It's honestly kind of a shame, since I feel like the core premise has a lot of potential even with the 80s references left in tact. The reclusive inventor of the VR world that's basically replaced IRL dies, and leaves everything behind in a scavenger hunt. Since he was a neckbeard who grew up in the 80s, everything ties into that and general pop culture. Logically, that should make everything a ball-buster, since it's... What, 2050 or so in the novel? Nobody would really give a shit about shit like an obscure Mazinger dub or Adventure. The whole thing could be done as a jab/satire of nostalgiawank very easily.
Only Cline is a hack, so instead of that, we get a nonsensical future where everyone is wanking off the 1980s, despite it barely being in living memory, and everything is "MEMBEH TRANZOR Z/DELOREANS/JOUST".
