Cyberpunk 2077 is $10 on PlayStation 4 and whatever last-gen Xbox it came out for.

I saw this news from a post on Facebook and saw a lot of folks commenting about it. I was going to respond, but I realized that my response was massive and, hey! I’ve got that website I never fucking post to, so…

So, Jay, Nate, Jonni… this one’s for you.

Short answer: I’m getting it.

I wanted to wait until I could get my hands on a PS5 but that seems to be a ways off and this is just too convenient a deal to pass up.

I should note that I’ve played and run every version of the Cyberpunk Tabletop Role-Playing Game. The plot of this is based off the story/adventure ‘Never Fade Away’ from the original Cyberpunk boxed set (which took place in the far-future year of 2013), all of which was created by the unstoppable ‘Maximum’ Mike Pondsmith; also the creative force majeure behind Mekton, Castle Falkenstein, and all of R. Talsorian Games.

Most RPG players will reference the second edition, Cyberpunk 2020, which was much more popular, but didn’t have the gritty feel of the first one (less ‘punk’) and was kind of a response to the less-interesting Shadowrun that cribbed a lot from the original Cyberpunk boxed set, then crammed a virtual metric-Tolkien of fantasy shit into it. It was around the time of CP2020 that it was announced a video game would be coming out… soon.

I couldn’t wait.

After years of nada, Maximum Mike came out with Cyberpunk 3.0, a sort of 3rd edition/social experiment/venue to show off action figure customization. Seriously. Nearly all the photos in that first, massive game book were modded action figures about the size of Megos. I ran a couple sessions of it. It was… weird. To this day, I’m one of two people I’ve encountered that admit to having run that game.

Was it Cyberpunk to me? I don’t know. The CP aesthetic has always been about subversion and mnemonic resonances. Meme-ification is second nature and eminence is as intense as it is fleeting.

‘Style over substance.’ Read the most critical sentence in that first boxed set.

If Cyberpunk 3.0 was another sniper shot at the concept of normality, I was on the wrong side of the fence, for that one.

Cyberpunk 2077 wasn’t really announced so much as it just became public that CD Projekt Red had brought in Maximum Mike on some project in 2013. Since the most revered project Mike Pondsmith had ever really had under his belt, was Cyberpunk; despite how great some of his other stuff was; it was easy to infer that the game we were promised two decades prior might happen.

I recall making jokes that Mike brought his 3.0 action figures into the pitch meeting.

Guess you had to be there.

Anyways, as excited as anyone thinks they could be about Cyberpunk 2077, since I picked up the boxed set in 1986, I’ve wanted to play something like it. Cyberpunk RED (the 4th Edition… what is this, an Xbox?!) was released and I ran a few games of it, but it didn’t resonate in the way I was hoping.

I’ll pick up 2077. I’ll play it. I’ll enjoy the hell of Johnny Silverhand and look for Alt and Kerry and the members of  Samurai and all the other stuff from that original setting. I’ll understand that it’s different and has software and story issues. I’ll forgive all that.

‘Style over substance.’

It’ll be better than anything that could have happened in 1987, 1992, 2001, or any other time a video game was announced.

I’ve been waiting for this shit for a while.

And; not to sound like a hipster asshole (even though… you know… we both know what I am); I still have that old boxed set if anyone wants to play some REAL Cuberpunk.