Gaming History You Should Know – Cyberpunk Architecture September 28, 2025

Happy Sunday! Welcome back to Gaming History You Should Know, where we highlight some of the best independently produced gaming history videos from across the web. Today, we’re not going to be featuring a video that talked about game history, we’re going to highlight something that takes an analytical look at a vibe.

Cyberpunk is more than just a frame of mind, it’s an aesthetic, and its been with us since the 1980s when writers such as William Gibson tried to imagine what would be possible when technology is no longer beholden to limitations, and massive corporations could get away with whatever they wanted. The recent announcement (and runaway success) of the Cyberpunk Legends CCG Kickstarter has made it perfectly clear that there is a financial demand for more cyberpunk-inspired games, films and books. Now that it has returned to the mainstream, discussions can be made about what is the common traits for the cyberpunk look, why that aesthetic looks the way it does, and why it has endured for as long as it has. Essentially, I’m asking what makes Cyberpunk, Cyberpunk?

Audiences were first exposed to the art and vision of Cyberpunk by groundbreaking movies in the 1980s and 90s, including films like Ghost in the Shell and Blade Runner. YouTube Channel DemiLee discusses famous sci-fi and fantasy environments and tries to determine if they are practical if real people actually tried to live in that fictional world. What kind of a world environment would exist to create the necessities for the elaborate buildings audiences could observe in those classic films? Would such elaborate buildings even be practical to serve the functions they are being used for in the future? Well, the video below took an analytical perspective on the various environments seen in some of the most popular cyberpunk media from the past few decades. Give it a watch!