The metagame of Hacknet revolves around taking contracts from internet message boards to pull off a specific hack. Time is important because as soon as you start opening the ports you’ll get the ubiquitous trace timer counting down in the corner of your screen once it reaches zero bad things happen. While you can run multiple tools in parallel you can only run as many as can fit in the RAM manager, and so the hacking part of Hacknet consists of correctly sequencing your program run order to take advantage of this parallelisation so that the required ports are open in as short a time as possible. Each tool takes a set amount of time to run, and when you run it a chunky box showing a pretty graphical representation of magic hacking things appears in your RAM manager the size of this box is directly related to how much RAM each tool is using. Each computer requires you to open up to four ports to run PortHack, and you hack them open by running other magic hacking tools: SSHCrack opens SSH ports, WebServerOverflow opens HTTP ports, and so on. PortHack is far better, as it automatically cracks into any computer you point it at - if you have opened all the ports. He also asks you to look into his *~mysterious disappearance~* and this narrative thread is what passes for the main plot of the game, but it’s honestly pretty dull. The first thing that happens when you start a new game of Hacknet is that a mysterious hacker sends you a magic cracking program called PortHack. Hence: Hacknet is a text-based adventure game. 90% of Hacknet involves typing things on your keyboard, and the computers you hack into are not a million miles away from rooms in old text-based dungeon crawlers such as Zork – they remain on the network map once discovered and can be returned to at any time. It’s here that you run programs, crack ports and modify files, and all of the functionality available in the GUI and the network map is also available in the terminal via other commands. The GUI and the network map are slightly interactive as you can click on folders and files to navigate directory structure in the GUI and on IPs to connect to them in the network map, but most of what you’ll actually be doing in Hacknet happens in the terminal window. A text-based adventure game.Ī typical Hacknet session has you staring at a screen whose layout can change depending on which theme you’re using, but which always has four components: a terminal into which you type commands a GUI that’s used to display output such as file contents and web pages a network map of the various computer IP addresses you’ve collected and a box that represents your available RAM. However, where Uplink was very consciously modelled on Elite - the vast majority of contracts were procedurally generated, and the point of making money was so that you could upgrade your rig to take on better contracts that would earn you even more money - Hacknet resembles an adventure game more than anything else. Uplink is, at this point, a rather old game it was Introversion’s very first release all the way back in 2001 1 and was good enough that it put them on the map as indie developers at a time when indie development had all but died out. Hacknet is a modern Uplink whose major accomplishment is to make me wish somebody would make an actual modern Uplink.īy “ Uplink” I mean “freeform hacking game where you crack into computers to futz with systems to fulfil contracts”. You can modify people's academic or criminal records, divert money from bank transfers into your own accounts, and even take part in the construction of the most deadly computer virus ever designed.I’m stuck for something to write about this week as I haven’t played anything new recently, so I dragged this almost-finished review of Hacknet out of my drafts folder and polished it up a bit. You can speculate on a fully working stock market (and even influence its outcome). As your experience level increases, you find more dangerous and profitable missions become available. You use the money you earn to upgrade your computer systems, and also to buy new software and tools. Your tasks involve hacking into rival computer systems, stealing research data, sabotaging other companies, laundering money, erasing evidence, or framing innocent people. You play an Uplink Agent who makes a living by performing jobs for major corporations. Only this time, you have only your intellect, hacking skills, and the computer systems you've compromised to aid you. An enigma in itself, Uplink is akin to a more cerebral incarnation of Ambrosia's uplink_globe.jpgpopular Escape Velocity series of games, with missions that interweave a threaded plot which is unveiled with each conquest.
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