What are the best cyberpunk games? From neon lights and synthwave music to political commentary, AI, and body augmentation, you can probably see why anything with the cyberpunk tag becomes a favorite in pop culture.
From excellent indie games like Deconstructeam’s The Red Strings Club to big-hitter FPS games such as Deus Ex and Stray, cyberpunk games cover various topics, including anything from capitalism to bar-tending. There’s even a Quantic Dream-developed Cyberpunk game with Davie Bowie in it. Remember that this isn’t an exhaustive list of every cyberpunk game, but instead, just some of the most wonderful and weird cyberpunk games you could hope to get your inquisitive hands on. Dust off your decks and trenchcoats, head out into the rain and marvel at our picks of the best Cyberpunk games on PC.
The best Cyberpunk games on PC in 2023 are:
Stray
While most of the games on this list are quite old, with some absolute classics to boot, cyberpunk resurgence is also happening, with Cyberpunk 2077 leading the fray (that’s further down). This has led to one of 2022 best games, even nominated for the title in The Game Awards, being a unique cyberpunk story – in which you play as a cat.
Yep. It’s easy to see why such a unique and on-trend pitch made its mark on the gaming world in 2022, and you can check out our full opinion of the game in our Stray review. In short, though, this indie breakout from BlueTwelve Studio follows you, a cat, as you meow-ander (meander? I know, it didn’t work) your way around a futuristic, robot-filled cyberpunk city, trying to find your way out and back to humanity.
A combination of stunning graphics, a gorgeous soundtrack, and real dedication to the immersive gameplay of Stray, making it feel like you are realistically playing a cat, all help to make this one of the best cyberpunk games.
Signalis
Unlike Stray, Signalis resembles the beauty of the classic pixelated games in this list as an aesthetically retro cyberpunk game while being another 2022 release – and an underrated one. Having flown mostly under the radar since its release in October 2022, Signalis should not be missed, as not only one of the best cyberpunk games but one of the best horror games, too.
Signalis plays a lot like early Resident Evil, taking you from room to room in a deserted government facility, solving puzzles as you try to uncover the secrets within, all while on your own personal mission. You play as Elster, a Replika unit on the hunt for her human partner, or Gestalt. As you find out by gathering diary entries, company memos, and other collectibles, the facility – and the Replikas within – have been overrun with disease, turning them into your almost-unkillable enemies as you make your way through the complex map. It’s up to you and a handful of friendly NPCs to uncover the truth of exactly what happened.
The mysterious and dream-like game is improved further by stunning and intriguing flashbacks occasionally piercing your gameplay – brief hints at the story you’re uncovering and which you must piece together to survive.
The Red Strings Club
Donovan is a little bit different than the rest. The Red Strings Club is stuffed with a wonderful array of diverse and cybernetically enhanced characters, but our bartender stands out for being free of robotics. That doesn’t mean he’s not special, though. Thanks to a special power, he can judge what kind of drinks can enhance parts of people’s personalities, which is pretty handy for getting information out of them. A good thing, then, is that Donovan doubles as an information broker.
Donovan’s rare grasp of empathy allows The Red Strings Club to play out as part cyberpunk narrative experience and part bartending sim. However, as you spend more time speaking with friends and patrons, it quickly becomes apparent that a professed altruistic corporation called Supercontinent Ltd is on the verge of launching Social Psyche Welfare. Some say it’ll eradicate depression, anger, and fear creeping social anxiety. But others argue that the ability to make mistakes is how we grow, and toying with that is immoral. It’s always said that the making of a good villain is not presenting a force of evil but giving the audience someone with a strong belief that what they’re doing is right. The Red Strings Club is full of characters with conviction, and hearing each of them out will thoroughly toy with your head.
Gunpoint
In Gunpoint, you’re a private detective with fancy future trousers that allow you to leap like a frog. Don’t get ahead of yourself, though, you might have fancy trousers, but you’re also down on your luck and about to get in over your head.
Tom Francis’ extremely bright game of infiltration and hacking is built around a cyberpunk story of corrupt corporations and murder. If you need a break from the stealth, you can fling a few chaps out some windows, which is a lot of fun.
As Richard Conway, you’re sort of like a vigilante electrician, sneaking into buildings and rewiring their electronics to steal disks, hack executive computers, and clear your name.
Part puzzle game, part platformer, Gunpoint can be tricky, but it also forgives and rewards experimentation and creativity, using a building’s security systems to your advantage. It’s short but has an in-game level editor blessing it with countless new missions and even trickier challenges. Yes, you can finish the game in a single afternoon, but what an afternoon it will be.
Invisible, Inc.
A squad-based, turn-based tactics game, Invisible, Inc. is a little bit like XCOM, a little bit like Shadowrun, but has no aliens and no magic. Instead, Klei’s understated roguelike hones in on tech and stealthy infiltrations. Either way, it’s one of the best strategy games on PC.
Here’s the deal: megacorps rule the world, your private intelligence firm has been compromised, and most of its agents have been “removed”. You’ve got 72 hours to prepare for a final mission to infiltrate the enemy HQ and insert Invisible, Inc’s AI into their computer, or you’re done for.
It’s a slick, sneaky game with plentiful opportunities for emergent gameplay, with each mission escalating in difficulty the longer you spend in it, creating a tense risk versus reward loop as you try to decide whether or not to explore areas in their entirety or complete the mission and get the hell out.
Meant to be played more than once, completing different objectives unlocks more agents that can be used in new games, each with unique starting loadouts and quirks. It’s extremely moreish, like the popcorn of Cyberpunk games.
Cyberpunk 2077
Based on the Cyberpunk 2020 tabletop game created in the 1980s, Cyberpunk 2077 takes players on a journey through the hyper-capitalist Night City as V, a mercenary on the hunt for the next big heist. There aren’t many games that use the cyberpunk setting or CD Projekt’s open-world action-adventure game.
Groundbreaking technology is everywhere in the world of Cyberpunk 2077, and you are constantly reminded of this thanks to the Johnny Silverhand implant in V’s mind. Silverhand critiques every major decision you make, so if you want to stay on his good side, you must rage against the corporate machine.
CD Projekt set the bar high for Cyberpunk 2077, coming off its 2015 smash hit RPG, The Witcher 3. Though they may have fallen short for some people, Cyberpunk 2077 is undoubtedly one of the most ambitious cyberpunk games ever made and has received significant improvements since its original release. Check out what we thought in our Cyberpunk 2077 review, as well as the Cyberpunk Phantom Liberty release date guide to see what’s next for Night City.
Technobabylon
Wadjet Eye has published (and developed) its fair share of excellent sci-fi adventure games, including the brilliant Gemini Rue and Resonance, but it’s Technobabylon that gets onto this list, not just because it’s the most cyberpunk, but because it’s the best adventure game of the lot.
Genetic engineering, oppressive AIs, the surveillance state – Technobabylon is serious business. The game jumps between three characters, two members of the secret police with divided loyalties and an agoraphobic hacker who prefers to spend her life in cyberspace, and they all become entangled in a cracking sci-fi conspiracy.
This is one of those games that, because of its gorgeous pixel aesthetic, gets called “classic” or “traditional” but is absolutely a modern game that pushes the genre forward with exceptionally creative puzzles that never actually feel like puzzles.
Logical but inspired problems, a thick, multi-layered story, and some of the best and most believable world-building you’ll have the good fortune to witness – Technobabylon is a brilliant reminder that point-and-click games can still reach new heights.
E.Y.E: Divine Cybermancy
If it weren’t for the next game down, EYE would easily be the loopiest game on this list. It’s mad and rarely makes any sense whatsoever, and yet it’s so strange and ambitious that it demands to be played.
You play a cyberpunk warrior monk working for a megacorp – shooting, hacking, or doing weird things like psychically cloning yourself as you make your way through sprawling levels. You can try to play through it like a standard shooter, but you’ll want to explore the more esoteric and peculiar abilities at your disposal.
One thing you’ll undoubtedly want to experience is hacking. While so many hacking games relegate this to a mind-numbing but quick mini-game, EYE gives us a turn-based combat experience against deadly AIs. Lose the battle, and the AI will hack you instead, infecting you with a nasty virus.
There are too many big concepts, not much coherence, and it’s immediately overwhelming. But this cyberpunk game is so bold and weird that it has to be experienced, even if just for a mission or two, and you might find yourself sticking with it to the end.
Omikron: The Nomad Soul
Nomad Soul is a fourth-wall-breaking, cyberpunk supernatural fantasy action-adventure game where David Bowie stars both as an NPC and in the excellent soundtrack – it’s so many things. Too many things and that’s why we love it.
Quantic Dream is more well-known for Heavy Rain, but this is where David Cage started throwing his crazy ideas at us. And like all Quantic Dream games, it’s very uneven and bites off more than it can chew.
It is fascinating, though. You find yourself drawn into another dimension where you possess the body of a futuristic cop in the bizarre city of Omikron. There’s some detective games DNA in there at the start, but eventually, the plot spirals into a completely barmy tale about an eternal battle between good and evil complete with powerful demons and a They Live-inspired conspiracy.
While Nomad Soul is primarily an adventure game, it dabbles in many other genres, interrupting traditional adventure shenanigans with shooting, brawls, and moments where you can hang out and listen to David Bowie. What more could you want from one of the best cyberpunk games?
Syndicate Wars
Most cyberpunk games put you as someone outside of the manipulative corporate system. The original Syndicate turns this on its head by putting you in charge of a group of cyborg mercenaries working for ‘the man’.
In Syndicate Wars, it’s more of the same, as you can work for both the all-controlling EuroCorp, or a group of religious zealots trying to start a revolt. Whoever you side with, the result is the same: things get blown up, people get mind-controlled, and all the regular folk suffer.
It’s a game that deserves the accolade ‘ahead of its time’ because it offers you entirely destructive sandboxes and so many ways to tackle missions – leveling city blocks with nuclear weapons and manipulating masses of innocent people as you go. This may be one of the old games, but it’s one of the classic PC games for sure.
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
With a suitably neon and retro aesthetic, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon has enough 80’s theatrics and showmanship to make Daft Punk green with envy. It also features giant genetically altered lizards and spawned one hell of a trailer. Throw in some tight first-person shooter gameplay into the mix, and you may come to understand why we reckon it’s the best DLC Ubisoft has ever made.
Some may doubt If Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is really cyberpunk, but the expansion is so thoroughly in love with ‘80s cinema that we’re willing to bet you’ll still dig it. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is a parody of the period’s action films, cartoons, and video games rolled into one.
It takes place in a retro-futuristic open world island with players jumping into the boots of Sergeant Rex ‘Power’ Colt, who is a military cyborg. Where it truly succeeds, however, is in providing a smaller, tighter, more entertaining open-world game than its predecessor and even its successor.
Deus Ex
We could expend much energy reminiscing about how Deus Ex’s dramatic narrative weaves themes of conspiracy, terrorism, and transhumanism together with intriguing characters into a believable dystopian cyberpunk future. Or, we could go on and on about the breadth of character customization and how it lets you hone protagonist J.C. Denton into a cybernetically enhanced soldier, expert hacker, or a ghost that lurks in the shadows, and how that makes Deus Ex one of the best stealth games on PC. But what we want to tell you about this iconic cyberpunk game is how good the level design is.
Every map represents a complex sandbox ripe for experimentation. Every combat encounter has the potential to play out in remarkably different ways, should you participate in said encounter rather than slinking past it. Secret paths, hidden caches, informants waiting to be bribed, and confidential information opening up new routes and options litter levels, ensuring that when players discuss their experiences. It’s like they are talking about different games.
And it’s all so organic, too. There’s a strong temptation for developers to signpost choices that can be made to the point where mission objectives explain precisely where you can go and what you need to do, but in Deus Ex, it’s all a surprise. You don’t know that hacking a computer and reading private emails will give you a code to defeat a tough enemy without a fight. You also don’t know that there’s an item hidden within a level that will unlock a previous invisible, unimagined route to the mission objective – you need to go out and explore.
Cloudpunk
Cloudpunk is like a cyberpunk theme park ride – strap yourself in and prepare to be served up a big slice of the late-night neon metropolis with a dollop of rainy dystopia. You play as Rania, embarking upon a new job as a delivery driver, ferrying packages through streets piled high with skyscrapers and shimmering billboards.
The city is constructed from tiny blocks, which makes it more charming than gritty – but it’s a joy to explore, with numerous NPCs to natter with and some thoughtful quests spread throughout the game. If you’re hungry for cyberpunk, Cloudpunk is sure to sate your appetite.
There are plenty of traits to identify the best Cyberpunk games – body augmentation, the police state, chuffing good synthwave soundtracks, and oodles of neon. Regardless, the genre has a special pull to it. If you want to mix drinks without the cyberpunk vibes, though, take a look at some of the best cooking games on PC right now, and don’t get too caught up with cyberpunk’s lonely, brooding aesthetic, and take some time for some of the best co-op games to lighten the mood.