This isn’t exactly a recommendation for BloodNet, it’s more of me just complaining that it’s the only cyberpunk vampire property I’m aware of. And the gameplay looks really boring, with barely any vampires involved.
You’d think a filthy neon-lit undercity full of high-tech low-lifes would be perfect hunting grounds for vampires, yet I don’t know of any real cyberpunk vampire stories.
I don’t consider Ultraviolet to be an especially cyberpunk movie, or for hemophages to be vampires. Also the movie is bad. Are there any Shadowrun novels with vampires, maybe? Seems like that would fit pretty well.
I tried googling for other cyberpunk vampire stories just in case I was forgetting something and I guess there’s a Cyberpunk 2020 expansion called Night’s Edge which has vampires in it. That’s cool, although I’d prefer a narrative story.
In my search I also found a new series called The Cybernetic Vampire which I’m hoping is exactly what I’m looking for. But the kindle book is only one dollar and it’s 650+ pages long. I’m pretty wary if the author thinks his 650+ pages of effort are only worth one dollar, but I’ll probably give it a try given my lack of any other choices.
Do you know of any other cyberpunk stories that feature vampires?
Doesn’t Vampire: The Masquerade have a sci-fi element?
Not to my knowledge… Does it?
The Dresden Files vampires don’t exactly fit, but you did make me think of White court/Red court vampires
Daybreakers is a debatably cyberpunk vampire movie. The corporate exploitation vibes are spot-on
I would say Daybreakers is definitely a sci-fi vampire movie (of which there also aren’t many) but I personally wouldn’t call it cyberpunk. Maybe there’s a twist I don’t remember, but I thought the corporation was simply trying to keep up with demand, not that they were doing anything outright evil to increase profits.
They were farming and oppressing humans and trying to monetize/monopolize artificial blood, IIRC. Been a long time since I last saw it, though
That’s the one I was thinking of.
Huh… Until this post, I thought Ultraviolet was the only vampire cyberpunk media in existence.
And how depressing is that?? For Ultraviolet to be the best example of cyberpunk vampires. So disappointing.
The one good thing I always keep in mind about Ultraviolet is that it was better than Aeon Flux and even felt more like the Aeon Flux cartoon than the AF movie did.
Although that might be even more depressing if you’re a hardcore Aeon Flux fan.
The Firefall series kinda fits the bill. The first book is called Blindsight, the second Echopraxia. It’s maybe not so much cyberpunk in that society is mostly absent from the books, but it is in the future with some crazy technology and there are vampires.
Legit biological vampires, and it’s hard sci-fi. I’ve read both books an embarrassing number of times.
My people.
I think of “Blade” when I think of vampire movies. But probably won’t fit the cyberpunk genre…
Yeah, as much as I enjoy Blade, I don’t think there’s any way I could justify it being cyberpunk. At least there’s [email protected] for those movies!
Priest also might scratch this itch. I enjoyed that one.
IIRC it’s based on a Korean comic, which in turn was based on the Blood game?
That’s true. Priest has an odd mix of cyberpunk city within the walls and wild west outside the walls (even though that makes no sense). Definitely a fun movie, but the vampires never show up inside the cyberpunk city. If only there had been a sequel…
The Priest manhwa apparently has very little to do with the movie, and it wasn’t particularly vampire-centric. Very much Weird West, although the community for that’s gone pretty quiet lately.
I would think immortality and hightened abilities make for an odd clash with cybernetics. Nobody who expects to live for another 200 years is going to sign up for a Generation 1 implant.
This year apparently.I was had.
Would The Breed apply?
I’ve never heard of this movie. 😳
I’ll definitely check it out and get back to you, thanks!
I will say, It’s not a great movie. But it’s also not a complete waste of time, if you enjoy vampires and tech-noire type settings.
I’ll set my expectations accordingly. I do enjoy vampires and tech-noire settings though, so I think I’ll be able to handle it.
Edit: And it’s on Tubi! I’ll definitely be watching it tonight now.
Well, The Breed is an interesting movie. Definitely not cyberpunk at all but it is a noir vampire movie, which I’ve never seen done before.
It was weird how the movie starts by saying “the near future” and yet all clothes, cars, and sets looked like they were from the 1940s. It definitely helped create a “film noir” feel, I just wish they hadn’t mentioned the near future as if this was supposed to be our world when it’s more of an alternate history. Overall, it’s not exactly an award-winner, but like you said, I don’t feel like I wasted my time watching it.
One of my favorite podcasts was on this subject, it’s worth a listen. https://www.stephenwinter.me/adventures-in-america
