Dystopia; Neal Stephenson meets Counterstrike

It’s finally here. The first official release of Dystopia, the user-created mod that is everything that Microsoft’s Shadowrun hopes to be, has been let loose on the public and we couldn’t be happier.

While the original Halflife had Counterstrike, its sequel hasn’t had the same kind of breakaway success in its mods, but it has had a few very interesting stand outs, the greatest of which is Dystopia.

Picture this: the world is in shambles, corporations run everything, the governments are mere shadow puppets for sinister forces that seek to steal your clothes, your dog and some of your hair; you can play as either the oppressive, jack-booted thugs (with their powerful, jack-booted weaponry), or the lithe, nimble-as-a-rabbit resistance fighters (with their lithe, deadly-as-a-really-deadly-rabbit weaponry). At the risk of sounding like I’m shilling for this game, it’s as close as you’re going to get to living Neuromancer without dropping a soda can full of acid and jamming your penis in a light socket.