Playing Hacknet late at night will leave you jumpy, twitching at the slightest sound, thinking that the hi-tech crime unit will pay you a visit. Paradoxically, this is a game that the beginners can use to practice for complex operations like breaking into databases, crashing websites etc.
That means that this is not some arcade, but a real simulation with realistic commands and realistic executive processes. If you have no experience in working with Command Prompt, make sure you finish the tutorial first because you won’t be able to manage without it.
The plot is quite simple. You get an e-mail from a recently murdered hacker and following his instructions you venture deeper and deeper into the conspiracy and intrigue behind his ‘sudden’ death. Sounds interesting? You bet! Try playing it on a laptop somewhere outside and you’ll soon find yourself either surrounded by kids or by the members of the law enforcement. If you’ve ever wanted to engage in this craft (‘cracking’, to use the correct term), but you didn’t dare to or didn’t own an adequate computer for it, then this is the right game for you.
It’s the fluidity and immersiveness that grace this game which make it so well made and enjoyable. Besides, it has a retro feel, although it’s not retro because it’s fashionable these days, but simply because it’s a hacking (or more precisely, ‘cracking’) themed game that has to look that way. However, not everyone is going to like it, especially not the younger generations who consider Watch Dogs to be an example of hacking. This is where we find the real issue – the target audience. This game might only appeal to older players who once might have wished to partake in this illegal trade when they were younger, though it’s still questionable how much they would be willing to commit to this type of game now. But regardless of any of that, Hacknet is still a game that deserves your attention and you should definitely try it out.
Author: Borislav Lalović
Hacknet
Pros:
- Immersion, realism
- Fluidity
- The experience
Cons:
- It's not for everyone
