Blade Runner (1997): The Game That's Better Than the Movie

In this episode of Society of Sensation, I analyze the 1997 Blade Runner game. I discuss the works of Philip K. Dick, the differences between Blade Runner and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? the history of cyberpunk, psychopathy and empathy, and much more.

Have a suggestion for a game I should review? Post it in the comments. (If I don’t own the game in question and you’re willing to gift it to me on Steam, your recommendation will carry more weight.)

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Sources:

• E.T. the Extraterrestrial footage from OldClassicGames

• “‘Blade Runner 2049’ Losses Could Hit $80 Million for Producer Alcon”

• “Blade Runner Enhanced Edition is a Disaster, Not a Remaster”

• “The Blade Runner Game’s New Remaster Looks Worse”

• “Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition on Steam Now Includes the Better ScummVM Release”

• “The Making of: Blade Runner”

• “Classic ‘Blade Runner’ Video Game to Be Restored for Consoles, Steam (Exclusive)”

• “Nobody Can Find the Source Code for Icewind Dale II”

• “The Sad Story Behind a Dead PC Game That Can’t Come Back”

• James Lindsay post on “GamerGate 2”

• “Assassin’s Creed Maker Ubisoft Plunges 18% as Outlook Fails to Impress”

• “Has Dragon Age: The Veilguard Sealed Bioware’s Fate?”

• “Microsoft Mass Layoffs Reportedly Impact Bethesda, Halo Infinite Teams”

• “Microsoft Closes Austin-Based Arkane Studios; 96 Laid Off Amid Wave of Tech Downsizing”

• The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall footage from Vazz

• Fallout footage from Douchington

• “Westwood’s Blade Runner”

• “Ford: ‘Blade Runner’ Was a Nightmare”

• MPC analysis of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

• Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun footage from the CNC Channel

• “The Success of Japanese Cars in America”

• “Remember When Japan Was Going to Take Over the World?”

• “The Structural Causes of Japan’s ‘Two Lost Generations’”

• “China’s Deep Economic Crisis --- and a Trade War it Can’t Win”

• Cyberpunk 2077 footage from Lamia Kitsune

• Cyberpunk 2077 footage from Washed

• Cyberpunk 2077 footage from J64sGamingTwin

• Cyberpunk 2077 footage from Northalix

• “Is Deckard a Replicant? The History of Blade Runner’s Most Enduring Mystery”

• “Philip K. Dick’s Final Interview, June 1982”

• “Your Memory is Like the Telephone Game”

• “Rethinking the Reliability of Eyewitness Memory”

• Boogie2988/Frank Hassle video

• “So, ‘Blade Runner 2049’, is Deckard a Replicant or Not?”

• “Christopher Nolan on His ‘Last’ Batman Movie, an ‘Inception’ Videogame, and That Spinning Top”

• “A Conversation with Louis Castle”

• “EA Buys Westwood”

• “EA Consolidates Studios, Closes Westwood”