For context, Edgerunners is a 10-episode anime series that’s based on Cyberpunk 2077, a game by CD Projekt RED. That game meanwhile is based on Mike Pondsmith’s Cyberpunk tabletop role-playing game. Shortly after its release, critics and fans praised the new Cyberpunk anime, and it even reached the Netflix Top 10 list in over 30 countries. Though given it didn’t end on a happy note, fans are looking to take revenge in the game that it’s based on. Spoiler Warning: There are Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and Cyberpunk 2077 spoilers in this article.
The end of the anime’s story isn’t a happy one, with protagonist David Martinez dying at the hands of Adam Smasher, the fearsome cyborg employed by the Arasaka megacorporation. Though aside from David, Arasaka also killed fan-favorite Rebecca in a brutal fashion. Given how popular Rebecca is with fans, her gruesome death started a trend where fans bought or replayed Cyberpunk 2077 to get revenge. If you haven’t played the game yet, Adam Smasher is present in 2077 where he still works for Arasaka. Players can encounter him early in the game, and he can even be fought at certain points in the game, depending on the player’s choices.
Aside from fans wanting revenge on Adam Smasher, the success of Edgerunners has led to a resurgence in the game’s popularity. In the week that followed the show’s release on Netflix, the game reached a peak of over 105,000 concurrent players, beating The Witcher 3’s record. The game’s concurrent player count on Steam continues to be high, with the game being within the Steam Top 10 chart as of this article’s writing. Its resurgence is impressive when you consider the mixed reception that it got at launch. While the game set a big launch sales record, it was released in a buggy state, causing many to ask for refunds. It was even pulled out for a time from the PlayStation Store.
Thanks to Edgerunners coupled with the multiple patches and updates from the developers, Cyberpunk 2077 is now in a much better state. Though we can’t say the same for Adam Smasher as more and more Cyberpunk: Edgerunners fans are smashing him to bits for revenge. Edgerunners is now streaming on Netflix.
