Cyberpunk, the genre may have stared with Willaim Gibson's Neuromancer so many years ago, but it is something that has expanded enormously since the publication of that genre defining novel. Now, most people in contemporary society associate Cyberpunk with the CD Projekt Red game, Cyberpunk 2077, and now, hopefully, with this associated property. But like all things that are good in a genre, there are things that are hard to penetrate, owing to their scope.
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners makes it a little bit more accessible, and it is more than a simple label and a cash grab - this show seems like an act of love for the genre, and even more so, a love letter to the game.
Set in the very same Night City at the game, I was delighted to see so many familiar locations featured in the show. The level of detail is there too, discarded rubbish litters the streets and hallways of apartment buildings, chesterfield sofas are torn open backdrops which characters sit on as their own emotional stuffing comes pouring out, mirroring that of the sofa.
The show focuses on David, a kid studying at Arasaka Academy to try and get ahead in the capitalistic hellscape that is the future, and is Night City. A dramatic first episode sets the tone and the scene for the rest of the show.- high emotional impact, gritty, gory encounters with veiled power brokers and their pawns, and the potential impacts of cybernetic implants on what it means to be human.
Except it gets better. A memorable cast of characters in a burgeoning cyberpunk crew each have their own motivations and dreams. There's incredible character development all along the way. The one thing that lets the show down - even if slightly, is the fact that the Night City in Edgerunners is a little less filled with life than the game world - this is likely done intentionally, in order to bring attention to the main cast and crew, but there's only a scant few scenes that show just how crowded and overpopulated the future threatens to be.
And that isn't just because of the sheer number of deaths that are depicted in the show. Each episode is a veritable bloodbath, with cool action scenes that are filled with little consequence as things move to the next plot line.
The environments and lighting are very well designed for this show, which are worth mentioning a second time. Advertising (for fake brands) is everywhere, and the glow of screens are the main source of illumination in most scenes.
There are plots. There are sub plots. There's a sense that in Night City nothing you can do will allow you to win. With every success, there's a failure, and Newton's laws doesn't just apply to physical objects.
This is a show with no filler, a short ten episodes, and then it is over. But, if you're like me, it is a world that you can keep returning to, time and time again, through the myriad of experiences that the larger universe has to offer, in particular, the game upon which the show is based, and the layered universes it, too, was based on.