Until recently, not much was known about CD Projekt RED’s upcoming first-person action RPG CyberPunk 2077 aside from the stand-out detail that it would feature Keanu Reeves in a matrix-like role. Which, frankly, is enough to rope most people in. The concept for the game was announced in 2012 but didn’t generate noticeable buzz until a cinematic trailer—accented by a first look at Keanu’s character—was released at E3 2019.
Cyberpunk’s original launch date was set for April 19th—a laughable target in retrospect. Like many of its peers, the game’s launch was pushed back (twice) amid supply-chain interruption and development issues related to the ongoing COVID pandemic. Now, fans who don’t want to spoil the experience by watching gameplay online are eagerly awaiting the updated November release date.
Until then, those who wish to immerse themselves in the same sprawling, rough-and-tumble world of transhumanism and corporate dystopia that Cyberpunk 2077 promises have a couple of great options. The two latest iterations of now-defunct Ion Storm’s longest-standing franchise, Deus Ex, serve as both stand-ins and, in many ways, prerequisites to Cyberpunk 2077.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (2016) and Deus Ex: Human Revolution (2011) follow the exploits of Adam Jensen, chief of security for biotech company Sarif Industries and an anti-terrorist operative for Task Force 29. A spate of terrorist organizations, including the Illuminati and the Knights Templar, vie for control of a world stratified by socioeconomic and political strife. Like Cyberpunk 2077, characters in Deus Ex possess superhuman capabilities thanks to “augmentations,” which are basically cybernetic additions to the human form. Watch the announcement trailer for Mankind Divided below.
While we don’t know how the fittingly named setting of Cyberpunk 2077, “Night City,” fell into neon-washed darkness, we do know that Deus Ex is a world overrun by a deadly virus of conspiratorial origin, dubbed the “Gray Death.” So, in addition to serving as an introduction to grimy, cyberpunk futurism, Deus Ex will strike a topical nerve similar to other pandemic-centered media—like Alex Garland’s zombie-thriller 28 Days Later or Steven Soderbergh’s star-studded Contagion. Whether you tune in as a means to quell your coronavirus-related anxieties or fuel them is entirely up to you.
Download Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is available for download on XboxOne, PS4, and Steam for just $4.49.
