Cyberpunk 2077 is a game that has a lot to say. Like our own, its world is filled with complexities and contradictions. Yet, for our purposes, the most pertinent theme is the commodification of all that is immaterial and mystical in the name of capital. In the uber-capitalist dystopia of Cyberpunk 2077, corporations no longer have to attach attractive ideas to their products to elevate their value, they can simply sell you the idea itself. It doesn’t really matter if God, or any other deity, is real, but the fact that their name is on your lips is organic marketing. The lack of any tangible product means no overhead costs and greater profit margins. If I can sell my words directly to your ears, I never need to make money in any other form ever again. Cyberpunk 2077 being about the horrors of late-stage capitalism and unchecked greed isn’t a particularly original or nuanced view of the game. In fact, I’d say it is its central biggest motif, and essentially a staple of the broader cyberpunk genre. Still, there's one specific set of quests that drives this notion home more than any other — the story of Joshua Stephenson. Sources: https://pastebin.com/jUwT9JJm My Twitter: https://twitter.com/JamesMBentley Abigail's Twitter: https://twitter.com/AbigailEShannon 0:00 - Genesis 0:55 - Title Card 4:02 - Part I | The Story of Joshua Stephenson 6:45 - Part II | The Mind of Joshua Stephenson 9:45 - Part III | The Healing of Joshua Stephenson 11:24 - Part IV | The Lie of "Joshua Stephenson" 18:00 - Part V | The Redemption of Joshua Stephenson 25:20 - Part VI | The Crucifixion of Joshua Stephenson 32:53 - Revelations

Ready or Not often reminds me of the in-your-face marketing campaigns of yesteryear. John Romero is going to make you his bitch, promises the notorious Daikatana ad. Did you know they had to give barf bags to viewers watching saw? Paranormal Activity is so scary that people stormed out of the theatre. Sometimes, being told others are mad makes you feel like you have to understand this poor tortured soul. Ready or Not, through its 'realistic' depictions of swat situations, and the inclusion of a college shooting mission, taps into that same edge that gets you clicking the headline and I felt like I couldn't really miss my chance to throw my hat in the critical ring, so to speak. Games are art but they are also marketing. Ready or Not doesn't feel like it's jeering at you to play it through the veneer of an edgy advertisement but it's hard to ignore that this may have worked, regardless of their intent. On one hand, it's an intriguing game with a genuinely palpable atmosphere, some interesting mechanics, and feels put together with genuine love. On the other, it's messy, with poor AI, some ill-thought-out concepts, and its environmental storytelling and mechanics feel like they tap into a grander story that the game isn't quite brave enough to ever let breathe. Obviously, no game needs to talk about areas it doesn't want to but I can't help but feel that Ready or Not desperately does. There's a reason why each of the game's main missions starts with a briefing, and, sometimes, that includes political and socioeconomic analysis, to an extent. Ready or Not is a swat game and part of the context of that is what puts people in the situation where they shoot at, steal from, and maim others. This clash between the two pops its head in immediately, as the police station you take missions from has posters plastered on the wall telling you no one is above the law, only for you to lose a mere couple of points for blowing the brains out of an enemy that is a little too jittery. Sometimes, in the likes of a Call of Duty campaign, killing waves of baddies can feel a little jarring. At its most arcadey – taking on nazi zombies – the cognitive dissonance kicks in yet, as it gets weightier and more 'realistic', firing at your third vaguely evil enemy can be downright exhausting. Games like Ready or Not rely wholly on smashing that cognitive dissonance and even scaring you in the process. These point balances feel like a bit of a necessary evil, to keep you in check without entirely halting your process – an excuse to think without a reason to stop. It is the gamifying of morality and it can never be stopped. Ready or Not often feels caught up between attempting to be jarring, horrifying, and 'real', but also acknowledging the game should be fun. Some hostages are jittery and intentionally look like someone trying to grab a gun, essentially forcing you to stay alert. After your fourth civilian doing this, it's hard not to feel like the game is essentially manipulating you into being on your toes. All games are, of course, intensely and often intrinsically manipulative, trying to get you to care about certain characters through inaccurate or misleading framing. They pull the wool over your eyes to amaze you when you can see the full picture. Ready or Not just manages to do it in much more transparent, and guessable ways. In the second mission, you raid a complex, housing one man who has killed his mum and kidnapped his brother. You mow down and apprehend tens of enemies, often losing your own swat team in the process, only to find him craned over a computer with pink kitty headphones, streaming a Call of Duty parody to his audience. That audience then goes on to immediately belittle him for getting shot in the head by one of my team. I swear it wasn't me. The house objects point to an immature manchild who has let fame, and a gun, get to his head and seems to point to internet violence as a catalyst for it. That same chat whispers rumours of the man getting swatted and you are left with that split-second fear that maybe you're in the wrong. Turns out he is also a child predator, sexual harasser, and Discord mod, which I think is intended to be played off as a joke but feels more inconsequential and inconsistent. That moral greyness is squashed pretty quickly. The game points to something more but it doesn't quite engage with the questions it asks and doesn't always feel like it cares for an answer. A code was provided for critique purposes My Twitter: https://twitter.com/JamesMBentley Thank you to Abigail Shannon for your work on script editing, video editing, and thumbnail creation! Abigail's Twitter: https://twitter.com/AbigailEShannon Articles referenced: https://gamerant.com/ready-or-not-controversy-team17-school-shooter-explained/ https://www.dexerto.com/gaming/ready-or-not-devs-wont-apologize-for-controversial-school-shooting-level-1747219/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copaganda

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