The sidearm looks like a modified flare gun crossbred with a pocket watch. Do not dismiss it as a novelty.
Let’s be practical.
STEAMPUNKS was a prominent scene group active around 2017. They were significant in the history of game piracy because they were among the first to reliably bypass Denuvo, a DRM solution used by major publishers (like Ubisoft, EA, and Bethesda) to protect high-budget titles. TOM.CLANCYS.GHOST.RECON.WILDLANDS-STEAMPUNKS
Prior to STEAMPUNKS, Denuvo games often went uncracked for months or years. STEAMPUNKS released "key generators" (keygens) and modified executables that allowed these games to be played without purchasing them. The sidearm looks like a modified flare gun
Here is the irony: The actual game contains zero steampunk aesthetics. There are no copper airships, no Victorian-era clockwork rifles, and no goggles (except for cosmetic skins). STEAMPUNKS was a prominent scene group active around 2017
However, the term sticks for three reasons:
By coding the Steampunks as eccentric, irrational, and dangerous, the game aligns steampunk with terrorism – a common trope in Clancy-branded media where non-mainstream ideologies are pathologized.