The cyberpunk genre of gaming received a significant amount of mainstream attention last year with the release of Cyberpunk 2077. The game had been one of the industry's most highly anticipated titles for numerous years, predominantly due to the success of CD Projekt Red's The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
However, the game's release was nothing short of disastrous due to a plethora of glitches and overall unfinished product. Cyberpunk 2077 is slowly but surely improving thanks to post-game patches, though many people have already jumped ship. Players looking for other excellent games in the cyberpunk genre will find many excellent choices were released in the 1990s.
10 Omikron: The Nomad Soul
Omikron: The Nomad Soul just about qualifies for this list, having released at the very end of 1999 on PC, before coming to Dreamcast the following year.
The game is best known today for its notable development team, which featured a few familiar faces. David Cage, who is known for his work on Heavy Rain and Detroit: Become Human, was the game's writer, while the late, great British musician David Bowie created an original soundtrack with Reeves Gabrels.
9 Rise of the Dragon
From a game released at the end of the 90s to one that hit stores at the very start, Rise of the Dragon is a graphic adventure game that takes place in a cyberpunk interpretation of Los Angeles.
Like the classic N64 game The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, players have to keep an eye on an in-game clock, as protagonist Blade must stop the antagonist within three days. Along with the compelling story, Rise of the Dragon was admired for its setting, which earned the game the Special Award for Artistic Achievement from Computer Gaming World in 1991.
8 Shadowrun
Shadowrun is a 1993 SNES action RPG based on the 1989 tabletop role-playing game of the same name. Much like the aforementioned Rise of the Dragon, Shadowrun was admired for its setting, which has been credited for inspiring cyberpunk fiction in games, books, and films released after 1993.
Unfortunately, the game's unique, ahead of their time aspects didn't connect with audiences in the early 90s, and Shadowrun was a disappointment commercially. Still, that doesn't stop it from being thoroughly enjoyable to play today, especially for those who can appreciate the game's influences.
7 Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller
Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller is a point-and-click game that was originally released in 1994. It can be easy to forget just how popular the point-and-click genre was in the early 90s, considering how quickly the genre died out in the late 1990s early 2000s due to an inability to modernize.
It's also easy to forget just how great the genre was for telling engrossing stories, which is why it's no surprise that the genre has made somewhat of a resurgence recently in the shape of so-called "walking simulators," which tend to incorporate similar mechanics to classic point-and-click adventures.
Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller may not reach the heights of games like Grim Fandango or The Secret of Monkey Island, but it still provides an excellent adventure that tells a memorable story.
6 Blade Runner
Blade Runner was released in 1997 and drew inspiration from the 1982 Ridley Scott film of the same name, but it tells an original story that takes place at the same time as the film and occasionally intertwines.
This will likely make the game sound far more appealing to players today, as the gaming industry has shunned direct, movie tie-in games. This is predominantly due to gamers feeling that movie tie-in games often felt undercooked and rushed, as the development teams usually had to keep to tight schedules to coincide with the corresponding film's release date.
5 Syndicate
Syndicate is a real-time tactics game that was released in 1993. The game was published by Electronic Arts, while the development was handled by former studio Bullfrog Productions, who are best known for their work on Theme Park, Dungeon Keeper, and Theme Hospital.
Syndicate puts players in charge of a corporation seeking world domination and tasks them with managing teams of agents that set out to harm rival companies in various ways, such as assassinating their high-ranking officials or by persuading members of the public to join their corporation.
4 Syndicate Wars
Bullfrog Productions' Syndicate series consists of two of the best cyberpunk games of all time, so it's worth adding the critically acclaimed sequel to this list too. Bullfrog Productions didn't try to reinvent the wheel with Syndicate Wars and kept the gameplay mechanics similar to its predecessor, though it propelled the story and setting forward by almost 100 years.
A third game in the Syndicate series, simply titled Syndicate, was released in 2012. The game was developed by Starbreeze Studios and ditched the real-time tactics gameplay for first-person shooting.
3 Beneath A Steel Sky
Beneath A Steel Sky is another point-and-click game from the 90s to feature on this list. The game features a more serious and sinister tone than most other point-and-click games from the time, as studios like LucasArts were filling their point-and-click games with humor throughout.
Beneath A Steel Sky won multiple awards upon release, including Best Adventure Game from the Golden Joystick Awards. Anyone wanting to play the classic game today is in luck, as it's currently free on multiple different sites, including GOG.
2 System Shock
System Shock has a case for being one of the most underappreciated games of all time due to it often being overshadowed by its iconic sequel. This is a great shame, as the original System Shock blew gamers away in 1994, predominantly due to its ground-breaking physics.
Along with its physics, the game was praised for its direction, which was handled by Dough Church, who is also known for his work on the Thief and Ultima Underworld series.
1 System Shock 2
Much like the aforementioned Syndicate series, it's difficult to only include one System Shock game on this list due to the series consisting of two of the best cyberpunk games of all time.
In fact, System Shock 2 isn't only considered to be one of the best cyberpunk games of all time, but one of the best games of all time, period. The game's engaging, innovative gameplay mechanics and atmospheric setting made System Shock 2 an experience like no other at the time and offered tons of inspiration to the game's spiritual successor, BioShock.