Saturday, 3rd January 2026

Into the past: classic Cyberpunk PC games that still shine

There’s something irresistible about old cyberpunk games. Before neon-drenched trailers and open-world mega-budgets, PC developers in the 90s (and a little beyond) were already hard at work building grimy, paranoid visions of the future.

Sure, the pixels were chunky and the interfaces clunky, but the atmosphere? Unmistakable. These games didn’t just imagine the future—they made you live in its dark back alleys, staring at screens full of static, wondering if the machine was watching you back.

Syndicate

(1993 – Bullfrog Productions)

Imagine the world run by corporations instead of governments. (Okay, stop imagining, it’s not that far-fetched.) In Syndicate, you’re the cold-blooded executive, directing cybernetic agents to “negotiate” with enemies via miniguns, flamethrowers, and the occasional persuasion chip. The isometric gameplay was brutal, the atmosphere oppressive, and the message crystal clear: in the future, you’re either property… or the one signing the contracts.

System Shock

(1994 – Looking Glass Technologies)

A hacker, an orbital station, and SHODAN—the AI with more personality disorders than a Greek pantheon. System Shock wasn’t just scary, it was suffocating. You weren’t a hero with glowing swords or a slick trenchcoat; you were prey, scavenging whatever you could to survive. Without it, games like BioShock and Prey simply wouldn’t exist.

Blade Runner

(1997 – Westwood Studios)

Rather than lazily rehash the movie, Westwood went bold. Their Blade Runner game told a parallel detective story that changed with your choices. Sometimes you didn’t even know if you were human. The moody voxel-based graphics were ahead of their time, and the moral ambiguity was pure cyberpunk: trust no one, suspect yourself.

Deus Ex

(2000 – Ion Storm)

Yes, it’s technically from the 2000s, but you can’t talk about cyberpunk PC games without Deus Ex. Nanotech conspiracies, Illuminati plots, and a future where freedom is traded for security—sound familiar? What made Deus Ex legendary wasn’t just the story, but the freedom. You could shoot, sneak, or sweet-talk your way through almost any situation. Few games since have given players that much control in a world so meticulously built.

BloodNet

(1993 – MicroProse)

Here’s the oddball gem that too many people missed. BloodNet mashed up cyberpunk with vampires (yes, really). You played as a hacker infected by a vampire’s bite, torn between the high-tech and the supernatural. The game mixed point-and-click adventure with RPG mechanics, and while it was buggy and bizarre, its atmosphere was unforgettable. In a sea of cyberpunk shooters and tactical sims, BloodNet stood out for being unapologetically weird.