History VideoGame / BladeRunner

** What's especially chilling is that it's very easy to look at the situation in reverse; the replicants you are ruthlessly "retiring" are self-aware, sentient beings, capable of pondering their own identity and existence, begging the question: [[FridgeHorror "Who really lacks empathy in this story?"]]

For many years, the game was thought lost to time, due to being out of print and prevented from a re-release on digital platforms due to a combination of being stuck in legal limbo and the loss of the original source code. However, thanks to Creator/AlconEntertainment securing the rights to the game, and dedicated coders managing to reverse engineer the source code and recreate it in the [=ScummVM=] engine, the game saw a re-release on Website/GOGDotCom in December 2019. In addition, Alcon Entertainment and Creator/NightdiveStudios are working on a UpdatedRerelease named ''Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition'' which will feature updated character models, animations and cutscenes, and addtion to PC, they also plan to release it on UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne and UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch.

* ShoutOut: Many characters erroneously refer to Ray as "Roy". [[Film/BladeRunner Guess why.]]

For many years, the game was thought lost to time, due to being out of print and prevented from a re-release on digital platforms due to a combination of being stuck in legal limbo and the loss of the original source code. However, thanks to Creator/AlconEntertainment securing the rights to the game, and dedicated coders managing to reverse engineer the source code and recreate it in [=ScummVM=], the game saw a re-release on Website/GOGDotCom in December 2019. In addition, Alcon Entertainment and Creator/NightdiveStudios are working on a UpdatedRerelease named ''Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition'' which will feature updated character models, animations and cutscenes, and addtion to PC, they also plan to release it on UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne and UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch.

Due to its critical success, Virgin Interactive had plans for Westwood to make a sequel, but it was thought the cost of production would make the game commercially unviable, and the idea was scrapped.

For many years, the game was thought lost to time, due to being out of print and prevented from a re-release on digital platforms due to a combination of being stuck in legal limbo and the loss of the original source code. However, thanks to Creator/AlconEntertainment securing the rights to the game, and decidated coders managing to reverse engineer the source code and recreate it in [=ScummVM=], the game saw a re-release on Website/GOGDotCom in December 2019. In addition, Alcon Entertainment and Creator/NightdiveStudios are working on a UpdatedRerelease named ''Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition'' which will feature updated character models, animations and cutscenes, and addtion to PC, they also plan to release it on UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne and UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch.

The game follows the story of Ray [=McCoy=], a Blade Runner, who works at the same precinct as Rick Deckard, the protagonist of the [[Film/BladeRunner eponymous movie]]. [=McCoy=] is tasked with tracking down a group of replicants suspected of murdering animals -- a crime nearly as heinous as murdering humans, since most animal species are extinct and real specimens are exceedingly rare. Along the way, however, [=McCoy=] realizes that the seeming innocuous case is more complicated than he thought...

''Blade Runner'' is a 1997 point-and-click AdventureGame developed by Creator/WestwoodStudios for the PC and published by Virgin Interactive. It is a rare example of a video game [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames based on a movie]] which [[PragmaticAdaptation elects to develop a plot in parallel with that of the movie]], rather than attempt to replicate the movie's plot (and, as a result, [[SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames was well-received]]). The game follows the story of Ray [=McCoy=], a Blade Runner, who works at the same precinct as Rick Deckard, the protagonist of the [[Film/BladeRunner eponymous movie]].

* TomatoInTheMirror: The player may or may not be a replicant themselves.

''Blade Runner'' was the first real-time 3D adventure game and uses voxels rather than polygon-based renderers. It also featured a randomized plot, randomly choosing which characters are replicants, which would affect the storyline, adding rare replayability to an adventure game. It was [[http://www.adventuregamers.com/articles/view/17442 well-received]] [[http://www.adventureclassicgaming.com/index.php/site/reviews/477/ by]] [[http://www.screwattack.com/video/BladeRunnerGameReview-240410 many critics]] for its compelling story and exploration of the ''Blade Runner'' universe, receiving an aggregate score of 76.78% on [=GameRankings=]. Virgin Interactive had plans for Westwood to make a sequel, but it was thought the cost of production would make the game commercially unviable, and the idea was scrapped.

''Blade Runner'' was the first real-time 3D adventure game and uses voxels rather than polygon-based renderers. It also featured a randomized plot, randomly choosing which characters are replicants, which would affect the storyline, adding rare replayability to an adventure game. It was [[http://www.adventuregamers.com/articles/view/17442 well-received]] [[http://www.adventureclassicgaming.com/index.php/site/reviews/477/ by]] [[http://www.screwattack.com/video/BladeRunnerGameReview-240410 many critics]] for its compelling story and exploration of the ''Blade Runner'' universe, receiving an aggregate score of 76.78% on [=GameRankings=].

* PunchClockHero: Ray [=McCoy=]. Retiring replicants is his job, and he's paid a bonus for every successful retirement. However, the placer can subvert this by choosing to side with the replicants instead.

* ActionGirl: Crystal Steele, who carries a ''shotgun'' rather than a pistol as her sidearm.

* ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish: A scientist at Tyrell Corporation uses the name of his dog as a password for his work computer. McCoy tries it automatically after a couple of tries if he has learned it.

* ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish: A scientist at Tyrell Corporation uses the name of his dog as a password for his work computer.

* GameBreakingBug: For some bizarre reason the shooting range in the police station is tied to your CPU's clock speed to pop-up its targets, meaning it plain doesn't work on a modern system.

* RealityHasNoSubtitles: It doesn't matter whether people are talking to you in English or not. Or with a thick, hard to understand accent. You don't get subtitles. Deal with it.

* SubtitlesAreSuperfluous: No subtitles are used in this game.

* RealityHasNoSubtitles: It doesn't matter whether people are talking to you in English or not. You don't get subtitles. Deal with it.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Clovis is almost a direct copy of Roy Batty from the movie. Both are leaders of a group of escaped replicants, tend to quote classic poetry and reach the end of their preprogrammed lifespans at the end of the story. That is, if you play Ray as remaining strictly in his Blade Runner role.

''Blade Runner'' was the first real-time 3D adventure game and uses voxels rather than polygon-based renderers. It also featured a randomized plot, randomly choosing which characters are Replicants, which would affect the storyline, adding rare replayability to an adventure game. It was [[http://www.adventuregamers.com/articles/view/17442 well-received]] [[http://www.adventureclassicgaming.com/index.php/site/reviews/477/ by]] [[http://www.screwattack.com/video/BladeRunnerGameReview-240410 many critics]] for its compelling story and exploration of the ''Blade Runner'' universe, receiving an aggregate score of 76.78% on [=GameRankings=].

* AsianSpeekeeEngrish: Most Asian characters speak like this, but especially Zubin.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Lucy will at one point tell you about "Uncle Zubin", implying she's at least somewhat fond of him. This may make the player feel bad for just killing him without a thought, even if he's otherwise unsympathetic and responsible for massacring a bunch of animals.

** However, the test isn't one-hundred percent accurate; ask too many low-intensity questions and you won't evoke a strong enough response from the subject to confirm whether they're a Replicant, but ask too many high-intensity ones and they'll demand you to stop the test before you can get a conclusive result. In addition, the test can give an inaccurate result if the subject is mentally unstable (e.g. Bullet Bob).

* LackOfEmpathy: One of the Replicantss distinctive features, along with a planned obsolescence scheme.

* PunchClockHero: Ray [=McCoy=].

* RidiculouslyHumanRobots: The Replicants. Some of them also believe that they're human with implanted memories recycled from real people.

* SmugSnake: Gaff, if you take the rep sympathizer route.

* TurnedAgainstTheirMasters: The Replicants, of course.

* WhatTheHellHero: Killing Bullet Bob makes Ray wonder about this aloud; for even if Bob were a Replicant, he was a pretty fun and benign one. [[spoiler: He's actually always human, albeit seriously mentally unstable. The game will treat killing Bob as having killed a human, and this will be mentioned in a dialogue later in the game.]]

* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Clovis is almost a direct copy of Roy Batty from the movie. Both are leaders of a group of escaped replicants, tend to quote classic poetry and reach the end of their preprogrammed lifespans at the end of the story. That is, if you play Roy as remaining strictly in his Blade Runner role.

* ArcWords: "That can't be me!"

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Lucy will at one point tell you about "Uncle Zubin", implying she's at least somewhat fond of him. This may make the player feel bad for just killing him without a thought.

** Early in the game you'll find a brocuhre advertising a type of replicant model. This is a hint about who the game's randomly picked as a replicant. [[spoiler:E.g. if it mentions a Lolita model, Lucy will be a replicant.]]