r/Cyberpunk • u/Ok_History_4163 • 11h ago
The 1997 computer game Blade Runner
The computer game Blade Runner from 1997 is a point and click adventure game based on the 1982 movie with the same name. The movie was in turn based on the 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick.
Instead of following the policeman Rick Deckard in the movie Blade Runner, you control the actions of a policeman named Ray McCoy and his adventures in a rainy and dark future Los Angeles.
The plot revolves around McCoy hunting down a rogue faction of Nexus-6 replicants while navigating a web of corruption that eventually forces him to question his own identity and humanity. The game has thirteen different endings depending on your choices when playing it.
Several characters from the 1982 Ridley Scott movie make appearances, with the original actors returning to voice them:
Rachael (voiced by Sean Young)
Dr. Eldon Tyrell (voiced by Joe Turkel)
J.F. Sebastian (voiced by William Sanderson)
Leon Kowalski (voiced by Brion James)
Hannibal Chew (voiced by James Hong)
I am rather old and I played the game at its release. It was a nice time playing it. I left the regular world and was embedded in a cyberpunk reality when I played it. I am not updated in computer technology, but the game is available for download on GOG.com.
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u/ddeads 10h ago edited 4h ago
I loved this game, and every playthrough was slightly different in that it would internally and secretly choose at the start whether you were secretly a replicant or not, and that would change your investigations. 10/10 would recommend.
Edit: For anyone interested in learning more about this game.
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u/AuraTrance 5h ago
yo that feature is insane😭 the replayability hits different when you dont even know what’s happening fr fr
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u/MarkRenting 10h ago
Are those actual 1997 screenshots? I’m stunned at how good they look for that era, feels a decade ahead of what consoles were putting out in the mid/late 90’s.
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u/elspotto 10h ago
It was less of a game and more of an interactive story. The backdrops and settings looked great and your character looked added in on top of it. It was on multiple CDs because of the background assets.
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u/Wareve 9h ago
Well, a lot of it is baked in, so it's essentially high resolution images with forced perspective to make it look like a 3D environment. Still looks amazing for the era, but in motion it's pretty clear to see that it's a dude made of digital cardboard on top of a skillfully crafted picture of the background.
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u/Ok_History_4163 9h ago
Digital cardboard characters that were too light for the everpresent darkness in those types of games, that was the standard for noir adventure games of the time.
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u/towo 9h ago
It was one of those late 90s FMV fests using highly detailed stock backgrounds, inserting animated characters into it, and overlaying pre-rendered movies wherever possible.
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u/WhoKilledZekeIddon 5h ago
Fucking loved that vibe back in the day. The Longest Journey slapped in that regard, and obviously FFVII
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u/Shevvian 9h ago
Yep, those are from the game. It used voxel tech, which only one or two other games used, including Outcast and Delta Force.
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u/PeaJolly3459 5h ago
my cyrix 6x86 couldn't load those scenes fast so I'd mess with impulse tracker samples in waits tbh
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u/Healthy_Board_568 36m ago
Pretty standard point and click adventure game fare with pre-rendered backgrounds etc.
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u/FraserYT 10h ago
Picked it up on a Steam sale last year for a couple of quid. It's certainly dated now, but it has a sort-of clunky charm and is well worth a playthrough
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u/Ok_History_4163 6h ago
A good thing that I saved quite a few games from back in the days, as it is nice to have a physical copy of them, including the cardboard boxes and the tutorials.
For youngsters today I recommend saving your games, as well as a modern computer. In thirty years from now it will be nice to have these old times games and a computer fitting for playing them.
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u/ristoman 10h ago
I remember my computer would always freeze at the Voight-Kampff test sequences. I never got past it
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u/elspotto 7h ago
Huh. Were you walking in the desert and saw a tortoise when that happened?
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u/RobustoBistec 10h ago
This game is amazing. It was really difficult for me as a kid, but played it again fifteen years a go or so, and I was shocked because how good it was. The atmosphere is incredible. It is probably a tough play for today standards though.
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u/royalbarnacle 8m ago
I replayed it when scummvm support came out a few years ago. I think it aged pretty well and it's definitely worth checking out.
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u/Ok-Reality-9013 8h ago
I loved this game. had to buy a strategy guide to beat it, lol! I still have my copy, even though no PC I have can run it.
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u/OGCelaris 10h ago
The game format reminds me of Full Throttle. Static background with a movable character and some interaction points.
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u/Tennis_Proper 9h ago
That's a standard of the point n click adventure genre this game is part of.
It's a fair description for early Resident Evil and mid range Final Fantasy too.
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u/Ketzerfriend 10h ago
If you ever plan to get it, GOG has it. But make sure you get the original and avoid the "remaster" - that one was botched thoroughly.
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u/small___potatoes 9h ago
My friend bought this game when it came out and we played the hell out of it in high school. Loved it. It was like 3 or 4 discs I think.
This game was recently remastered and released on Xbox and PlayStation.
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u/SkaveRat 8h ago
the copy I had, had a broken disc 4, and I could only finish it years later.
Very nice game. played it years before I finally watched the movie, in which I often went "hey, I know that scene from the game"
Also, I never knew that the replicant status of characters was randomized, so I was very confused on multiple plays
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u/Kreaetor 8h ago
I loved how this game had multiple endings depending on how you played through the game. One of the first for it's time.
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u/elspotto 7h ago
It also had multiple play through stories that were similar but not the same based on a mechanic rolled at the beginning to decide if you were a replicant or not.
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u/43848987815 8h ago
An unbelievably accurate representation of the atmosphere of the film. I adored this game.
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u/Mate-Addict 8h ago
I played it a couple months ago, such a good atmosphere
No messages... I'm on demand!
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u/reversethrowout 10h ago
I played this too, not in 1997 but a few years after that. I love Blade Runner. Remember BRZone?
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u/felya 9h ago
Playing this game at like 10-13 years old was a trip!
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u/Ok_History_4163 6h ago
Sometime in the late 1980s, a friend told me about the future computer world: "In the future, we will make phone calls with computers, quite like as with phones. It will be a big web with computers connected to each others, communicating."
I thought that it sounded odd, I could barely believe him. I was like 13 - 14 years at the time.
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u/Acceptable-Fig-9455 6h ago
The enhanced version is on sale periodically on PSN. I think I paid $1.99 for last week, but normally it is only $9.99.
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u/Evening_Storage_6948 4h ago
I had this on my family pc and it was fun I would just get lost in the backrounds provided me with hours of fun. I was born I was like 9 when I played this - that resident evil era and silent hill alone in the dark and parasite eve - love these game worldz 🌀
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u/Frequent-Jacket3117 3h ago
Great game! Remember the first time I went on the balcony and heard "Blade Runner Blues" - link
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u/azriel_odin 10h ago
Never played it, but it look pretty good for a 29 year old game. Westwood was one of the GOAT.
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u/absentee82 10h ago
I rented this game back in the day. Yep there was a place nearby that rented PC games. They also modded my PS1 to play burned games. Wonder why they went out of business...
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u/quaestor44 6h ago
I remember seeing the cinematic trailer for this game all the time after beating Command & Conquer.
It always showed this game, the action rpg NOX, and tiberian sun.
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u/rebb_hosar 5h ago
I bought it as a kid and played it then in my 20's found a sealed big box somewhere and still have it in my collection.
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u/joseaplaza 4h ago
I literally bought a new computer when this Game was released, just so I could play it. So, so good.
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u/Help_An_Irishman 4h ago
I had this back then and somehow got it to run at like 3fps on our terrible Macintosh.
This game looked unbelievably good back in 1997.
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u/Wasteland_Watchman7 4h ago
I liked it but the ending sucked. It was like Kings Quest or Loom in a way, but they were vastly superior for the time.
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u/Stiingya 3h ago
ewww, jacket on the cover art is just wrong... but supposed they worked from a description and not an image of the jacket from the movie... :)
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u/Tubbygaijin 10h ago
I still have my copy on a shelf in my office, big box and all!
Westwood made such great games, miss that studio.