Uplink Review (Autz)
A thriller, text-based game released in 2001. This game is one of the earliest hacker simulators that still holds up to this day, featuring a mix of casual point-and-click gameplay and analytical skills required to become an elite hacker.
You play as , a freelance anonymous hacker who decided to work in Uplink, a corporation that offers hacker services in the black market. Uplink provides you with a remote terminal, as well as internal services such as news, software/hardware market, and a job bulletin board. As a hacker, you are expected to breach into terminals around the world to perform these jobs and get money, and the game as a good variety of jobs to select for, based on your hacker rank: Copy/delete files, edit academic scores, delete criminal records, track monetary transactions, exposing other hackers, sending and executing sabotage programs, and more.
The gameplay flow is simple: You set up interwoven remote connections across various terminals around the world map, and then you select your victim to hack. Once connected, you have to hack your way inside the terminal and perform the job you have assigned, triggering a connection trace to stop you. And finally, delete all traces of your doing and disconnect before getting caught. The real deal of the gameplay is that the entire game world has consistent rules. This means you can hack everything, even Uplink servers, if you are really good, and get away with it. But it also means that any dumb slip can end in your demise, and the consequences of your deeds are not apparent at first.
For example: If you are a noob and delete all admin access logs and disconnect before getting caught, you are leaving behind a disconnection log, which is going to be used to track you down (why there is a disconnection log if no initial connection log is present? This must be a hacker who wiped all the log files!). You must be careful to leave consistent information to cover your tracks successfully. In extreme cases, you are also required to hack across various terminals in a short amount of time to avoid a game over, like when you are robbing a bank, so you have to cover the money transfer.
You can also affect the outcome of various NPCs of the game, like leaking personal data of your fellow hackers to the public, which will result in their deaths if you check the Social Security network. This is what makes this game special; it's almost like a sandbox. Although I don't like the "press X to start hacking!" gameplay, and the "roguelike" mechanics (if you get caught, you have to start all over again), this attention to detail is what makes up for it.
Surprisingly, the game also has a story mode, presented to you once you advance your hacker rank. One of Uplink hacker members died, and an email was sent to all Uplink agents, including you, requesting an investigation into a company called Arc. You can ignore this email and remain a freelance hacker forever, but if you want to go with it, you will find a hidden corporate war that could end the Internet as you know it, depending on your choices. The final bit of the story was really intense.
The bad thing is that, since this game is really old, there are many problems regarding screen resolution and current-day keyboard shortcuts. For example, F12 will shut down the game, and any big resolution will break the placement of pretty much every element. You could add a mod called UplinkOS, which fixes these issues, but I like the old style the most.