Cyberpunk 2077 is Reactionary

NB: This full article is available on Praxarchy for free. Head over there to find tons of quality content from your favorite RW creators

I don't consider myself a hardcore gamer, but I do indulge in video games for about a week 2-3 times a year before returning to my usual routine.. My most recent affair has been with Polish developer CD PROJEKT RED’s Cyberpunk 2077 2.0. The game recently released a major update and expansion, so I’ve been wasting my Christmas free time in the virtual world. I bring this up not to confess my sins but to explore a broader trend in media.

Liberal writers often produce works that are more ‘true’ than they realize. Cyberpunk 2077 has truth in it and because of that it is inherently reactionary.

Let me start by defining my terms. Let me clarify my terminology. When I use the term 'liberal,' I'm referring not to Democrats or leftists, but to the system of thought that prioritizes human liberation as the highest good. In this frame, the majority of conservatives are best understood as liberals. Consequently, when I say reactionary I simply mean illiberal.

For those unfamiliar, the game I’m discussing shares its name with both a pen-and-paper RPG and a subgenre of sci-fi. Cyberpunk is a dystopian genre, with anti-capitalist trappings. Themes of transhumanism, environmental degradation, and rampant corporatism are common. Prominent cyberpunk films include both Blade Runners, The Matrix Series, and the critically acclaimed 1995 classic Johnny Mnemonic.

On its face 2077 is a very blue-pilled game. Set in a near-future Los Angeles, the games NPCs are diverse and each in the city has a ‘vibrant’ multicultural atmosphere. The main villains of the setting are large multinationals or ‘corps'.’ The heroes are anarchists and terrorists fighting the system. In the expansion, the player is led around by a middle-aged blond female president of the New United States of America. A pantsuit and shoulder pads are included. Drug use and abuse is rampant. Pornography, prostitution, and all forms of sexual perversion are common. The character can choose between any combination of stacked genitalia and sex characteristics. This plays into the genre trope of human modification and transhumanism. Cyber-wear, which are mechanical alterations to the human form, allows characters in this world to modify or enhance any attribute.