‘Edgerunners 2’ is Official and [Cyber]punk is not Dead

‘Edgerunners 2’ is Official and [Cyber]punk is not Dead OVE the Cyberpunk universe and the game (I was running that shit on PC at launch and sidestepped most of the justifiable bitterness that came when it dropped). I was still invested in the universe when the first Edgerunners dropped and fell in love again with the universe at large. Not just my badass, sideswipped, netrunning stealth assassin V from my save files. Don’t even get me started on Phantom Liberty.

What’s difficult for me is the timing of Edgerunners, more accurately, the timing of properties that came before. We have seen so many of our favorite video games just get TERRIBLE adaptations or additions to their world in different mediums. The Halo franchise is shooting about 30% from the field. Final Fantasy produced tech demos for years. Y’all remember the Mass Effect anime? No, no you don’t. Forget a separate column, to cover the Resident Evil movies, animation, etc. would be its own, unrewarding series. My point is, we live in a time when both video games and the adaptations they spawn (Castlevania, Arcane, Sonic, etc.) are just taken much more seriously. Who knows how many bites at the apple Assassin’s Creed or Far Cry have after their…less than inspiring break from the genre takes they have left. But I digress. When Edgerunners dropped, it was an instant classic for a few reasons. They nailed the tone, they nailed the dread, they gave us new characters in a city we helped shape in our own game. Great an…