Screw it, the only thing better than cyberpunk is steampunk. Unfortunately, Bioshock just ain’t got the multiplayer to pull this kind of shit off.

It’s hard to recommend Dystopia to anyone who isn’t already into the online gaming scene. There are few games that are quite as tough to “get” than this one – even the notably unfriendly universe of EVE’s New Eden was a walk in the park compared to this – but by god it is worth it.

The scenario is pretty simple: three classes, two teams, one set of objectives. At its base Dystopia is simply an attack/defend style of game – you have objectives (be it CTF or much more complicated) and you go forth and conquer – but that is where the simplicity is forced to end. I’m not sure how to explain just how difficult it can be to fully understand how this game works so instead I’ll just tell you about the message that always appears on the loading screen: it directs you to a page on the website that tells you how to play. I’ve never seen that in a game before.

To be brutally honest with you, however, it is the cyberpunk setting which jumps this total conversion from being a solid exercise in multiplayer fun to something that wins awards. The mod immerses you in a world which seems at once both believable and unreal. Everything goes into making the maps look the part: clean, shiny portal-esque rooms mix with darkness and menace creating a familiar feeling of unease. It’s almost comforting to think that these very rooms were probably designed for evil scientists and the oppressive police.

It isn’t just the level design which contributes to the feel of the game. Some of the mechanics also play a role. The hacking system has got to be one of the most innovative that has ever been produced. In keeping with the tone of the rest of the mod you don’t simply sit at a terminal and let a bar load, or try some little minigame; instead you are propelled into a whole new reality, a cyberspace where your actions have consequences upon the rest of the game. I think I saw someone describe it as cyberspace impacting upon meatspace. How poetic.

With all my talk of graphical immersion I almost forgot the most important part. Some of you might have read my recent review of “Fragments of Ferelden” a mod for Dragon Age, this suffered from a dreadful lack of ambient noise. Many forget just how important this is to a game’s immersive qualities but Dystopia’s developers seem to have been well aware  that a good soundtrack and good use of ambient noise can make up for many defects.

Dystopia might be a hard mod to get into, it is sometimes as harsh as the world it is set in (and I haven’t even begun to talk about the ludicrous possibilities that come when you roll a class: 3 classes, with 4 unique weapons each, then a selection of implants makes for myriad possibilities) but it is well worth taking a trip. The major problem with many multiplayer mods is finding populated servers – here you can be fairly certain that there will be at least one. In my experience the community is also quite tolerant, not once have I been bullied or called a “n00b” despite not having dedicated as much time as I’d have liked to the game.

Why is it on our list?

A cyberpunk setting, hacking in a VR and awesome gameplay make for a winning combination.

Is it easy to install?

Yup, just follow the on screen instructions, either through Steam or on the Dystopia website.

Is there a trailer?

Funny you mention that…

Sometimes something comes along that’s so batshit insane I’m forced by some irrepressable urge within me to share it with anyone who happens to be nearby. Instead of running outside to accost people as they walk down the street I’ve decided to channel my enthusiasm straight into your eyeballs using the following words, beneath the cut:

So, there’s this mod, yeah? It’s called Jailbreak! In it you can be a Dinosaur, then you can pick up a glowing energy katana of death and run around mental arenas full of death traps chopping the heads off robots! Yes!

For those aren’t familiar with Jailbreak!, here’s the idea: whenever you’re killed you’re jailed in the enemy team’s base. Once your whole team is jailed you lose, but you can escape. Either a teammate can break you out or you can navigate a series of death traps to break out yourself. That’s not all, there are guns of course, lots of them, and you can use them on each other to cause as much mayhem and destruction as your brain can handle.

You can summon it to your hardrive using the infernal power of this link. At 400 megs you can be chopping up robots with Lazer Cleavers faster than you’d expect. Go forth and slay the cybernetic scum! Trailer below!