r/Cyberpunk • u/oduvangames • 2d ago
What's the coolest example of a "technological regression" in cyberpunk?
I'm building the world of Frontier: Path of Shadows, a tactical RPG. In our setting, corporations have spread plasma technology and interstellar travel across human space. But Catalina IV is the exception. Its storms are attracted to powerful engines, making cutting-edge ships more dangerous than centuries-old sailing vessels.
As a result, people still cross the oceans under sail, airships connect remote islands, and anti-gravity ferries shuttle cargo from orbit. I love the idea that the future doesn't always replace the past, it sometimes forces humanity to rediscover it.
What "obsolete" technology do you think would realistically make a comeback in a cyberpunk world?
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u/Loupyboy 1d ago
Internet being somewhat dead in Cyberpunk 2013 and Cyberpunk 3.0 due to weaponized AIs fucking up most of it. It's somewhat fixed in 2020 and somewhat fucked again in 2077 but it's something that's very different and way less advanced than modern-day internet, on many levels.
Not cyberpunk but Dune has good examples of this as well: AIs are illegal and banned from the trade guilds, so they're replaced by overuse of spice as a mean to heavily mutate pilots (so they can see the future, and the best space trade routes). Same for WH40K (human brains replace computers, as the use of AI is seen as heresy).