system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Cyberpunk] What's the deal with people carrying swords?

This is a world where you can hide cannons in your literal person.  It's also dystopian America, so you can walk down the street and trip on a gun.  And yet, we have katana wielding gangs that somehow haven't been crushed yet by cyborg psychopaths. 

When/Why/How did swords make a come back?
gpt
Generally, a few things happen.

First, some sort of tech breakthrough skews the balance between weapons and armor. Either there's a breakthrough on the weapons front (like the ever popular monomolecular edge that lets a sword cut through everything, or hyperfrequency vibrations that turn every blade into a super chainsaw) or armor designs go too far in adapting against ballistics and leave themselves weak against melee (like how a soft kevlar vest can stop a 357 magnum round but be breeched by an icepick) that rebalances the risk/reward math for bringing a knife to a gunfight.

Another factor, the user of the sword may be enhanced. A normal katana might not be able to pop through a level 4 vest, but one wielded by a jacked up cyborg with the strength of industrial machinery and the speed of a hummingbird on meth is a different story.

Third, it may be easier to kill folks with a sword depending on how invasive the surveillance state. Sure, you've got that sweet Area Smartgun in lieu of a forearm, but if every streetlight has a microphone feeding information to an algorithm trained to detect gunshots (note: this isn't hypothetical, several American cities already have it), or if you're in the middle of a quiet B&E and need to liquidate a guard without telling half the block that it's crime time, then a melee weapon is the way to go.

Finally, there's the matter of **style**. Sure, you could just use a box cutter or a claw hammer, but you don't cultivate a reputation on the streets by being boring. So you spend a little extra for the sweet leather jacket, the name brand mirror shades, and the katana made out of orbitally forged steel because you want folks to know that your life is dope and you do dope shit.