An accurate depiction of hacking | First Impressions - The Lonely Hacker

As a video game, The Lonely Hacker hits all the right notes when it comes to the depiction of how hacking is done in real life. Real terminologies used such as exploits, botnets, keyloggers, injections, and many more are integrated in the gameplay. This may all seem mumbo jumbo for the layman, but trust me, it’s as real as it can get for a video game.

The game takes on the role of an up-and-coming hacker sponsored by an organization called “The Agency”. Setting players up with starting cash, computer hardware, and a custom hacking OS which will be the main GUI of the game — slightly customizable by the way — via themes and wallpaper. The background music is a bit too cringey for me, but you can turn that off if you wish.

Players will select a starting location from a selection of various cities, countries, from all continents. After that, players are placed in a 3D scaled down version of the city they’ve picked, and they can move from one building to the other, or even move to other countries to access different networks. As for what to do next, it’s entirely up to the players to decide on what to do next. There is no story, no plot, the game is purely sandbox

Players can follow the tutorial missions, which does set up the gameplay mechanics nicely despite being initially confusing, and gives players bonuses as well for completing them. However, this is not mandatory and players can figure things out on their own.

Players start off with the entry point — by entering wifi and network systems. Once “in”, they can now see the different devices connected to the network. Players can’t outright do anything yet, as they have to acquire the necessary hacking software to proceed further. Even with wifi networks, you need specific software/hardware to be able to crack more secure networks.

Fortunately, The Agency has provided you with a software store wherein you can buy all these different tools. WEP Wifi security? Buy a WEP cracker. Need to hack a router? Buy a router exploit. Hack a basic computer? A web browser exploit will do the job.

It’s a nice element that requires a much needed input from the player, since the actual “hacking” is done automatically. There are minimal puzzle mini-games, and it does get repetitive, especially the early parts of trying to get into networks and hacking simple devices.

The entire gameplay cycle revolves around hacking devices, earning cash, and then using that cash to acquire more advanced software and hardware to be able to hack into more advanced devices and networks. It’s a simple concept, but highly addicting. It’s probably dopamine-pumping the same parts of the brain as with real-life hackers.

The Lonely Hacker doesn’t require much input from the player, and when it does, it can feel repetitive. But for what it depicts, the game is highly immersive and addictive. If the players let it immerse them, they will really feel like a true hacker doing cybercrime from their mobile phones, and it’s just fun to continuously hack and hack various devices across the world. The gamified GUI does slightly take away that immersion a little bit, but it’s probably there to remind you that it’s just a video game.