World Cyberpunk Day

In case you missed it, October 10th, 2020 (or 10.10.2020) was the world’s first official Cyberpunk Day!

Created by a coalition of Cyberpunk creators and fans, Cyberpunk Day was conceived to  help others discover new cyberpunk content like books, comics, shows, movies, and art. The team includes such creators as award-nominated author Anna Mocikat, cyberpunk writer Matthew Goodwin, and many more.

With a full schedule of events, Cyberpunk day was a day unlike any other, where people around the world could follow @cyberpunkday on Twitter to get all the links for the events as they happened every hour, on the hour. Events included live readings, live gameplay, panel discussions, presentations, and even a live viewing of Total Recall! I wonder what they will have planned for next year.

Celebrating Favorite Cyberpunk Media for World Cyberpunk Day

To celebrate everything Cyberpunk for World Cyberpunk Day, I thought I’d share my own favorite Cyberpunk media pieces, in addition to shining a light on some of my favorite, lesser known Cyberpunk content creators,  writers, and websites. So come celebrate Cyberpunk with your operator, here in the Cyberpunk Matrix.

World Cyberpunk Day: Favorite Cyberpunk Media

1. The Matrix (the trilogy and the animatrix) by The Wachowskis
2. Ghost in the Shell (the original anime and live action remake, as well as the animated series) by Masamune Shirow (writer), Mamoru Oshii (anime film director) and Rupert Sanders (live action director).
3. Battle Angel Alita (the manga known as GUNNM, as well as the anime movie and the live action film) by Yukito Kishiro (writer), Hiroshi Fukutomi (anime film director), and Robert Rodriguez (live action director).
4. Altered Carbon (the novel, the Takeshi Kovacs trilogy, and both seasons on Netflix) by Richard K Morgan (writer) and Laeta Kalogridis (Netflix series director).
5. Blade Runner 2049 by Denis Villeneuve
6. Ready Player One (both the book and the live action film) by Ernest Cline (writer) and Steven Spielberg (director).
7. Upgrade by Leigh Whannell

World Cyberpunk Day: Favorite Community Content Creators

1. Madqueen–Madqueen has her own Madqueen show on YouTube, where she provides the latest news on the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 video game, as well as lore and information about the Cyberpunk Red Tabletop RPG. She provides an insane amount of work editing and creating very original content, and also assists in weekly podcasts with other community content creators. You can learn more about MadQueen in my exclusive interview with her here on Cyberpunk Matrix.
2. Neoskies–now more on Instagram than anywhere else, Neoskies is the mind behind The Cyberpunk Hive, a place for reviews, polls, and fun discussions about anything cyberpunk. For more on where Neoskies finds her inspiration, check out my interview with her here.
3. NeoMatrixology–For a yellow-pilled approach to understanding everything to do with the Matrix, I always consult NeoMatrixology and his Matrix University series. While I tend to report Matrix news in batches when major things happen, NeoMatrixology is always first to report the latest news relating to the Matrix, no matter how big or small. He also has lots of high-quality, in-depth analysis on the philosophy and themes present within the Matrix Universe. We also had a really interesting hour-long discussion about his inspiration, beginnings, and our first Matrix viewing experiences which you can check out in our podcast here.

World Cyberpunk Day: Favorite Cyberpunk websites

1. Neon Dystopia–if ever you wanted in-depth, scholarly articles about all kinds of Cyberpunk content, look no further than Neon Dystopia. This is also where I first went the day I discovered the Cyberpunk genre. Covering philosophy, fashion, movies, music, video games, and news, Neon Dystopia doesn’t post as often as some other blogs, but when they do it’s always very in-depth and interesting. Neon Dystopia was also one of the first Cyberpunk websites I shared about, back in March 2018.
2. Cyberpunks.com–Cyberpunks has the highest amount of content of all cyberpunk websites I’ve seen to date on the ‘net. Going less in depth as Neon Dystopia but providing far more content, including also the occasional video, Cyberpunks provides articles and essays about all Cyberpunk genres–movies, tv shows, music, news, technology, video games, etc. It also has reviews, lists, recommendations–you name it, Cyberpunks has it! For more about the ambitious creator behind this incredible website, check out my interview with its founder Bradley B. here.

World Cyberpunk Day: Favorite Up-and-Coming Cyberpunk Book

Into Neon by Matthew Goodwin–Book 1 of the ThutoCo trilogy, Into Neon describes how the main character Moss discovers his corporate work and life is not as it seems, and how he escapes to join a rebel punk alliance intent on bringing down the megacorporations that prey on the helpless. For more about my thoughts on this book, check out my review here.

World Cyberpunk Day: Favorite Cyberpunk Video Game

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon by Ubisoft

If you ask most Cyberpunk fans what their favorite Cyberpunk game is, they will probably answer System Shock, Shadowrun, or Deus Ex. While I haven’t played System Shock (it’s a little dated to play now unless you have that nostalgia factor) or Shadowrun (a mix of sci-fi and fantasy, think blade runner meets LOTR from what I’ve heard), I have actually played Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. Unfortunately, I felt both Deus Ex games were a lot more stealth and RPG-focused for my tastes, with the gameplay considerably less fun than the usual fast-paced First Person Shooters I usually go for. Considering I’m a FPS player at heart, it should come with no surprise that Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is actually my favorite Cyberpunk video game of all time (at least, until Cyberpunk 2077 comes out). Sold as a stand-alone expansion to Far Cry 3 (another favorite FPS game of mine), FC3: Blood Dragon is a hilarious, over-the-top parody of 1980s action films featuring corny lines, fast paced action, dragons shooting laser beams, and cyborg ninjas.

Your Favorites

So what are your favorites? Let me know in the comments below!