At the Hay Festival in Wales, Meta (aka Facebook) used a gag to force the whistleblower to remain completely silent, which could end up bringing even more attention to the case. While life-like androids, cybernetic weapons and flying cars don't exist yet, (mega)corporations certainly do and can be said to rule the world. We've entered the cyberpunk age without any cool sci-fi stuff. Well, I guess AI exists, although “cool” might not be the right way to describe it.
Like the novels and movies before them, video games regularly take shots at evil corporations and their attempts to censor free speech, allowing players to live out the dream of rebelling against these overwhelming forces. Instead of actual courtrooms or panels, these open-world games allow you to really stick with the man.
Who is that character?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
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Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
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1
Watch Dogs 2
Take Down Me… I mean Blume
Of all these games, Watch Dogs 2 represents the most “current” company, with Blume reminiscent of real organizations like Meta. With ctOS 2.0, the corpus not only listens to your calls, but also benefits from human behavior data. Based on the information gathered, algorithms shape society AND the existence of the individual, decide who gets health care, who should be flagged by the police and whose the voice may not be heard.
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Marcus, the protagonist, has fallen victim to this deliberately corrupt system, inspiring him to join an activist group in an effort to wrest control from Blum and back into the hands of the people. Like corporations, you weaponize data with the flow of information to reveal the ugly beast hidden beneath Blume's cold sheen of corporate nonsense. You can also create all sorts of chaos in San Francisco, but mostly you'll be working to start a digital revolution.
2
Cyberpunk 2077
Welcome to the night city, soulless
Anything with “cyberpunk” in the title speaks to the evil of mega-corporations, and CD Projekt Red's masterpiece delves deep into this core theme of the genre. Like Blade Runner and Akira, Cyberpunk 2077 it represents a neon-drenched megacity defined by unchecked corporate capitalism. In this universe, the Corps are essentially nations with sovereignty and immunity. They own the police, the media, and shape people's thoughts through intense marketing and even literally through cybernetic implants. You play as V, an aimless criminal who takes a job stealing a chip from the most powerful corporation in the land C2077… in short, a long-dead punk-rocker known for his anti-corporate “terrorist” attacks starts stalking him.
Cyberpunk 2077 it gives players the freedom to influence V's path quite a bit, allowing them to decide if they want to go the full rebel route. Regardless of the decisions made, V must carefully navigate a world owned by corporate boards and fight against a system capable of wiping him out in an instant.
3
Mirror's Edge Catalyst
Run Against The Enemy
Somewhat forgotten and rather erroneous, Mirror's Edge: Catalyst did not survive the transition to open-world design in one piece. That said, EA's game isn't terrible at all, and I'd recommend it to fantasy fans of the first post. Set in an elegant city devoid of personality, Catalyst it represents a world where most people have sold their freedom in exchange for convenience, chained their minds to a web, and become easy prey for the corporate families that rule this totalitarian utopia (known collectively as the Conglomerate).
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As Faith, you run through a massive red-and-white urban jungle, parkouring your way across rooftops with sensitive information and contraband while avoiding Krugersec's army of corporate henchmen. At first, Faith isn't too concerned with the bigger picture, but that changes when she learns about the Conglomerate's mind control technology, which completely robs humans of their last shred of free will. Run, jump, fight and expose yourself.
4
Red Faction: Guerrilla
Rage Against The Machine's most literal game
Are other games too soft for you? Do you want to literally tear apart a corporation? Well, then you will love Red Faction: Guerrilla and its complete destruction of the environment. The Earth Defense Force essentially rules Mars, completely controlling the narrative with manipulative marketing videos that present the colony as truly productive. Truth be told, EDF consistently sends miners to their deaths, working them to the bone and then burning their remains to leave nothing behind. Talk and you might just disappear.
Rather than corporate espionage or stealth missions, Red Faction: Guerrilla he hands you a sledgehammer and tells you to tear everything down. With an infrastructure this broken, the only solution is to burn everything down and rebuild from the ashes, and no one said that process couldn't be a lot of fun. Red Faction: GuerrillaThe gameplay loop may be simplistic, but it's incredibly cathartic.
5
Homefront: The Revolution
Corporate invasion
Ok, I know “epic” resales Homefront: The Revolutionbut it fits the subject so well that its omission would seem like an oversight. I also played for a few hours recently and found it to be almost OK Far Cry-lightweight open world shooter.
Disclaimer: I'm a fan of C-tier games from years past, so I've probably been too lenient Homefront: The Revolution. Honestly, it's a pretty ugly game, and I mean both content and story.
In an alternate universe where North Korea is the most powerful nation, the country uses APEX Corporation's advanced technology to shut down America, making it defenseless against an invasion that quickly reaches full civilian compliance. Besides Watch Dogs 2, Homefront: The RevolutionCorporate hell may be the closest thing to real life, at least the part where everyone could be vulnerable because of their addiction to devices like smartphones and tablets.
Set in Philadelphia, you play as a rebel who is part of a unit trying to start a revolution, a process that involves attacking corporate zones and shooting every enemy you come across. Rather than arbitrarily removing APEX, the goal is to galvanize the public into action and get them to tear down the walls that hold them prisoner.
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