirement informatise voire robotise. Cette vision trouble et tourmente du futur est souvent l'antipode de ce qu'elle fut dans les annes 1940. Dans son livre "The Gernsback Continuum", William Gibson exprime avec sarcasme le mpris de la culture cyberpunk envers le roman utopique. Dans les uvres cyberpunk, l'action prend le plus souvent place en ligne, dans le cyberespace, ce qui a tendance souvent brouiller les frontires entre virtuel et ralit.

Neuromancien de William Gibson est le roman canonique du genre [2]. L'auteur y a le gnial pressentiment de ce qui va devenir le fait marquant, dans le domaine des technologies, de la dcennie suivante: Internet. Il fait vritablement uvre d'anticipation, en imaginant un futur o la technologie, au dveloppement hypertrophique, finit par envahir irrmdiablement lenvironnement humain, par le remplacer; un univers froid o linformatique rvle son pouvoir de contrle, renforant celui des autorits, o elle sacre son omniprsence en venant sinscrire au cur des organismes humains, au moyen de tout un arsenal de gadgets lectroniques.

Il constitue frquemment une vision plutt pessimiste de notre avenir. Ainsi y sont dcrits des problmes tels que la pollution, l'essor de la criminalit, la surpopulation, le dcalage de plus en plus grand entre minorit de riches et majorit de pauvres.

Le cyberpunk dresse un portrait sinistre et noir du monde qui serait alors entirement domin par des programmes informatiques et o les multinationales ont, pour la plupart, remplac toute forme de gouvernement. L'tat conomique et technologique du Japon dans les annes 1980 a largement inspir et contribu cette littrature. Les paysages artificiels, sur-urbaniss ainsi que les nons et autres enseignes lumineuses caractrisent le visuel cyberpunk.

Ce que devrait nous apporter la science dans les dcennies venir se retrouve dans la littrature cyberpunk. Tous les domaines technologiques sont abords, mme si les technologies relatives l'informatique et l'lectronique sont le plus souvent mises en avant. Le concept de Techno-acclration y est important: la technologie avance plus vite que la pense (et la socit): l'humain semble tre dpass par la Machine.

Les uvres cyberpunks popularisent l'ide de la fusion de l'humain et du spirituel avec la machine, donnant ainsi naissance des tres hybrides, constitus de chair et de mtal. La notion de membres artificiels, c'est--dire de prothses intelligentes, plus rsistantes et plus sensibles que des membres naturels, a t introduite avec le cyberpunk. De manire gnrale, nombre de personnages de romans cyberpunk possdent un corps dont les facults ont t augmentes artificiellement, que ce soit par des nanomachines ou des drogues. On peut supposer qu'une telle fascination pour les machines vient de la dcouverte par le grand public, la fin des annes 1970, de la puissance de calcul des ordinateurs mergents et des possibilits que l'informatique promet alors.

Possibilit commune d'une histoire rcrite comme dans Blade Runner ou de l'ensemble du monde sensible qui est faux comme dans Matrix. Dans Jusqu'au bout du monde de Wenders les personnages deviennent accrocs l'usage d'une machine enregistrant leur propre rve [3].

Il nait un nouveau type de personnage, lhomme de la rue, solitaire et marginal, contraint de sadapter une volution technologique rapide et incessante, et de sen sortir le moins mal possible. Ce personnage sans racines, surdou de llectronique mais pas des relations humaines, travaille parfois pour de grandes socits, mais le plus souvent pour son compte; spcialiste de linfiltration de banques de donnes, de la cration de virus informatiques, et de la prise de drogues suspectes, cest un mauvais garon sous tous rapports, un punk de lge cyber.

Les anti-hros du genre cyberpunk se dcouvrent souvent pions manipuls dans un imbroglio de socits secrtes, services gouvernementaux, syndicats du crime, tout cela plus ou moins dirig par les cadres suprieurs de multinationales devenues plus puissantes que des tats; elles ont leurs propres lois, possdent des territoires, et contrlent la vie de leurs employs de la naissance la mort. Leurs dirigeants sont souvent dnus de tout sens moral.

Les personnages des romans cyberpunk sont insignifiants comparativement au pouvoir quasi-divin que possdent les mga-corporations: ils sont face elles les grains de sable dans l'engrenage. Cette lutte de David contre Goliath est celle du hacker contre la multinationale et constitue un thme rcurrent des romans cyberpunks (comme Grav sur chrome, William Gibson, 1986).

Bien que certains ouvrages soient ancrs sur des thmes politiques, une large part de cette littrature penche vers un nihilisme apolitique [rf.ncessaire].

Les auteurs de romans cyberpunks prirent leur inspiration de nombreuses sources. Il est possible de faire remonter les influences du mouvement jusqu'au Frankenstein de Mary Shelley [4]. En prface l'anthologie Mozart en verres miroirs (Mirrorshades: A Cyberpunk Anthology), Bruce Sterling nomme plusieurs auteurs dont Harlan Ellison, Samuel Delany, Norman Spinrad, Michael Moorcock, Brian Aldiss, J. G. Ballard et surtout Phillip K. Dick en source pour le genre [5].

Le terme cyberpunk a t popularis par Gardner R. Dozois, diteur du Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. C'est le 30 dcembre 1984, dans le Washington Post, qu'un article de Dozois intitul SF in the Eighties qualifie de cyberpunk le style de l'uvre de l'crivain William Gibson, et plus particulirement de son roman Neuromancien (1984). Il dcrivait aussi tout un groupe de jeunes auteurs bizarres crivant dans le fanzine Cheap Truth: Bruce Sterling, William Gibson, Lewis Shiner, Pat Cadigan et Greg Bear. Le mouvement cyberpunk tait n. Le terme avait cependant t employ plus tt, en novembre 1983, par l'crivain amricain Bruce Bethke, comme titre d'une de ses nouvelles publies en novembre 1983 dans le magazine Amazing Science Fiction Stories[6].

Les innovations technologiques prsentes dans la littrature cyberpunk sont prsentes dans beaucoup de mdia qui ne sont pas classs comme cyberpunks. Johnny Mnemonic, bien qu'inspir de la nouvelle ponyme de William Gibson, n'est pas considre comme cyberpunk et pour certains auteurs marque plutt l'illustration de la fin de celui-ci [rf.ncessaire]. Par exemple des films d'action.

Le cyberpunk a influenc certaines sries tlvises sans que celles-ci soient futuristes. Par exemple, un des pisodes de X-files qui, bien qu'il se droule dans le prsent, utilise le thme cyberpunk; l'pisode Clic mortel (Kill Switch), dont le scnario a t crit par William Gibson, fait rfrence au tlchargement de conscience travers Internet par des hackers informatiques vivant en marge de la socit.

Autres exemples marquants:

La srie amricaine Mr. Robot (2015- en production, Sam Esmail), qui se droule dans notre monde, la socit hyper-connecte des annes 2010, peut-tre vue comme une srie cyberpunk[8]. Elle reprend en effet plusieurs concepts et lments propres au genre: multinationale surpuissante, omniprsence de l'informatique, hros solitaire et drogu, hackers contestataires, contrle des masses par les mdias et la technologie...

Rapidement, le genre toucha le monde des jeux de rle sur table avec des titres comme Cyberpunk 2013 qui fit connatre R. Talsorian Games plus connu sous sa seconde version Cyberpunk 2020 et qui muta paralllement en 1986 par lajout d'lments de Fantasy en Shadowrun (FASA, Jeux Descartes). En parallle, des versions gnriques apparurent tel GURPS: Cyberpunk (Steve Jackson Games) et CyberAge (un univers du jeu de rle SimulacreS).

En 1996, sort le jeu Netrunner, cr par le clbre Richard Garfield, qui met en scne les tentatives de piratage d'un runner (pirate informatique) contre une corporation. Une rinterprtation du jeu est sortie en 2012, nomme Android: Netrunner.

De nombreuses adaptations d'univers cyberpunk ont t produites. On peut citer le fait que William Gibson prsida lui-mme l'adaptation d'un de ses romans avec le jeu de rle Neuromancer produit en 1988 par Interplay. Indirectement, les films Blade Runner et la srie Max Headroom eurent aussi des adaptations en jeu vido. Le jeu de rle papier Shadowrun reu jusqu' quatre adaptations vido-ludiques.

Plusieurs titres originaux inspirs du cyberpunk virent le jour dans diffrents types comme Beneath a Steel Sky (jeu d'aventure pointez-cliquer), Snatcher (jeu d'aventure japonais) en 1988, Syndicate (Jeu de stratgie en temps rel) en 1993, System Shock en 1994 et sa suite System Shock 2 en 1999 et E.Y.E.: Divine Cybermancy (Tir subjectif) en 2011.

L'exemple le plus frquent de jeu vido l'univers cyberpunk russi, en termes de succs d'estime et de vente, restera probablement la srie des Deus Ex, lance en 2000 sous l'impulsion de Warren Spector (alors Ion Storm), hritiers assums des jeux System Shock dont il fut galement l'un des crateurs. Tous les ingrdients habituels y sont: prothses, piratage, une socit sombre et dsespre dans un futur proche, etc.

Square Enix s'est galement inspir du courant cyberpunk pour crer l'univers de Final Fantasy VII, sorti en 1997. On y retrouve en effet une intrigue se droulant sur une plante semblable la Terre, bien que plus avance technologiquement, contrle par une firme hgmonique aux dirigeants peu scrupuleux, la Shinra. Le sige de cette socit se trouve Midgar, une cit urbanise l'extrme, dans laquelle les personnes les plus aises vivent dans des habitations construites sur une gigantesque plaque 50mtres au-dessus du sol, alors que la partie la plus modeste de la population est contrainte de vivre dans des taudis, situs sous la plaque et privs des rayons du soleil[9]. L'univers du jeu accorde galement une place prpondrante la technologie, notamment par le biais de la Shinra, qui tire sa position dominante d'une technologie capable de convertir l'nergie terrestre (nergie Mako) en lectricit d'une part, et qui d'autre part utilise la robotique, principalement des fins militaires[10]. Le protagoniste du jeu, Cloud Strife, a galement t employ au sein des forces paramilitaires du conglomrat Shinra, frachement reconverti en mercenaire solitaire au dbut de l'intrigue, il incarne parfaitement cet anti-hros rcurrent dans les uvres cyberpunk. Son opposition avec la Shinra, dans un premier temps, est galement symptomatique du thme rcurrent de la lutte entre deux forces trs ingales[11]. On note galement la prsence d'une rflexion environnementale grce la prsence d'Avalanche, un groupe d'co-terroristes, visant empcher la Shinra de poursuivre l'exploitation de l'nergie Mako. Barret Wallace, le leader de ce groupe a en outre une prothse mcanique semblable une mitraillette, la place du bras droit[12], ce qui clt les principaux parallles que l'on peut faire entre Final Fantasy VII et la culture cyberpunk.

Le mme studio avec la pariticipation de sa filiale Eidos Montral dveloppera Deus Ex: Human Revolution en 2011, o le thme central du jeu est l'essor des socits dans la mondialisation, l'espionnage, la survie de l'homme, la pauvret et l'thique dutranshumanismeavec le remplacement artificiel de parties du corps humain qui est aussi un thme compatible avec le cyberpunk.

Atlus a repris des lments cyberpunks dans plusieurs de ses jeux, notamment Shin Megami Tensei II o la socit de Tokyo Millenium est divise entre les riches et puissants fidles du Centre (l'gale de la multinationale cyberpubk) et les infidles qui doivent survivre dans un environnement mtallique, dvast et sans ressources. Un autre exemple serait Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers, o la Phantom Society exploite le rseau Paradigm X pour voler les mes des habitants de la ville ultramoderne Amami City. L'objectif de la Phantom Society est de se servir des mes fauches comme source d'nergie pour invoquer Manitou et ainsi conqurir le monde. noter que le hros de Soul Hackers est un jeune hackeur en marge de la socit, ce qui renforce la ressemblance.

C'est dans les anime et les manga que le cyberpunk eut la plus grande influence [13].

Il peut y avoir contestation au sujet de la classification des diffrents sous-genres du cyberpunk: par exemple, on considre le steampunk et le biopunk comme des sous-genres mais, les caractristiques de ces sous-genres du cyberpunk tant relativement vastes et encore assez proches des caractristiques dfinissant le cyberpunk, un chevauchement peut aisment survenir lors d'une identification d'une uvre au cyberpunk et ses sous-genres.

Le cyberpunk tant un genre assez vaste, il est parfois problmatique de dissocier clairement les sous-genres des simples facettes varies de ce genre. Le modle de terminologie "~punk" peut tre utilis pour nommer des spcialits du cyberpunk ou de ses sous-genres qui ne sont pas vritablement identifies comme spares, soit par le manque de diffrences, soit par le manque d'utilisation de pareils termes. Par exemple, le terme "arcanepunk" peut faire rfrence la relative alliance de la technologie et de la magie dans un univers cyberpunk.

Ds le milieu des annes 1980, les auteurs comme Gibson et Sterling annonaient que le mouvement cyberpunk tait dj moribond, rcupr par Hollywood, digr et recrach sous une forme dpourvue de son lment punk. cet gard, un article de Lewis Shiner, publi dans le New York Times et intitul Confessions of an ex-Cyberpunk, fera date, et entranera une longue rponse de la part de Bruce Sterling: Cyberpunk in the Nineties, dans laquelle il dplore, tout en s'en amusant, que cette tiquette lui colle encore la peau, mais revendique toujours haut et fort les valeurs vhicules par le mouvement.

Pour certains, c'est le refus du mouvement d'imaginer un meilleur futur qui est la cause de la courte dure du mouvement[15]. C'est Neal Stephenson, dans son roman Le Samoura virtuel (Snow Crash) paru en 1992, qui enterre dfinitivement le cyberpunk dans les toutes premires pages . Cependant, cette opinion est conteste par les gens mettant en avant les uvres de nouveaux auteurs comme Richard Morgan.

On peut ventuellement expliquer la diminution du nombre d'uvres cyberpunk par le fait que certains thmes abords, qui taient auparavant futuristes et prcurseurs, sont de plus en plus vrais dans nos socits modernes. Notamment aux thmes, qui furent novateurs mais ne le sont plus, de l'mergence d'un rseau mondial de communication (Internet), du terrorisme de masse, du pouvoir de l'tat qui s'amoindrit au profit des grandes entreprises, des prothses et implants, etc. Ainsi, en 2007, Charles Stross publie le roman Halting State(en) dont l'histoire se situe dans un futur moyennement proche (2016) mais dont les problmatiques contemporaines refltent l'actualit de 2005-2006. Il faut peut-tre alors plus parler de rorientation d'une partie du cyberpunk que d'une fin.

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Cyberpunk Wikipdia

Cyberpunk 2077 is based on renowned pen-and-paper-RPG designer Mike Pondsmith's Cyberpunk system and created by CD Projekt (the acclaimed development group behind the hit RPG The Witcher.) Players are thrown into the dark future of the year 2077 and into a world where advanced technologies have become both the salvation and the curse of humanity. A multi-threaded, nonlinear story designed for mature players takes place in the sprawling metropolis of Night City and its surroundings. Along the way, visit places well known from Cyberpunk 2020, including a combat zone completely taken over by gangs, the legendary Afterlife joint and the nostalgic Forlorn Hope.

Freedom of action and diversity in gameplay is delivered thanks to the sandbox nature of the game and mechanics inspired by the Cyberpunk pen-and-paper system, fine tuned to meet the requirements of a modern RPG. Players experience the world through their own unique characters chosen from different classes -- be they blood-thirsty mercenaries or cunning hackers that they will equip with vast selection of cybernetic implants and deadly weapons. Gameplay will pump adrenaline through players' veins and be consistent with the celebrated Cyberpunk spirit -- rebellion, style, edge, uncertainty. And of course, a cyberpunk reality cannot be deprived of murderous steel -- guns, rifles, implants, dozens of gadgets and other varied pieces of equipment needed to survive on the streets of Night City.

NOTE: This game has been officially announced as a title in production and is likely planned for release on the PC platform, but it has not yet been officially announced for any specific system. Please check back for official info.

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Cyberpunk 2077 - PC - IGN

As known from the Official Cyberpunk 2077 Teaser Trailer. Download track from Itunes store. -- Lyrics here --

Come touch me like I'm an ordinary man Have a look in my eyes Underneath my skin there is a violence It's got a gun in its hands

Ready to make Ready to make Read- Ready to make sense of anyone anything Anyone anything Anyone anything Anyone anything Anyone anything Anyone anything

Black holes living in the side of your face Razor wire spinning around you [+echo] Blistering sky Blistering sky Blistering sky Bullets are the beauty of the blistering sky Bullets are the beauty and I don't know why Bullets are the beauty of the blistering sky Bullets are the beauty and I don't know why

Personal responsibility Personal responsibility Personal responsibility Personal responsibility

Come find me Let me be the lesser of a beautiful man Without the blood on his hands Come and make me a martyr Come and break my feeling With your violence Put the gun in my hand

Ready to take... Ready to take... Ready to take... Ready to take... ...Out anyone, anywhere Anyone, anywhere Anyone, anywhere Anyone, anywhere Anyone, anywhere

Black holes living in the side of your face Razor wire spinning around you [+echo] Blister in sky Blister in sky Blister in sky Bullets are the beauty of the blistering sky Bullets are the beauty and I don't know why Bullets are the beauty of the blistering sky Bullets are the beauty and I don't know why

Personal responsibility Personal responsibility Personal responsibility Personal responsibility

Black holes living in the side of your face Razor wire spinning around you [+echo] Blistering sky Blistering sky Blistering sky Bullets are the beauty of the blistering sky Bullets are the beauty and I don't know why Bullets are the beauty of the blistering sky Bullets are the beauty and I don't know why

Personal responsibility Personal responsibility Personal responsibility Personal responsibility

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(C) Island Records & Background Art by CD Project RED.

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Cyberpunk 2077 Soundtrack - Bullets by Archive - YouTube