Review: Cyberpunk 2077
Imagine being an emergency medical technician. Pretty stressful, yes? You get the call and you jump into the ambulance and race off to the scene of the emergency. When you get there, someone's life is in your hands.
Now let's dial it up a couple of notches. Your patient is in a war zone - a dystopian urban crime gang no-go area - and he needs medical assistance because ugly people with big guns are trying to kill him. You're not just giving him first aid, you are also rescuing him from danger, and putting yourself in harm's way too because those ugly people are going to turn their big guns on you too if you start interfering. So obviously you are going to need some big guns of your own and some very durable, high-tech body armour. You're basically a soldier performing a military-style extraction, with the addition of a flying ambulance.
Such is the disturbing premise of Cyberpunk 2077 by writer Cullen Bunn and artist Miguel Valderrama, based on the high-octane action role-playing game. EMT Nadia is assessed following a job that went very badly: she was the only survivor when a cybernetic maniac wiped out her team. This was particularly traumatising for her because she was in a relationship with one of them. Such fraternisations are frowned upon by the company that employs them, of course: if, when under fire, one of the team has to choose between saving the life of a colleague or that of a paying client, such emotional entanglements could pose a problem. A financial one.
The standard hero trope is somewhat subverted here; these are Florence Nightingales with not just Uzis, but also a mercenary edge. The moral ambiguity makes for some more interesting narrative angles.... especially when, cleared to return to work, Nadia's next job presents her with an impossible dilemma. Is the customer always right?
The action is fast and relentless, as you would expect from a comic based on a shoot-'em-up video game. Despite the ultraviolent tone of the story, however, the artwork is geared towards an almost poetic sense of beauty. A battle in an upmarket district of the city blends the glitz with the brutality: a pool of blood from a fallen victim reflects the colours of the neon signs above. Contrasted with this is the design of the EMT's armour. The helmet has no visor, just a cluster of cameras, turning the (not conventionally heroic) heroes into dehumanised, insect-like drones. Angels of mercy or faceless killers? These guys have to be both, simultaneously.
The familair codes are blown away here; the line between 'good guys' and 'bad guys' is blurred beyond any hope of recognition. And, just as in a game, a happy ending is a goal but not a guarantee. Will Nadia complete her mission without letting her feelings get in the way? Or is she heading towards GAME OVER?
Zak Webber
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