Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth was revealed as part of the June 2023 Annapurna Interactive Showcase, giving players a look at the game's mysterious new protagonist as he carries out an investigation. The story also appears to be set in a new period of the Blade Runner timeline as it returns to the franchise's gritty sci-fi world.
The Blade Runner franchise has had some VR tie-in titles, such as 2017's Blade Runner 2049: Memory Lab for the Oculus, and 2018's Blade Runner: Revelations for the Google Daydream, and tabletop tie-ins such as Blade Runner: The Roleplaying Game. However, Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth will bring the highly acclaimed sci-fi franchise back to PC and console gaming for the first time in 25 years, with the last mainline release being the 1997 Blade Runner game on PC, which received praise from critics and players upon its release and has since been ported to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch with a 2022 Enhanced Edition.
When Will Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth Release?
An official release date for Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth has yet to be announced. Annapurna Interactive has promised more details surrounding the game to be "revealed in the coming months" on the official Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth Steam page.
What Platforms Is Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth On?
The reveal trailer for Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth, from Annapurna Interactive's YouTube channel, stated that the title will be coming to "PC and consoles." The PC version of the game can currently be wishlisted on Steam. It is unclear which consoles Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth will be coming to, however.
There has been a recent push within the industry to create more current-gen exclusives, leaving behind the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One now that the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles are more readily available; however, many of Annapurna Interactive's slate such as Bounty Star or Flock are expected to release across both generations, so it's possible that Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth may receive a wider launch to make it available to as many fans of the IP as possible.
Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth Story Details - Setting, Characters, Plot
As suggested by its name, Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth will be set between the original film's alternate 2019 and the events of Blade Runner 2049. Its story takes place over a decade since the events of Warner Bros' short anime film Blackout 2022 (via YouTube), which saw a terrorist attack that detonated a nuclear missile over Los Angeles at the same time the Tyrell Corporation servers holding the Replicant Registration data were destroyed. The resulting electromagnetic pulse erased all the electronic records of every replicant on Earth and brought about the downfall of the Tyrell Corporation.
The reveal trailer follows a mysterious new protagonist who works for the LAPD, which suggests that the majority of the story will be taking place in the franchise's futuristic take on Los Angeles. The protagonist's narration refers to the loss that befell society after the blackout, saying that he was lucky he "just lost a job," before going on to state that "now they want [him] back," with him investigating several abandoned and destroyed places for signs of replicant life.
Following the blackout, the production of replicants was made illegal after rebel replicants and human sympathizers formed a resistance to the old order, which led to all existing replicants being retired with extreme prejudice, deemed "The Prohibition." Not a lot has been revealed about the title's story, but according to Annapurna Interactive's official synopsis, the game will deal with the events of The Prohibition and ask, "What does a Blade Runner do when there are no replicants left to hunt?"
Of course, this doesn't mean that replicants won't still play some part in the game's story, especially considering how significant their role has been throughout the rest of the franchise, and the Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth protagonist's narration implies that he will still be hunting the few that do remain. The Blade Runner: Black Lotus television series indicated that The Prohibition has been relaxed off-world by 2032, a year prior to Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth's story, and the Blade Runner 2049 prequel short, 2036: Nexus Dawn showed that Niander Wallace, Jr. had been working on his Nexus-9 replicants, which he stated were unable to rebel in a successful bid to politicians to end The Prohibition completely in 2036.
Therefore, it's possible that players may see some of this early reintegration of replicants into society during 2033. The game's reveal trailer included a shot of a replicant coyote on the street toward the end, which nods back to Philip K. Dick's original Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? novel, in which electronic animals were a more significant part of the narrative. It's possible that some of these replicant animals slipped through the cracks during The Prohibition, and that the character could use them as a way to assist his search for his mystery target "in the land of the dead."
Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth Gameplay, Combat, & Exploration Details
Little in the way of gameplay has been revealed for Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth so far, with the title's reveal trailer showing off more elements of the franchise's distinct sci-fi noir world. With the Blade Runner protagonist using a memory orb sphere like those seen in Blade Runner 2049 as part of his investigation, it's possible that players will be able to explore memories these much like Cyberpunk 2077's Braindances to find clues.
While there isn't much gameplay footage for the title at the time of writing, the Steam page for Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth has been tagged with "Adventure" and "Exploration" descriptors. Therefore, it's possible that the game will work similar to the classic 1997 Blade Runner title, which at its time was d as "the first real-time adventure game," and relied heavily on detective work that consisted of searching for evidence, questioning suspects with the replicant-identifying Voight-Kampff test, and analyzing clues. Combat was available on occasion throughout the 1997 game, but was rarely compulsory, with players having the option to kill or arrest replicants, or let them go, which led to multiple endings.
This detective-driven narrative and gameplay would match up with what's been shown of Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth so far, with its protagonist and the tools used in the reveal trailer. If the game does build upon the 1997 title with its gameplay mechanics, while modernizing it and including additions such as memory orbs that were introduced to the franchise later, it could make Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth somewhat of a spiritual successor. Of course, players will have to wait for more concrete details regarding the title, however, this wait shouldn't be too long, as Annapurna Interactive stated that this will be revealed within the coming months.
Source: Blade Runner 2033: Labyrinth/Steam, Annapurna Interactive/YouTube, Warner Bros. Pictures/YouTube