Hacknet is a computer hacking simulation game developed by Team Fractal Alligator, published by Surprise Attack, released on August 13, 2015.
History
We therefore find ourselves in the shoes of a young beginner hacker who must prove himself. We were quickly approached by groups of hackers who quickly noticed our little talent standing out from the crowd. We therefore find ourselves "hired" by this group which offers us contracts, until one of the most important members (the best hacker) disappears without leaving a trace or giving any news ...
The story may seem weak, or even non-existent, but the "strength" of this game is that the fable is hidden throughout the adventure and that you can even miss it completely if you don't. don't bother to “explore” everything during our hacking sessions.
Indeed, the game is full of small "secondary" stories, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, that can be found here and there in the computers or on the servers that you hack, which adds to "realism. ".
Game and gameplay
The game simulates a computer screen from which we will “work”. So we have a Network "map", a "terminal" window, a window used to see the computer or server you are entering (like a teamviewer) and one of the very important things: living memory from the computer. The latter will be essential, because each program that you use to hack will use a certain amount of memory and if this last is totally taken, it will be impossible for you to launch other programs. It is therefore important to monitor this bar, but also to know the “consumption” of the programs in order to be able to rotate and manage to use as much as possible at the same time without blocking.
The back window, called « terminal », is the window that we will use throughout the game. It is in this window that we will type all the commands to hack. We have access to many orders, such as viewing active processes, moving / copying / renaming / deleting files, connecting to a remote machine (if you know the IP!), performing a port scan, running processors, viewing the contents of files , restart the computer remotely, run a firewall scan and even empty the terminal completely, play around with the CD drive or even infect the computer with viruses! In short, there is plenty to do!
The goal of the game is therefore to hack various terminals. This goes from the simple computer of Mr. and Mrs. "everyone", through smartphones, business computers to hospitals, detention centers, online game servers and even pacemakers!
To do this, we will have access to many tools (programs) which all have very specific "targets": opening SMTP and FTP ports, decrypting firewalls, overriding proxies, and so on. These are the programs that will consume RAM on your own computer. Sometimes you will have all your time to get through all these securities, but sometimes a IP tracing will start and, if you don't log out in time, you will be found! During these times, it will be very important to know the RAM consumption of your programs to use them in the order that will allow you to access the computer as quickly as possible.
The game offers, at certain times, "Branch lines" of stories. These "crossroads" are hidden: precise sentence written in response to an email, or copy / read / decrypt specific files, or ... The game is also full of quite a few secrets, some serious like patient / client conversations by example, other funny ones like these IRC conversations coming from bash.org: it is even possible to find "desktop themes" for your virtual machine!
Conclusion
Hacknet is a really great simulation game. Not being a hacker, I could not confirm or deny that the simulation is close to reality, but the latter "does the job". We quickly get caught up in the game entering commands, using programs / viruses, having the stress of being traced and spotted ... The game is also compatible with the workshop (even if it is unfortunately very little provided). As for the lifespan, it takes about 5-6 hours to finish it in a "straight line", but easily count ten hours of play if you want to complete it at 100%. In addition, the game has an expansion that adds around 5 hours of playtime.
In short, it's a good little simulation game. And if you like this genre and if you want, in addition, to feel the soul of a hacker, do not hesitate!
