It just sounds a little extra difficult than some text adventures (?).

I would definitely enter the promotion if I had time to actually play the game.
I really like the art direction, it's nice to see something Cyperpunk professionally or semi-professionally done.

Yeah it's definitely science-fiction's most intriguing (and almost forgotten) sub-genre. I often find myself re-watching Blade Runner, or even Ghost in the Shell despite not liking anime much. Syndicate/Syndicate Wars are pretty standard squad tactics games, but I keep coming back because of that setting.

Sorry for getting off-topic, but in the Shadowrun paper RPG, you can replace your character's body parts with mechanical/synthetic replacements, artificial muscles or joints make you run faster, artificial lungs make it harder to get exhausted, even replacing parts of your brain with "faster thinking" components. But every time you replace a part, you lose points in Essence, which represents your humanity, which has real impacts on your character when roleplaying. -1 Essence is dead, but 0 Essence is "existing" with no humanity, so a robot.

Hopefully the Kickstarted Shadowrun game will implement some of that stuff in some way.

And here I was thinking Shadowrun was elves doing rocket jumps. The essence sounds like what SpaceSiege had but with actual consequences.
I definitely need to get my hands on Syndicate, it's on my wishlist, but ever since med school started I've had next to zero playtime.
GITS isn't as anime-y as it could be, which is a definite plus in reflecting the setting.

I tried really hard to like Hard Reset, but I just could not enjoy it.
Chaser is ALMOST Cyberpunk, but I can't think of too many real examples of the genre off the top of my head.

I guess the point of the tirade is, even if this particular game is "flawed" or a little tougher than you would expect of a text adventure (I just assume they're all crazy hard), I would still get it, if only to encourage more production of the setting.

Bloodnet has cyberpunk... with vampires. Dreamweb was very cyberpunkish. Neuromancer and Circuit's Edge need no comment. Oh, those System Shock games, too. There was also Paradise Cracked - a Russian cyberpunk-themed RPG/TBS, with implants and the like. Followed by Cops 2170 using the same engine (DRM free on GG).
The setting is used just enough to keep it unusual, unlike WW2 or modern warfare.

Ugh, Chaser. What absolutely dreadful game. A shame, because with a little more effort, it could have been actually quite good, in that campy kitsch sort of way.

The point of all of that hand-wringing though is that a game should be hard because of the way that it was designed, not because of an actual technical flaw in the game itself. With a text adventure, I'd expect it to be hard because of the way that the puzzles would be designed, not because of ambiguities of meaning, and syntax due to translation errors.

And the same goes for that pesky parser. A native English speaker likely has at least half a dozen ways off the top of their head for saying "open this door". But if the translator only learned one way of saying "open this door" in his/her EFL class, then that's me spending potentially hours trying to figure out what to say to get a pair of bloody doors open. It's me fighting the game, as opposed to playing it.

I say this all with the provision that I've not actually played the game; I'm going off of testimony from people who have bought the game, and even a segment of their own launch trailer. I really wish they'd put out a small demo for me to try...

Bloodnet was certainly fun, I remember playing it on a rainy day and it was perfect mood for having a Cyberpunk experience, although I played it on a super slow PC these days and the game didn't run as well as I expected on my particular system; it was a fun game though.

I would say the first "cyberpunk" game I tried was Metal Mutants, but I'm speaking WAY back in the days... don't think any of you remember that one. It was hard as hell to get through the first couple of screens being a kid, but it paid off at the end (was really short though).

Let's not forget Cybermage! (no clue if it was good or not)

Seems I need to check out the Russian side of the gaming table. I have Cops 2170, installed it, but never had the time to try it. Is it worth it despite the trash it got from reviewers?
See if we can't bring them to GOG regardless.

Good game with cyberpunk atmosphere.

For me, every cyberpunk game should have a shootout in a yakuza nightclub. That's why it was included in CYPHER. Also a hacking into terminals *another must have*. I remember an old game called "spaceship warlock" which has just a perfect Cyberpunk atmosphere.

There was another one, Russian I think, which was kind of like tex murphy (but with cgi instead of live action) and had a yakuza nightclub, I don't remember its name and I've lost the youtube link ;-(

Been trying to find that one for months without luck. No idea if the video or account was suspended though (which makes me more desperate to know what game it was).

How can a discussion about cyberpunk adventure games overlook Snatcher and Policenauts? I would have assumed that Cypher's biggest influence is Snatcher, down to the italicized, all-caps logo.

I have to say, Cypher has me really intrigued. The plot and setting sound fantastic, but I cannot abide poor grammar; I'm a copyeditor and proofreader. The examples of text that I've seen are simply unbearable. I understand that the game has been patched to fix grammar issues. But treating these errors as "bugs" and hastily patching them does not inspire confidence. I cannot even consider purchasing this game until I see proof that the grammar has been corrected to at least 99% accuracy. Text adventures (and, I think, games in general) need to be held to the same grammar standards as any other kind of works of fiction, or they will continue to be considered the illiterate siblings of the more serious arts.

I remain enthusiastic and hopeful about Cypher. Please present some evidence that the grammar issues have been adequately addressed.

I actually recently finished the ENG fan patched version of Policenauts.
Fantastic cyberpunk noir game and highly recommended for fans of the genre.
Should have been released in the US officially.

BUYING TODAY EVEN THOUGH I'M BROKE!

Pffft! Nevermind. NO BUY FOR YOU CALDERA BROTHERz!

Awesome, definitely'll buy if it comes to Linux.

Love the website, too. ;)