Game:

Cyberpunk 2077 (2020)

Category:

Review

Duration: 53:18

1,419 views

32

The Cyberpunk universe in this series is a setting built on layers. Beautiful on the outside, yet rotten on the inside. Unimaginable wealth in some places and unimaginable poverty in other places. Extraordinarily high-tech and futuristic on the one level but broken down, crime-ridden, and terrifyingly violent on another level.

There’s a very dystopian take on futurism and a very aggressive—almost malicious—brand of transhumanism in this setting that creates a very bleak and very dehumanizing atmosphere. But underneath all of that, Cyberpunk 2077 and Cyberpunk Edgerunners are both stories that manage to capture the essence of human longing. Both are stories about people trying to make the best of a bad situation and dealing with an all-consuming sense of desperation that drives them to throw their lives away to chase their dreams. Both are stories that very much capture the human spirit to keep on fighting in a world where there’s little to no humanity left in most regards.

And with both the anime AND the video game, the strongest aspects to each of the respective narratives definitely stemmed from the character writing. Every character in Edgerunners and in 77 was a unique, believable, and three-dimensional person in and of themselves. Every one of them had different sides and different layers to them that the story progressively shows us bit by bit. In one way or another. Even characters you didn’t really like had a way of developing a much more human and much more relatable side to themselves that made you empathize—or care about them—more than you thought you could. And even when characters did seem like they were leaning into clichés, everything about them from the way they look to every personal moment we had with them showed that they could rise above all of that.

And maybe above all else, one of the most profound narrative aspects of Edgerunners was the way that it managed to parallel and mirror the story of Cyberpunk 2077. Looking at the overall story of Edgerunners, so many different aspects are a direct contrast and a reflection of 77’s. And doing this really shows us just how much these two stories complement one another. The anime and the game each present an entirely new side to Cyberpunk that was missing from the other—and placing them side-by-side like this really changes the way viewers and players look at the Cyberpunk setting. The same can be said for both projects and the TTRPG that they’re connected to. And by mirroring one another in different ways and connecting to one another, both—or maybe all three—of these companies managed to add an unprecedented amount of depth to the entire Cyberpunk universe.

As anyone who watches this might pick up on, I recorded this stuff well over a week ago. Editing has really taken some time. I hate the way I sound in this because I had to play with the audio. I managed to remove the background noise some people have complained about in my other videos, but it's kind of affected the voiceover in some places. I also messed up my good eardrum right around the time I started making this, so my hearing has been a little off while I was doing this. All in all though, I really wanted to write this/put this together - so if anyone has any comments/criticisms, feel free to share. I loved this show and I could probably discuss it + David/Lucy/Rebecca/Cyberpunk for hours.

I've been working on these types of videos for a little while, but I'm still working it out as I go. I'd appreciate any feedback I can get:
CP2077 Theory - How Trace Santiago Could Be Rogue's Son: https://youtu.be/8B_NesLf32Y
CP2077 Theory - Could V Have Been a Soldier for the NUSA: https://youtu.be/njKrOzLrMCE
CP2077 Theory - Why the Corpo Lifepath Makes More Sense Than I thought: https://youtu.be/er9OpP_qUbo
CP2077 Theory - Cyberware You Just Can't See + Lore Faithfulness: https://youtu.be/L2hf5tvyrro

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Disclaimers (Incl. SPOILER WARNING)
01:36 - Review Intro
04:37 - The Perspectives
08:59 - The Protagonists (David Martinez vs. V)
22:29 - The Plots
26:26 - The Analogues (Adam Smasher vs. Morgan Blackhand)
37:12 - Overall Praises & Criticisms
48:29 - EXTRA: A Good Adaptation
52:29 - Review Conclusion

#CyberpunkEdgerunners #Cyberpunk2077 #Edgerunners #CyberpunkEdgerunner #Edgerunner #AdamSmasher #Cyberpunk2077Lore #CyberpunkLore

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