The future will be imperfect. All great science fiction shows this, from the ever-widening wealth disparities of Neal Stephenson, through the anthropological miscommunications of Ursula Le Guin to the consumerist, drug-addled dystopias of Philip K. Dick. Technology won't fix all our problems, change won't always be positive and progress is a subjective concept. Tomorrow won't be easy.
Satellite Reign knows this. It also reflects this well. All too well. Its sodden, cyberpunk streets are tracked by world-weary citizens struggling to get by in a world controlled by corporations, patrolled by paramilitaries. Life is cheap, crime is common and one of those ever-growing causes of crime is you. With your four-person squad of hackers and assassins, you take on The Man, whether in the form of global banking or the military-industrial complex.
In many ways it's beautiful in its vision. Neon depravity is a rare splash of colour across a greying world whose people cloak themselves in bizarre future fashions, while deadly drones patrol the streets. The first bars of music and the bleak cityscape call to mind the influence of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner while, at first glance, Satellite Reign also invites many comparisons to Syndicate, Bullfrog's classic take on cyberpunk.
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