It’s a shame the media has decided the only way to talk about this game’s politics is by calling it transphobic or discussing crunch. The game’s story has a lot of good stuff in it that is found often in cyberpunk literature. Right now I just read a furious and prescient rant by a woman whose mother died of pneumonia being unable to afford the excessive health care costs. A problem that is very relatable to us now. This is just one text box in an unfolding narrative that is expertly crafted. Clearly they put a lot of thought into how this world functions and how these characters interact with it and feel about it. Like classic sci fi literature it uses an exaggerated version of our world to talk about societal and other kind of issues.
Shame that most “critics” are too lazy to actually look into this game with a good faith critical eye. Instead they would rather write about controversy, as it gets the clicks. This is why I have no faith in game journalists, they DONT use their brain, their so called expertise completely wasted. Polygon spends 7 paragraphs talking about trans people. Where are the “history of cyberpunk literature” articles that place the game in historical context? Where is the analyzation of the multi path storytelling? Where are the discussions about world and character design? Narrative design? Gaming systems? McFly?
These game journalists demand early access but would never use that to do actual hard intellectual work. Easier to talk bugs, trans rights, crunch, political topics. When in reality the game itself is filled with in world politics that are entirely ignored. It is a shame. The game journalists are letting everyone down by not doing their jobs. They could be using their history and art and game design degrees to educate people and learn more about this game but that’s too much work.
There is some great storytelling in here. Hopefully Tim Rogers is going to give all this the attention it deserves.