Eight dystopian games for Cyberpunk 2077 fans
Night City is difficult to leave behind. Its neon skyline, chrome body modifications, corporate power struggles and V’s identity crisis make Cyberpunk 2077 unusually memorable. If you want another game with a similarly bleak future—or simply a story built around difficult choices—these eight alternatives offer very different ways to continue exploring dystopian ideas.
The list ranges from conspiracy-driven stealth games and open-world hacking to a delivery simulator, psychological horror and a bartender-focused visual novel. For more gaming and arcade news, browse the RETROCADE Arcade Blog.
1. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
What makes it a good match: Corporate conspiracies, augmentation ethics and a protagonist caught between his body and the people controlling it.
Where to play: PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
Set in 2029, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided follows Adam Jensen as he investigates rogue arms dealers selling weapons and augmentations. A deal in Dubai is disrupted by masked mercenaries, turning the mission into a firefight and drawing Jensen into a much larger conflict.
The game moves through Prague’s subway stations, corporate offices and hacker networks while Jensen tries to understand the Illuminati, an underground hacker group and a campaign of violence designed to keep society divided. Its stealth, hacking and combat systems make it one of the closest thematic companions to Cyberpunk 2077.
2. Watch Dogs: Legion
What makes it a good match: Surveillance, resistance and hacking, although it offers less role-playing depth.
Where to play: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X.
In an authoritarian London, the resistance group DedSec has been blamed for deadly bombings by a mysterious organisation called Zero Day. The group must clear its name, recruit supporters and rebuild while the city treats it as a public enemy.
Unlike V’s fixed identity, Watch Dogs: Legion lets you recruit ordinary citizens and use them as operatives. Hacking, stealth and gunplay remain central, but its standout idea is sending almost anyone from the street into the resistance, including recruits supported by unusual spy vehicles.
3. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
What makes it a good match: Dark storytelling, political schemes and choices where the morally correct answer is rarely obvious.
Where to play: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt follows Geralt of Rivia, a mutant monster hunter searching for his daughter Ciri. She is being pursued by the supernatural Wild Hunt because of her unusual powers, while Geralt receives help from his former partner, the sorceress Yennefer.
It is medieval fantasy rather than futuristic science fiction, but the connection is clear: both games were made by CD Projekt Red, and both build their worlds around complicated plots and uncomfortable decisions. The contrast between motorcycle and horse, firearm and sword, makes the two games an interesting pair.
4. The Ascent
What makes it a good match: A collapsing mega-corporation, dense neon districts and plenty of gunfights.
Where to play: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X.
The Ascent Group controls a city-sized tower on Veles, where your character begins as an indentured worker in the grimy lowest levels. When the corporation suddenly goes bankrupt, the tower’s systems fail and the resulting power vacuum quickly becomes dangerous.
The Ascent uses a top-down isometric viewpoint instead of an expansive first-person open world, but it shares Cyberpunk 2077’s interest in corporate monopolies and crowded futuristic streets. It is a tighter, more combat-focused option for players who want neon districts without a huge role-playing campaign.
5. Cloudpunk
What makes it a good match: A towering, corrupt city and thoughtful questions about technology, power and ordinary life.
Where to play: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X.
Rania works for Cloudpunk, an illicit delivery company operating in a vertical city. Her instructions are simple: deliver every package and never open one. On her first night, increasingly suspicious assignments expose how fragile the city’s infrastructure and social systems really are.
There is no combat in Cloudpunk. Instead, you drive through a dark, hologram-filled city while dealing with debt, surveillance and corporate control. Its slower pace suits anyone drawn to the atmosphere and social commentary of Cyberpunk 2077 rather than its shooting.
6. Ghostwire: Tokyo
What makes it a good match: A near-future city in crisis, unusual powers and a hidden supernatural layer.
Where to play: PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X.
Akito survives a fatal motorcycle accident when a displaced spectral detective named KK possesses him. Soon afterwards, an occultist releases a deadly fog across Tokyo, leaving behind piles of clothing and wandering spirits. Akito and KK must work together to uncover the plan and rescue Akito’s sister, Mari.
The game focuses more on urban legends than corporate greed, but its dense city, advanced abilities and exploration will feel familiar to Cyberpunk 2077 players. Stealth and supernatural combat replace firearms, creating a different take on a city transformed by forces beyond ordinary understanding.
7. Observer
What makes it a good match: A cybernetically enhanced detective who investigates minds, memories and corpses.
Where to play: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X.
Daniel Lazarski is a neural detective known as an Observer. After receiving a distress call from his estranged son, he traces it to an apartment building that enters lockdown before he can leave.
The world has been damaged by a digital plague called the nanophage, while a rigid class system divides post-war society. Daniel’s augmented police force investigates crime by entering people’s minds, including the minds of the dead. The result is psychological horror built around surreal memories and a central question shared with Cyberpunk 2077: how much of the self can be replaced before identity disappears?
8. VA-11 HALL-A
What makes it a good match: An intimate cyberpunk setting where listening and mixing drinks shape the story.
Where to play: PC, PS4 and Switch.
Jill Stingray works behind the bar at VA-11 HALL-A, a dive in Glitch City. Rather than becoming a famous mercenary or saving the world, Jill spends her shifts hearing the worries, ambitions and heartbreaks of the people who sit at her counter.
Glitch City is controlled by nanomachines and burdened by poverty, loneliness and financial pressure. Jill influences what happens to her customers by working out what they truly want to drink, even when that differs from the order they give. It is a quieter cyberpunk story, but its focus on ordinary people makes the setting feel personal.
Which game should you play next?
Choose Deus Ex: Mankind Divided for conspiracies and augmentation, Watch Dogs: Legion for hacking and resistance, or The Ascent for fast combat in a corporate city. Cloudpunk and VA-11 HALL-A suit slower, character-led stories, while Observer and Ghostwire: Tokyo take the setting into horror and the supernatural.
None of these games recreates Night City exactly. Instead, each explores a different part of the cyberpunk appeal: corrupt systems, altered bodies, technological isolation or the people trying to survive inside an increasingly strange future.
Thinking about bringing more gaming atmosphere into your home? Explore the arcade machine collection, compare options in the arcade machine buying guide, or consider a compact setup with bartop arcades.
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