Blade Runner, the cult adventure game from Westwood Studios, is back on our computers and after all these years, it still manages to captivate gamers and inspire their boundless creativity. We have a great example of that here - a cosplay photo session with two of our GOG.COM friends, Ela and Tania, as iconic Blade Runner characters.
Los Angeles 2019
It’s hard not to remember these two mesmerizing women in the movie on which
the famous game from Westwood Studios was based on. The futuristic world featured in both Blade Runner titles is grim, filled with neon lights, cigarette smoke, and mystery. Characters that live in it must become strong or perish.
Such is the case with Pris and Rachel. Both seem fragile at first glance, but as all male characters in the movie soon realize (some of them very painfully) their looks are very deceptive. Also, this duplicity is one of the main reasons Ela and Tania decided to use these characters in their GOG.COM cosplay photo session.
Pris
Ela has something of a superhero in her. During the day, she is a Junior QA Engineer at GOG.COM while after hours she becomes a full-fledged cosplayer known as Live Long and Cosplay. Her projects, like Senua from Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (one of her favorite games), are truly amazing. When she heard about the Blade Runner photo session, she quickly showed interest in the project.
- When I think “Blade Runner”, usually the movie’s dark atmosphere comes to my mind. A picture of a grim city in which it never stops raining made a big impression on me at one point. I usually have that same image and feel in mind when I think about the cyberpunk genre - darkness, rain, and the music by Vangelis, of course!
Why did she choose Pris as her cosplay character?
- My main reason was purely pragmatic - I needed an outfit I could make in only a couple weeks! Apart from that, I wanted to take the role of an android. Pris’ image appealed to me visually, but I also like her as a character. She appears to be scared and helpless, but only at first sight. As it turns out, she is anything but and proves that when she pounds Deckard (Harrison Ford’s character in the movie - author’s note) heavily before he manages to put her down.
In the end, it turned out that the simplicity of Pris’ outfit was also deceiving.
- The hardest part of the Pris costume was its main feature - the jumpsuit. At first, I thought it was simply a black dress, so my task would be easy. I would just search through the local stores, buy a dress and work on it for two days or so. After a short research, I discovered that the outfit is not black, and it’s definitely not a dress! My natural-born perfectionism didn’t allow me to ignore these facts. After a few days of hard work and some test versions, I finally came up with a costume that I’m very proud of.
Rachel
Tania, the e-commerce specialist at GOG.COM, is also a true cosplayer at heart. Her adventures with dress-up started really early - with her tracing them all the way back to costume parties in primary school. A true breakthrough for her came during Pyrkon (one of the biggest fantasy conventions in Poland) when she fell in love with this form of art. Now, after many projects under the pseudonym Ishtaria Cosplay (including a very realistic female version of Two-Face from the DC Comics universe), she took her shot at the Blade Runner costume.
- I watched the Blade Runner film rather late, so its hype didn’t affect me as much as those viewers who had watched it when it first came out. But when I finally did see it… the film made quite an impression on me. Traditionally, I see sci-fi as something closer to Star Wars, Star Trek or Firefly (I’m more into space operas, I guess). But if I had to choose a universe more down-to-earth, Blade Runner aesthetics would be my choice.
Why did Tania decide to take the role of Rachel?
- I love how Rachel looks. She’s very elegant and simplistic, but yet very eye-catching at the same time. I find retro-style appealing and Rachel is a perfect example of that. Starting from the make-up and hair, and all the way through the outfit, it all works so well together. The whole style resembles something like an echo from the past in the world of the future. All in all, I found this concept to be very inspiring. Besides, I always wanted to recreate Rachel’s hairstyle!
As it was with Pris’ costume, the simplicity of the costume had its fair share of not-so-obvious depth.
- The hardest part was definitely the jacket. I couldn’t find anything resembling the one worn by Rachel while searching through the second-hand stores. So, I had to settle on a jacket that was only somewhat similar. I made many adjustments to it, however, like narrowing the waist and shortening the sleeves. To be honest, we don’t give enough credit to the tailors and people responsible for tailoring the jackets - it’s truly diabolical work!
The results of both Ela and Tania’s commitment can be seen in the photos. As for the
Blade Runner game from Westwood Studios, you can buy it at GOG.COM and experience its dark, futuristic aesthetic now. The best recommendation comes from Tania herself:
- I just discovered the game last year and what a discovery it was! I decided to give it a try to see if it would grab my attention and after 6 hours of playing, I realized how much time has passed since my initial curiosity. So, I must say the game is very engaging and the world presented in it bears much resemblance to the film.
