Where to get it

2015 · Cyberpunk · Indie

868-HACK

You are a computer hacker. You steal precious data while the world sleeps. Siphons are your lockpicks. Progs are your guns.

Released: 26 January 2015
Platforms: Windows iOS macOS
Genres: Cyberpunk Indie Science Strategy
Developers: —
Publishers: —
Modes: Single-player
Languages: English
Time to beat: 3.5hmain story6hcompletionist

About

868-HACK is a 2013 roguelike video game developed and published by Michael Brough. The player controls a hacking program in a computer system and must grab as much computer data as possible before a defence program destroys it.

Development of the game began in March 2013, as part of the "Seven-Day Roguelike" competition. It was released in August 2013 for iOS and in January 2015 for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. The "PLAN.B" expansion pack was released in July 2017.

Players say

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The player controls a hacking program in a computer system and must grab as much computer data as possible before a defence program destroys it. The game plays in the manner of a dungeon crawler, with rooms being randomly generated. The player must collect keys to unlock nodes to hack. The game's graphics resemble those of early 80s home computers.

The game takes place in a cyberpunk setting, where, as alluded to by the game's title, hacking is done by dial-up. The player is a "smiley face" which can be moved around an 6×6 grid. The grid is shaped by "circuit-board-looking walls". The enemies in 868-HACK look vaguely like those in Pac-Man.

Development

In March 2013, developer Michael Brough started to work on 868-HACK as part of a seven-day Roguelike competition. The game was originally called "86856527" at the event. Brough worked on the game for six months, then spent four months fixing bugs, tuning balance, and porting. Michael Brough recorded the sounds of the game; Leigh Alexander of Gamasutra said the sound "gives its forbidding machinery a fascinating human sound".

868-HACK was released for iOS on 30 August 2013, and for Windows and Mac OS X on 27 January 2015. An estimated 14,000 copies of 868-HACK were sold for iOS. On 23 July 2017, an expansion pack of the game was released, called "868-HACK – PLAN.B". The expansion added a "new mode, new progs, and new power-ups".

Reception

868-HACK received generally favorable reviews from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic.

Will Freeman of The Guardian praised the game for captivating players by "imposing limitations" and having every move in a game be "challenging"; he further praised the game by saying that it is "visually eccentric and a great deal more refined and considered than it first appears". Harry Slater of Pocket Gamer called the game an "intriguing" but "unashamedly tough experience" that offered a "unique and engaging take on some of modern gaming's current trends". The game received Pocket Gamer's silver award. Edge Online called the game "formidably tough" and "meticulously thought through", saying it was "one of the smartest iOS games in some time".