I've been playing A LOT of @CyberpunkGame. For all the bugs (wow, there are so many), the story is compelling, the voice acting exceptional, and the writing is really solid.

Best (and worst) of all, is how it executes the 1980s vision of the cyberpunk genre to life.

The color palate, retrofuturism, and visual nods to transhumanism are compelling, and ripped right from the best of 80s cyberpunk lore and visual media.

Sadly, representations of gender, race, and ethnicity were ripped from the 1980s as well, in really problematic ways.

The portrayals of black Americans are often dripping with stereotypes. I mean, the "Voodoo Boys?" Really?

Even worse are the portrayals of Asian cultures, which seem to enthusiastically embrace Orientalism.

Asian cultures are portrayed as exotic and in stereotypical tropes, especially Japanese culture. And before you @ me, I know about the cyberpunk genre. But in 2020, I hope we've learned that presentations of race much be nuanced and embodied.

There is room in art to critique stereotypes by portraying them. Sure there is. But Cyberpunk 2077 in no way pulled this off. To the casual white player, its easy to see stereotypes *normalized* instead of *critiqued,* in the presentation of this game.

With a rising tide of far-right white nationalism in North America and Europe, responsible media should pay attention to framing and interpretation, and that's just not what happened in this game.

But worst of all is the half-baked attempt at gender portrayal and pronouns. This game is not inclusive in any meaningful way for trans and non-binary people, who are portrayed, at best, as sexual objects.

Despite the fact you can have a man with a vagina or a woman with a penis as the protagonist, you can't use gender-neutral pronouns. You also can't pick your pronouns. Pronouns are *assigned* based on the *vocal tone* you choose.

This isn't a budget strapped indie game. The problems here are obvious, and if CD Projekt Red would have consulted with the impacted groups here, the game could have been *phenomenally* more inclusive without taking more time or resources to build.

This game reveals in stark light who has decision making power in the gaming industry, and what lens they bring to making those decisions.

One last thought: If your instinct is to defend a mega corporation here because they "tried," or to complain that "social justice warriors always complain/want more/are too demanding," I'd ask how often your identity feels validated or is accurately portrayed in media.

If you don't know of haven't thought about it, you are probably some combination of white, straight, cisgendered, and abled. And that means this is an opportunity for you to learn how our world and culture impacts other people groups.