Midnight Protocol

This game feels like amore approachable, more "gamey" Hacknet / Uplink while still retaining the charm of typing console commands and feeling like a hackerg0d.

Midnight Protocol perfectly captures the Netrunner/Shadowrun/GIbsonesque fantasy of cyber punk hacking. The story is well-written, the missions are varied and interesting, and rig progression is rewarding. I'd consider this a must-play for fans of the cyber punk genre.

The reality is this game has a good atmosphere and a great gimmick, the thing is it lost me the moment it started putting turn caps on the levels. The fun for me was to work around the trace meter, and to use tools to try and stay in and get as much as I could done, by switching it form an avoid game to a rush game, it was single-handidlyruined for me. If you have a similar mindset, i highly do not recommend this game.

This game is very fun and *beautiful*.

It's a turn-based strategy with hand-crafted levels, and each new level is somehow interesting. The main story levels are the best but the even each new side level has a unique network composition or different hints or obstacles or even new gameplay elements, and together this makes it so that you're always looking forward to what you will see in the next level. The best experience is perhaps the level where you're chatting with your friend as you go, navigating a building and opening doors for her.

Another cool thing is that the game is beautiful. It has almost no art (some enemy defenses have pretty 3D models, but they're rare) but the interface shines. It has good fonts, crisp text rendering, sharp lines, no choppiness and is very responsive. Curiously, I find these things very important in text-based games and RPGs.

This is the best hacking game I've tried. More on the puzzle side but It's really nice. Also the music and the visual style is great. If you enjoy hacking games this is it.

I am trying to like this but its turn based

everything is done for you, want more fun out of a hacking game look at nite team 4 or hacknet

Great game, quite immersive and very reminiscent of good ol' Uplink, but without the tedium of clicking links, nor the time pressure (unless you turn on the optional real time mode). Devs are also extremely responsive - had an issue, and was fixed within the day.

Context: I have finished the game. I did not 100% the game. But I find it hard to say how far I got from 100%ing the game, because I had no side content available to me at the time that I crossed the (helpfully labeled) point of no return, with the exception of the repeatable "virtual" addresses. But there are still definitely things that I let get away from me.

The very fact that I finished this game in two days with 18 hours logged should indicate a very strong positive review. But let me go into some details to make it more useful as well as providing some criticism.

Midnight Protocol is a hacking themed puzzle game with RPG elements and a strong central narrative. You play as a hacker who goes by Data on the net. You were doxxed and detained by the authorities before the game starts and went AWOL, but now you're back in the game, meet up with some old friends with your old terminal, and try to chase down the people who doxxed you. (This is the beginning of the story, you can pick this much up from just the demo). Without going any further (until later in the review), I will say the narrative is quite gripping. You definitely want to know what happens next.

Mechanically, you enter a network and move around between its various nodes doing various things. You encounter programs called ICE that try to impede your progress, and have your own programs for dispatching them. Slightly later in the game you encounter other users called SysOps who also interfere with you. These and just the general passage of time in the network all cause a trace counter to tick down. Once it hits zero, it stays that way, and in the next few turns you start to be directly affected: you start losing credits and soon you get a game over due to your location being exposed, unless you exit the network. You have various stealth tools that you can use to make this proceed slower, but for most of the game you still need to keep moving to avoid maxing out your trace. Some missions also have turn timers for objectives or even the whole mission, which further add to the pressure.

Overall between the narrative and mechanics this game is extremely engrossing, even addicting.

The aforementioned pressure ties into the first of my mechanical complaints about the game. That is that this game has a bit of an identity crisis in regards to permanence of your decisions and consequences. On the one hand, once you exit a mission, everything you did gets saved. Additionally, the game does not provide you with tools to facilitate chasing down multiple branches in decisions; in game there are only three save slots, even. So the game clearly wants you to play the game straight through at least the first time. On the other hand, while you are in a mission, you can roll it back to the start and even reconfigure your equipment. The actual network will be the same, although enemies that have their own turns may behave differently. This would be an accessibility feature that you could just ignore if you have more of a hardcore mentality, except that trying to play this game "blind and iron man mode" would be brutally difficult, so rolling back is sorta there to stay.

The rollback also trivializes some of the levels that are based on reading off some information from the network to determine what to do and then doing that. For example there is a level where there are numerous nodes you can tamper with, and you need to interact with some other nodes to determine which one you actually need to tamper with. Once you have the intel, you almost might as well just roll back right there, because the node you need to tamper with is going to be the same after the reload anyway, and you are likely already getting pretty low on spare trace points.

My second mechanical complaint about the game is about one of the programs you get late in the game, and what it does to the flow of a lot of the lategame levels. Earlier in the game, you can't halt the passive trace entirely. The best you could do was slow it down by 75%, and even doing that greatly limits your options. This would tend to force you to either really optimize your methodology (usually requiring lots of rollbacks) or else sacrifice some possible gains (e.g. leaving money behind). But eventually you get a program that does halt it entirely, at the expense of some drawbacks that basically boil down to "take it slow". In some levels, this is perfectly well balanced because there is something else forcing a time pressure on you besides the passive trace. But in others, it just makes things feel plodding, as you slowly move around doing every last thing the network lets you do, with absolutely no risk of anything going awry. It starts feeling like the game is refusing to acknowledge that you've already solved the level.

My last mechanical complaint is a familiar one in a lot of games: there's a morality system, in the form of "white hat" reputation and "black hat" reputation. In-universe this makes perfect sense just like what these terms mean IRL. But it has a problem which is basically the opposite of the usual problem with morality systems, which is that there is not much "tug of war" going on. There is some, as some specific actions do get remembered in your save, but in general having both black rep and white rep is useful for unlocking new stuff to buy, so it doesn't really make sense to roleplay as a white hat or black hat hacker.

Speaking of roleplaying elements, my final complaint is about the narrative/character development, and there is absolutely no way to discuss this part in any detail without some pretty massive spoilers. Shortly before the point of no return, you view an autopsy report for the actual Data. The scene makes it sound like your character is as shocked to read this as you are as the player. But shortly after the point of no return, it is revealed that you were never Data. Instead you were working for a government digital security agency on a case that your employer thinks is related to Data. In general this twist is really powerful, except it has one extremely serious flaw: unlike you, your character knew almost all of this the entire time. So that part of the twist is sort of obtained by sleight of hand only, which makes it feel kinda cheap in hindsight. In particular it makes you wonder about the meaning of your loyalty to Data's close friends Clover and Snail. It also raises the question: who is even tracing you earlier in the game? You initially have the impression that it is the police, but if the police came to talk to you in person, presumably you could just flash your credentials and send them on their way. Who it actually is seems more fuzzy with that reveal in place. This also makes the meaning of a game over (at least before the point of no return) really unclear, because surely you would pull out some kind of secret trick that runs the risk of blowing your cover rather than being killed by corporate thugs or whatever. The short and spoiler-free version of that wall of spoiler-tagged text is that there is a twist towards the end of the story that is somewhat unearned and sort of retroactively undermines some of the stuff that came before it.

I realize I just spent five paragraphs bashing this game, but it really has been one of the best games I've played in a long time. Only that last complaint actually feels like it isn't just the bad aspect of something that is both good and bad; all three of my mechanical complaints are deeply related to some of the things that make the mechanics really fun. And the story really is gripping, even with the defect I described in the spoiler.

I highly recommend it. I especially would recommend it to fans of Cultist Simulator. The theme and mechanics are both very different but it somehow scratches some very similar itches nonetheless.

I cautiously recommend this game. It's great on the whole, but there were a couple design choices which really bugged me and nearly caused me to give a thumbs down. Those two things were: the usage of RNG & the game's subsequent reliance on rollbacks (do-overs).

I'm a HUGE fan of hacking games. They are one of my favorite niche-genres of games. Generally speaking, the game play in a hacking game follows a simple formula: poke at a "server" and strip its defenses using various tools until it can be "connected to." This is often done with a time limit.

Midnight Protocol challenges this formula by translating the process into a turn based affair. In many ways, it plays like a turn based RPG. On a conceptual level, this is a cool idea. I was excited when I read about it. In practice, however, I found that it encouraged mandated save scumming. I mean this as constructively as possible - I hate this.

I'll elaborate:

When I was forced to repeat a mission in Hacknet, it was because I wasn't fast enough. The onus was on ME to improve my skills. I needed to be faster. I had all the tools, but I came up short.

When I was forced to repeat a mission in Midnight Protocol, it was because the game's RNG dealt me an objectively unwinnable scenario. The SysOp wandered into my node, or the "random" trace mechanic in Pavo's mission installed a Sundrop 10 nodes away.

This isn't interesting or engaging gameplay. I'm not learning anything, and I'm not becoming a better player. I'm just waiting for a luckier break.

Now, it would be one thing if you could "embrace failure" like you can in a game like XCOM or Rimworld - but you can't in Midnight Protocol. Most key missions actually prevent you from disconnecting until you complete your main objective. You are expected to rollback if you fail.

My next two particular criticisms were addressed in a patch on 10/18/21. Respect.

RNG isn't the only thing causing me to rollback missions. The game gives you a peek at what kind of nodes & defenses you will be up against, allowing you to choose the appropriate programs for the job. For rank & file side-missions, this generally isn't a big deal. But for some of the larger story missions, you need fairly specific loadouts to have a fighting chance. It's not uncommon for me to get 8+ turns into a mission before I find myself thinking "Yeah I can't do this without Tunnel" and rolling back.

But it gets a little worse - ICE can be hidden... and its location in missions is static. This means that after I (am forced to) rollback, I now know where the ICE is, and the mission is partially spoiled. It's up to me if I want to "pretend" not to know that.

I've spent a lot of real estate here ragging on the RNG/Rollback mechanics, but I want to reiterate that I still recommend this game.

When the RNG gods aren't busy strangling me, I actually really enjoy the turn based gameplay. It's a welcome twist on the genre that makes it feel truly different. The presentation is phenomenal (would have liked some more lively music though). And I really like the open ended narrative allowing you to chase leads & reply to emails. Simulation is an important part of hacking games, and I love the agency that the game gives us.

Well polished hacking games are an extreme rarity. There's been like... 5 since Uplink came out in 2001. I'm happy this game exists and I'm enjoying my time with it on the whole. I just wish RNG wasn't so strongly relied upon in its design.

I'm not terribly far in the game yet (4h at the time of writing), but this game definitely needs some more reviews!

As a fan of hacking games such as Uplink and Hacknet, I can only recommend Midnight Protocol. It is very different in that it takes a turn-based approach rather than real time, but this is in no way a downside.

The game is sleek, polished and the developers have clearly taken a great deal of care in putting everything together. The missions have been varied and the branching dialogue based on your actions during a run are a definite plus.

As another reviewer mentioned, because the ICE location is static, some missions are made considerably easier when you do a rollback as you'll know their location from the previous run. However, this isn't a major issue and the game gets a definite recommendation from me.

Hack the planet!

Very, very thematic game. The setting is cool and the UI is absolutely top notch. Super immersive, and the writing is pretty good. The devs are super responsive and seem dedicated which is nice with indie games.

This is definitely a story based RPG but I can't see myself replaying it much like I would a more open ended hacking game like Uplink. I know there's content I missed, but it's pretty onerous to get to it.

Why a negative review? The actual gameplay itself is pretty bland, when you boil it down. A far cry from Netrunner in that regard. You can crudely smash through a system to learn it, then "rollback" (aka restart) and play properly with your new meta knowledge. Most of the programs aren't balanced well against each other, and unless you're doing a specific run or attempting a certain build there's no reason to deviate or choose other approaches. Trace is your only real opposition, and if you can get around it (with a program like Mask) the levels are super boring as you slowly go through the motions, 2 commands at a time (followed by typing "end" each time). No hard/meaningful decisions, sacrifices, or anything that typically makes for compelling gameplay. Plus the animations are so slow when you have your next ~10-15 moves planned out and are just waiting for the game to let you do them.

And at the end of of the day I play games for the gameplay. You might be different, and so you might like it as a concise 7-9 hour story game. I certainly WANTED to like it, and am a bit sad to give it a negative. But as nice as the game looks, as cool as the devs seem, and as rare as unique hacking games are, I just can't recommend it.

It's more a strategy game than hacking, but that is not a bad thing. Lots of strategic options, and you really have to do some planning. Often, you need to sacrifice some goal to reach another, sometimes even right in the middle of a "mission". That keeps things fresh.

This is my first entry into hacking games. Super atmospheric thanks to amazing UI/graphics, music and storytelling. The gameplay mechanic is based around turn-based strategic decisions. So far I've completed only 4h of game time but I absolutely recommend to try it out, based on what I've played so far. Best surprise of the year for me.
I'll post more after some more time with the game.

This is easily the best hacking themed game I've played. Very clearly inspired by Netrunner and classic cyberpunk. Highly recommend!

This is a superbly designed, highly satisfying and truly absorbing game in which even a technophobe can enjoy the thrill and empowerment of learning to hack their way though a gripping storyline. The graphics and interface are a pure delight and, being a turn-based game, you can plan your strategies at your own pace before diving onwards. I've been playing and replaying the demo on and off over the past year and I'm pleased to say that the full game exceeds all expectations. Highly recommended to anyone with the least interest in the hacking genre, and I already consider this a classic.

Solid recommendation.

Simply said; the game game does everything right. You have a great, but often underutilized theme, mixed with well-thought out gameplay and a thorough story that combined all aspects of narrative twists, emotional investment, tension and epicness perfectly.

Bonus points for successfully managing to create a VERY well playable keyboard-only game (it's amazingly intuitive and pragmatic), and making the game so freakin immersing it successfully pulled off a 4th wall break (no further details, because spoilers).

There are some minor gripes, such as the inherent rng occasionally forcing you to restart a map through no fault of your own, or the limited length of content (~10 hours, but I actually think I'll replay this to see what 'the dark side' of the storyline has to offer).

But beyond that, I'd legitimately give this game the title 'best hacking game I've yet seen'.
Recommendation: 9/10. Must have for anyone with interest in the topic, and a no-brainer buy if it ever goes on sale.

Hacking games are among my favorites. Making one into a sort of hybrid RPG and turn-based strategy game was a good idea, and the execution is solid. I have a pretty low frustration threshold for games - I play everything on easy mode if it's available - but despite that and the fact I don't have much experience with strategy games, this one didn't ever make me angry. I will say the difficulty curve feels a bit awkward, as I found the most challenging mission by far to be one that happens before you head into the climax. It's followed by several really easy ones, and the final boss fight was also surprisingly quick and easy. Not a big complaint, but something to be aware of.

I liked the visual style of the game, with the sparse "digital game board" and its glowing TRON-ish aesthetic, the Hollywood Hacking style console readouts, error messages and the like, the single-color wireframe models for enemies and traps, and the pleasing, sleek UI of the terminal you use between missions. The music was also great and fit the theme perfectly. The keyboard-only controls were easy to pick up, and since the game doesn't require quick inputs or reflexes, they don't hinder playability.

The RPG elements were a bit hit-or-miss for me - a lot of the available upgrades or programs seemed fairly worthless, and I settled into ones I liked and stuck with them for the most part. Sometimes you will need a specific tool for a certain mission, and thankfully the game lets you restart any mission and change your loadout at any point. While some elements of the gameplay are randomized, things like trap placement and passwords you need to know aren't, so even if you fail a mission you usually learn something useful to remember on your next attempt. There is definitely some trial and error necessary, but it wasn't enough to bother me.

The game does offer a branching storyline, and it keeps track of and displays relevant decisions, but it wasn't always clear to me that I actually had a choice. I liked it enough that I'll probably try replaying it to make different choices and see some of the content I missed, but it was a little disappointing on occasion to feel like I was railroaded into doing something when I apparently could have gone a different route.

The plot is fine, but nothing particularly original or special. If you've played sci-fi hacking games before you're going to notice a lot of similar or recycled story elements, and none of the twists really surprised me. I didn't have the same sense of high stakes or tough moral decisions that I had in Hacknet, for example. Still, it was decently interesting as a complement to the gameplay.

If this seems like the sort of thing you might be interested in, I definitely recommend giving it a go. It's a well-put-together title in this little subgenre that may be a bit samey in narrative and visuals but offers a different and interesting take on the gameplay concepts.

Android Netrunner fans will be glad to see hacking, decks, ICE breakers and mean ICEs (and counter Sysops) in action. the hacking is series of hacking puzzles with increasing complexity.

yet the game and its bland email story telling fails the create the immersion you need to continue to play. Fuerthermore the simple hacking UI gets repetitive if not boring very fast. the game lacks the complexity of NITE Team4 puzzles and its real world experiences.

try it and play it till boredom kills you.

> portscanner

Midnight Protocol is a turn-based strategy/puzzle game. You role-play a hacktivist, Data. You build your own deck, interact with NPCs, and advance through the main & side missions. Think twice since your actions will impact both your reputation and the story. I really enjoy the UI, the keyboard-only controls, and how immersive it is. Everything is carefully designed in the sense that I do “feel” like a hacker.

If you are on the fence about it, try the demo; the game will speak for itself. Keep in mind that the demo is essentially a tutorial to show the basic mechanics. You will have more freedom in the actual gameplay, using a bunch of software (active skills) and hardware (passive skills) to approach the missions in different ways.

Kudos to the devs for creating such amazing and unique game!

> end

Gotten to one ending so far. Love the gameplay style and the story, but it did lead to me having a paranoia-induced panic attack or two. Can trigger derealization and identity-related paranoia issues. Not regretting playing, but it may have been nice to have some form of content warning for those topics too. 9/10.

Developers were inspired by Android: Netrunner, which is an amazing card game. It's really fun playing the missions experimenting with different loadouts allowing for creative gameplay.

So far so good, might update when I play a little more.

This game is a nice breath of fresh air, new concept, looks cool, challenging, definitely a thinking mans game. 10/10

Never had this much fun with hacking game since Uplink. A bit different take on the genre, and well done.

This game can actually make me feel smart without me having to actually be smart, it's perfect! But seriously, this is a pretty good hackerman game, buy it on sale.

I don't have many games in my library - I'm quite picky in my tastes. I'm not usually one for hacking games but the Demo left me wanting more. After 22 enjoyable hours, I'm evidently happy to have added this game in my library. I waited to give this revieuw untill I finished the story for the first time - It will certainly not be the last. I'll take some time to revieuw a few aspects of the game that might interest you most:

Gameplay/Mechanics: 8/10
A game is nothing without gameplay, and a hacking game sets a promise: it will not be just 'a game' - but one with depth, complexity, and decision making. To achieve this, Midnight protocol structures its gameplay around levels that feel like a labyrinth or puzzle. A Digital dungeon, if you will. To get around the various obstacles such as firewalls, encrypted nodes and 'antagonistic' system operators that chase you down you get access to hardware you can tailor to your playstyle, as well as a host of programs each with their own up- and downsides. You quickly learn how to balance them carefully, using fairly easy commands to allocate memory to the programs you need in order to finish the level. Suffice to say, Midnight protocol nails the hacker-feel you'll expect. It is not all roses and sunshine of course - there is quite a reliance on RNG to many of the mechanics of the game that can make you second guess your decisions while they are actually fine, or save you when you know you had no right to make it. Aside from that, i found myself at times trying a level, finding where the hidden obstacles were, and avoiding them alltogether once I got to reload the level. This was- at times-unavoidable, and felt wrong. I've since noticed that these hidden obstacles are slightly randomized, at least in some levels, which alleviated this somewhat. Perhaps the developers could not just list potential ICE, but also include a map at the beginning of the mission (once you enter a mission you see the layout anyway, except in rare instances), that does not show the obstacles, but layout of the nodes beforehand. With this information I feel I personally would not have had to reload to adapt my strategy as much as I did.

Story 9/10
An RPG without a story is not really an RPG at all, now is it?
The game starts you off as a hacker released after a while in custody. You reunite with a few old friends who help you get back into the swing of things, and in doing so, ease you into the virtual world.
I have to admit I struggled a little bit accepting this game as an RPG at first. Sure there was a fairly engaging story, but I didn't feel I had much say in it. This luckily changed a while after passing the tutorial missions.
The story was believable and fun for a while, Untill a brilliant twist that immediately reframed all my desisions I had made beforehand. And this is the reason I very much want to play again, making diffrent choices alltogether. This is even before the positively thrilling 'endgame ' that kept me up for hours after I should really have just gone to bed (They really made that 'hacker-in-a-dark-room thing work). I needed to KNOW - needed to SEE - and most importantly, I had a mission to complete. In short, the the story might feel sparse in the beginning, but it slowly builds into a memorable and spectacular experience I am glad to have had.

User Interface 6.5/10
Yes, i couldn't pick a 6 or a 7. I spent quite a while debating what score to give the UI.
at first, it is a little jarring. not unreadable or inaccessible at all, but it CAN be hard to navigate. outside of missions. In addition, it can be easy to lose track of things if you've stopped playing for a moment and come back. This of course comes in part down to the decision to do away with a cursor and tie everything to the keyboard. Regardless of my grievances, I do not thing they should have gone for any other input - it is part of the charm and feeling.The game does give you the ability to move things around for the gamepay in-levels, for which i personall found little need to do but is a nice touch. If the 'mails' could be ordered somehow, like how i can do i nan actual mailbox i would very quickyl change the score, but as someoen who tried making games themselves i can see how this would be a huge time- and-money sink for relatively little gain. The UI is defenitely functional as is, and just takes a slight bit of getting used to.

With this said, the revieuw is already quite lengthy, and i think i did touch on the most important points. In summary, this game is very much worth it's full price - That's probably selling it short. I'm glad I didn't have to pay more - but I would have.

tl;dr: Game is pretty sweet, definitely worth a try if you like Uplink and Hacknet!

I'm always on the hunt for good hacking games on Steam, so when I saw Midnight Protocol, I just had to get it.
Turn based games usually put me off, however the devs really ironed this mechanic out and it gives you a good amount of breathing room to plan out your next steps.

Having played Uplink (With Uplink OS), Hacknet, Grey Hack and Hackmud, I felt right at home with this game. Granted, it doesn't try to be what Grey Hack or Hackmud are (especially due to the lack of multiplayer) but I gotta say it really captures the classic atmosphere of Uplink and the vibe of Hacknet.

I guess the only negative point here would be the soundtrack, while it is definitely pretty good, it'd be cooler to have a bit more variety in tracks. Having a music player app of some sorts might also be cool.

The network intrusion happens by accepting a mission and moving from node to node, some you can interface with and some are just normal connection nodes. On the way to whatever target you have, you gotta evade enemy admins, maneuver around (or break through) ICE and make sure you don't get fully traced.
To achieve all this, Midnight Protocol offers a good amount of programs that you can load onto your deck (kinda like your skillbar in an RPG), which allows for some really cool experimentation.

What I love the most about this game though is how active the developers are engaged with the community, big shoutout to y'all.

All in all, you should definitely give this game a try if you liked Uplink and Hacknet, if the devs keep at it, it'll have a very bright future ahead.

If you've ever played the CCG/LCG Netrunner, you'll feel right at home. Game feels like a tense puzzle, the story and side-plots are interesting and engaging, and it's overall a great experience... albeit with some minor frustrations, which others have already pointed out. The very nature of the game makes it prone to RNG frustrations, and removing that would make it a matter of rote memorization to retry and complete each level.

Despite the occasional frustration, though, the game is extremely immersive, very satisfying, and one I can heartily recommend. Seriously, if you liked Netrunner, you'll definitely enjoy this. Also look out for the Onitama easter egg.

This game is awesome, in many ways. It's got a great storyline, which changes according to your choices, a perfect soundtrack, and it brings such immersivity I've never experienced before! I've completed this game 3 times, my best save has 13 hours playtime. I'm hyped for the sequel and/or DLC.

You really don't know how to make video games. This "game" is not fun at all just like error unknown

I won't talk much about the gameplay as many other reviews have already touched on it. It's also just been released, so there are definitely a few balance adjustments that will be coming.

What I will talk about is the visual and audio design of Midnight Protocol, and how they mesh so beautifully well together to immerse you into the game world. Although the store screenshots may look simplistic, still pictures don't do justice for the overall atmosphere of the game. The developers play around with different themes as you progress through the game, and on one level even incorporate a narration reminiscent of a storyteller.

There are also easter eggs and some real world detective work that you can do, which were intended to supplement the core gameplay and fits seamlessly into the hacking/puzzle aspect of it.

Last of all the story is also an element that is woven into the very heart, and elevates it from simply being a puzzle game. As you settle in and begin to learn more about your past and friends, everything flips itself on the head. You begin to question yourself, and it slowly starts to make sense in hindsight. After I finished a playthrough, I was simply wowed by all of the little details that went into the game.

If you like a story driven puzzle game, then this is definitely for you. The quality and polish is exceptional, and it will even potentially a game playable for years if mod support arrives (which the developers are considering depending on the reception). As it stands, it's a complete single player experience that is worth every penny of the price.

Having played just about every hacking game under the sun, I played this less than two hours and I can clearly tell it's very promising. The keyboard-only interface is well crafted and refreshing. The initial missions have very clearly laid out tutorials that ease you into the various tools (and don't forget to type 'help *' if you should forget details).

Not being a fan of other time-based/stressful approaches, I greatly appreciate the developers' choice of going turn-based, making it all vastly more strategical. Here's to hoping this franchise will prosper, and a strong recommendation for all hacking game fans who may be turned off by annoying timers elsewhere.

I found this game just before it launched. Played the demo and was very much intriged. Then bought it on release, and it hasn't let me down yet :D

It's a keyboard only game, it gives an immersive story, via a hacking game. So you have to hack all these systems and come across several firewalls, system operators, stories, side-stories and assignments, upgrade your software and hardware, etc.

All the while it still remains very much accessible and doable. This makes it in my book a very fun and immersive game. I love the setting (hacking and tech) and the story telling is done right. Graphics are well done for such a game.

In short, I am really enjoying this and highly recommend it. Especially looking at the price and number of hours that are easily spent on exploring all the stories and side-stories.

great game, only one problem. I really wish there was a profanity filter mainly because the characters love to swear, great game otherwise 9/10

I am so happy that I bought it, it deserves my money. I really enjoyed playing it and didn't realize how time flies. I love typing on the keyboard, especially when playing this game quickly, using the keyboard is really fun! I definitely recommend ^^

An enjoyable strategy puzzler with a perfectly weighted difficulty curve and solid tutorial. For an 80's kid like me, this feels like a throwback to the text based adventure games that were a thing on the ZX Spectrum. The story is interesting, if a little brief. I would have liked to see a little more depth to the character's back stories too. The game ran perfectly on Linux on an ancient potato of a PC.

A really well constructed turn-based game with your keyboard as your only weapon which is also a nice idea. There are programs that act like cards and hardware improvements that act like passive boosters. The amount of options allow you to take different approach on levels as well as moral choices because different paths unlock different stuff. Really enjoyed every minute played. It could have used better OST though.

This game has been on my wishlist since I first tried out the demo at the Gameforce 2019 expo and I bought it almost as soon as it released. Gotta say, it was worth the wait imo. If you liked Hacknet but wanted a bit more action-ey gameplay, then this will be right up your alley. Or if, like me, you want to feel like a hacker while not knowing anything about actual hacking itself.

Really interesting gameplay using the keyboard only. MIssions and story are pretty fun!

Kind of good game. It's nothing related to the hacking, but give you a feel of the hacker's life. It seems quite simple, but I am somewhere in the middle of game I guess, so it's possible the difficulty will raise yet. Nice free time game.

Very innovative and unexpected hacking game.

Netrunner-esque "hacking" simulator in a GUI environment. Very cool concept and execution. Gives a feeling that you are actively involved in a dystopian 2060's hacktivism adventure. Would like to see more options for backgrounds and maybe a toolbar showing what programs are in the deck during hacks. Storyline is interesting and hardware/software choices are great, makes sure you plan your next attack with forethought. Best psuedo-hacking game I have played so far. Keyboard only interface is neat idea.

I really like this game.

I saw this game being played on a livestream, but I was afraid to try it as I have no coding/hacking experience at all. This is also my first game of this genre.
The game teaches you easily how to play, so it was immediately enjoyable. I have no regrets buying it.

The artwork and UI is very nice and neat.

It's overall a very good "hacking" simulation... perhaps the best I've seen so far.

I'm an IT security professional, and I appreciate the 'flavor'; but if you're looking for something technically accurate, well this is not. But I do think it captures the 'spirit' of things (I'm still in the beginning, so I'll update this later if it lets me.)

Two things it's missing: scripting (w variables & functions; dev's if you need help testing this, I'm up for it 😎), & the Esc is mapped 'wrong' if you're actually a keyboard warrior. 😋

Great turn-based strategy game with good story. Reminds me of Uplink. Really great graphics and art!

Nice setting for an strategygame.

Very fun game. Has turned based elements, and you do not use the mouse for the game, just keyboard. It's easy to understand, but hard to master.

I really enjoyed this game.
I purchased it on a whim, and I find myself playing it every so often.
It reminds me a lot of the hacking games that came before it, and story-wise I think it's pretty good so far.

I think it's definitely worth the price, but even better when on sale.
I do find some of the RNG mechanics a little strange, but now with the new updates where you can use the time-based mechanics more, I think it brings a bit more urgency.

Note: I have not played since launch

Get this game. It's not for everyone, but it being difficult is part of the game - you will need to restart levels a few times, but that is expected.

You might have to play around, learn what situations to use certain things, but it is a fun game. I recommend that you get it - it's the perfect price point.

okay i did NOT expect to have so much fun playing this game. A very subtle burn that can lead to adrenaline pumping hacking action while always being strategic. Definitely worth trying out.

An absolutely delightful love letter to classic hacker games, with an engaging plot to boot.

This game is special one! I've been looking so long for something
that could scratch my itch from playing Netrunner, since it became
out of print at 2017, specially when my LGS (and most of them)
keep supporting heavily mtg and Pokémon TCG..

When I play Midnight Protocol, I feel like I'm the Runner, but in a
realistic way, like "real-life" runner, when you have tools at your
hand whenever you need, and your work is to manage them wisely.
I'm still at the beginning, but maybe it would be awesome if you can
be the "Corp", in other words, a mode that you can hunt the runner
like the Virtual SysCon "Playground" environments AI.

I give this a wholehearted recommendation, and specially the game
that inspired the designers, that is, Android Netrunner (or Netrunner)
through jinteki online platform.
Congratulations to developers on bringing their vision of that into
Midnight Protocol, outstanding work!

A fantastic hacker game, with much-updated visuals that still evoke the feelings of tackling LANs in the venerable Uplink. Skirts the border between hacking sim and puzzle game, as there are no free-form missions, but there are many many optional missions to get lost in, and the bespoke design of those missions make for fun and varied challenges that can't easily be matched by proc gen.

While it feels quite restrictive at first, as the game opens up, the variety of hardware and software you can equip allows you to mold your playstyle, though some missions require speed, forcing you to mix it up if you were going for a slow, steady, silent approach. Vice versa applies for the rapid movers as well.

The story is well told, with a small, but interesting cast of characters, fascinating cyberpunk themes, and some moments of real heart in the mix.

Highly recommended if you find the "hacker" genre at all appealing.

Nice background story and great game in general. Would recommend. Even if you are not familiar with programming or have no hacking skills you will be able to play the game. Looking forward to more stuff from the developer.

A fair warning: This game is highly addictive.
One of the best Hacking games there is...

The randomness that governs the trace mechanic makes the puzzles more frustrating than fun to solve when using stealth strategies.

UI decisions make collating the information the puzzles give you very difficult (e.g. to guess a password from a data node, first you have to open the data command, memorize your guess, close the data command, then input your guess). Similarly, email conversations aren't viewable in mission.

The core seems like it could be fun, but the frustrations detract too much.

As a software engineering instructor I can confidently state that this is not a hacking or terminal simulator. This is absolutely a wonderful little strategy game with an obscene amount of polish and beautiful hacking scenery and theming in place. The procedural music is surreal and I'm in love with the animation and pure attention to detail. Just make sure you're not expecting this game to translate into any real-world knowledge and you'll have a blast here. I love what this team did and they deserve your money and you deserve the playing experience.

This game deserves significantly more attention

Awesome puzzle/strategy/brain teasing narrative that I'm thoroughly enjoying would 100% recommend to anyone looking for something different and immersive. The only way Midnight Protocol could get better is if it added multiplayer now that would be awesome, build your own network and break into other players networks I could see this going online multiplayer for sure. Awesome job Iceberg will certainly be keeping an eye on you guys for the future!!

Android: Netrunner : The Video Game. Is good!

This is a game that while via screenshots, doesn't look like much, is a very very cool unique take on the "hacking" genre. It's entirely keyboard driven, and while that may feel like a hindrance, it actually adds to the game's immersion. All controls are well thought out and seamless, and there's no awkward switching between mouse and keyboard like many typical games might do.

The gameplay itself is a little bit puzzle and a healthy dose of turn based tactics. There's some RNG involved, and while you can't save scum individual moves, restarting a level is quick and painless, so if you really get boned by RNG (rare but could happen), you don't feel bad giving it another shot.

Honestly, it feels like XCOM in how it feels to do well (or poorly), getting a few lucky dice rolls, or missing a few 90% shots, but there's usually enough wiggle room baked in that it doesn't ruin your run.

There's also a cool RPG-ish element of progression. As you get further, you buy new programs and hardware to customize your abilities. Do you want to be stealthy and slow? Do you want to be fast and brash? Do you need a sniper program to deal with a long range enemy, or one that helps you open additional paths from a distance to skirt a danger?

On top of all that, the presentation is much slicker in game than screenshots may reveal. Everything is cohesive in feel, animated in a flashy, but appropriate manner. The sound effects and music are very hacker feeling and enjoyable.

Finally, there's actually a story! I'm still going through it, so I can't comment on its entire arc, but it involves you working with friends to accomplish various goals, and there's a range of personal crisis, professional concerns, morality. It actually feels somewhat real, like you're actually emailing other people, and it adds some reasons to what you're doing.

All in all, an unusual game that's well worth playing.

A hacking turn-based tactical game.
Its style is somewhat similar to hacking minigame in Deus Ex, but it is turn-based and significantly more complex. You have to navigate a grid of nodes, populated with ICE and sometimes hostile operators, while being traced by the system. There are many possible playstyles - from more cautious stealth oriented to quick, aggressive and dirty. These are also depending on loadout of your cyberdeck - both hardware and software. Managing limited number of actions in a turn, CPU slices for running programs and the system trace is the core of the strategy. And it is all exclusively controled by a very well implemented command line. The missions themselves are quite varied, sometimes even multi-phase, the special mention goes to the side quest styled as DnD dungeon adventure.
On the strategic level you can choose missions and sometimes branch the story, participate in challenges and obtain programs and hardware to customize your deck. Some of the programs are useful only in a limited circumstances, while others are trusted universal tools. You are well advised to adapt your deck according to intel about the next mission. The story is quite interesting, heavy with cyberpunk and dystopian themes. Even side missions offer interesting look into the world. All of this is told using e-mails and text documents.
The graphics and sound are clean and minimal, fitting with the setting. Sometimes music mixes in to support the change of atmosphere.
It is a fresh concept and I recommend it for fans of cyberpunk and tactical/stealh games.

Midnight Protocol is modern "computer hacker" in the vein of Uplink from 2001, and has a delightful cross between "hollywood computer hacking" and actual programming. The game requires no computer skills, and is turn based story rich puzzle.

The graphics and sound work are top notch for the genre, and the story was actually amazing. There is a point in the middle, which I will not spoil and strongly suggest you play the game blind to avoid spoiling that seriously surprised me in a great way.

15$ for a 30ish hour well told story with solid gameplay, if all of my steam purchases were half this good. Major recommendation.

Neat game, it does feel a bit like the 1980s Neuromancer game (you can get 'warez and upgrade it and stuff. But also it's own game and I enjoy it.

I don't write reviews very often but this game deserves one. Midnight Protocol is an accessible hacker game where it really makes you feel like you are hacking without having to have all the technical know-how. You input commands into a terminal (via keyboard, how novel!) but there are not so many as to feel overwhelming. In fact a few basic commands are designed to make it as transparent as possible (such as 'deck' which will remind you what you have equipped). Some programs also have options and a simple 'help' command will remind you how to input them. The game really hits the sweetspot with accessibility and it also has nice ambiance and interesting story line.

I enjoyed the variety of programs and deck hardware to choose from though i found some quite powerful, some quite situational, and some unnecessary but there is a lot of fun in figuring that out for yourself. While early on i used the standard 'cloak' and 'dagger' everyone starts with, i evolved my strategy to use 'mask' which is powerful but slow but wound up enjoying using 'onion' the most. Combine that with the hardware that gives a modest stealth boost and see what happens! Takes some discipline though.

I also randomly and luckily equipped 'Ace' and 'King' in the hack where it is needed the most. It made the hack a breeze but I couldn't think of needing these programs in any other hack. As I said, quite situational. But the game is quite forgiving and as long as you have a program or piece of hardware in your inventory, you can easily rollback the hack and re-equip what you need to start that hack over.
The rollback feature may make the game even a little too easy but with that said, i found the game engaging and rare for me, something i concentrated on completing before i got distracted by my next game! My main criticism of the game may be that, while i don't want to go into detail and spoil it, there were components of the plot i didn't like. Let's just say it was controversial. But overall the meaningful side quests and decisions that you make but come back to help or haunt you help make the overall experience quite fun.

I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in the hacking universe and good story telling (all revealed via email). As I write this i even have to remember i have a mouse I can use and don't have to only use the keyboard! Enjoy!

"You guys who live in Realspace; you move so slow. Me, I like Netspace. It moves fast. You don't get old, you don't get slow and sloppy. You just leave the meat behind and go screamin'. First system I ever hit, I think they had some weeflerunner playin' Sysop for them. I burned in, and jolted the guy with a borrowed Hellbolt, and did the major plunder action all over the Data Fortress."

- Spider Murphy

Incredibly boring. Supposed to be 2060 or something,but you have screen shaking and flickering like you're using a 1980s monitor (luckily, this can be switched off). 90% of the interface is ugly greyscale. Plays a bit like Uplink in that you are "connected" to the computers in the game world, except mouse is disabled. Keyboard only. But your default screen is a GUI, so instead of clicking icons you hit the corresponding keys.
Hacking isn't much better, you move from node to node, run any programs you have equipped (max five for some reason) while taking turns between you and the trace program. Trace increases and when it hits max, bad things happen to you. Turn based means the typing commands makes zero sense, because your (in)ability to type quickly and correctly has zero impact on the game.
Seems there's a story there, but I'm not sticking around to find out. Refunded.

Very cool game, I'm surprised it hasn't gotten more attention yet. It's more of a turn-based tactical puzzle hacking game. Lots of different programs (skills) and hardware (passive upgrades), lots of missions with different challenges and a pretty cool story so far. I haven't finished it yet and I'm already hoping they add more content at some point.

Oh my ... what an awesome game.
Absolutely glorious.

It has been a very very long time since I had so much fun.
What an absolute blast.

This game isn't part of the Shadowrun universe, but does a remarkably good job of creating an experience that -feels like- being a decker.

Typing!? Yep and it's good too.
"Worth it at full price!" My neighbor
-Delicious cyberquirk.
"What's a hacking game?" everyone

Considering an interest in any kind of hacking game expect not to have your hand held. Gameplay elements unfold smoothly along the difficulty curve. A refreshingly European flavored story evolves on beat each chapter. Without the use of a mouse and limited keyboard commands the world feels minimalistic, and that's a good thing. Simple is better in Midnight Protocol, which leaves me struggling to complain.

Midnight Protocol has a lot of tricks up its sleeve and it doesn't mind showing you. With more options than is strictly necessary for any task players can feel in control of this hacking adventure. This game doesn't exist in a vacuum and contains terminology that is more than familiar to amatuer cyber sleuths seeking answers in Midnight Protocol

If you are easily frustrated, this may not be your game.

When people talk about the power of indie video games, they mean games like this one. A tight turn-based strategy game underpins a well-written story with a branching narrative and compelling characters. The overall length of the game at 20 hours was, for me, absolutely perfect. This is a rare game where I picked it up on a discount and find myself angry I didn't pay more for the experience.

The game itself is about you, a hacker returning from a year of incarceration with a need to know what sent you there. Along the way, you breech systems in a turn-based strategy game similar to Invisible, Inc. Whereas in that game you play physical agents, in this one you play a digital representation ripped straight out of cyberpunk fiction like Neuromancer. Customize your deck with new chips so you can slot more programs and be prepared for some visual surprises - while the game plays true to form with the genre, it manages to break expectations any time the game begins to feel stale.

My biggest complaints (and they are fairly minor) are around the customizations. I felt like the deck you have has just a few too few viable options or that some choices didn't really seem plausible. For instance, you have the expected upgrades, such as more "slices" to run more programs at once, or memory capacity to slot more programs into your deck, but you also have a bunch of upgrades which feel pretty pointless. I tried one that was supposed to give you more credits (trailing a crimson thread behind you and incentivizing exploring a network more deeply) but the core upgrades are so important, there's not room for fanciful choices such as these. That said, there are actually enough choices that I did have to rearrange both my hardware and software to overcome levels, and that felt like I was making smart choices.

I will have to find time for another play-through now that I have a better sense of the story, and so I can capture all the easter eggs buried in this passion project. I hope someday we get a Midnight Protocol 2 in the same universe, though perhaps with different characters. And to the creators, thank you for bringing this story to life.

entertaining with an enjoyable sound track

Very enjoyable hacking sim, tactical turn-based gameplay, music good as well.

Overall good except for poor Chinese localization.

Absolutely loving this game. This is an absolute winner for anyone who enjoys open-ended puzzlers.

Interface
This game is a sleeper for people who like to dig for secrets and immerse themselves in a story.

Very fun TBS gameplay and addictive story. You really do not need to know much or anything about hacking to play and enjoy, I know nothing about it and I was fluent within a couple of hours of playing. I love games where choices matter and you can decide the path and morals your character can take and this is one of them too. Great game!

Great game, if you into puzzles and all that hacking aesthetic.

You know, I almost think that the Indiepocalypse was a good thing. Before, you could release a pretty mediocre, unpolished experience and you'd still sell a bunch of copies. Now devs are scrambling to have absolutely all elements of the game adjusted to perfection... and have only 116 reviews on Steam. So there's a bunch of sublime, absolutely excellent titles on Steam which nobody plays, and the dev's life is ruined. Ok, that's not very nice actually.

Midnight Protocol is one of those games. It manages to reproduce the *feeling* of hacking while making the gameplay incredibly engaging, and tells a gripping, morally challenging story about the future of the internet and the reality of hacktivism. Just beware: this game is played using keyboard only, by typing commands. No time pressure, tho.

To explain the gameplay a bit more: it's nothing like other hacking games like Uplink; in fact it's unlike anything, full stop. It's a tactical turn-based "network crawler" in which you constantly try to avoid getting traced while trying to complete the mission objective (usually activate some node, or steal money, or download a piece of data).

You'll have to deal with firewalls (ICEs), SysOps, and the unrelenting trace protocol which ticks every turn. And you're never 100% safe from it; it will get you eventually. But if you rush too much, you might run into firewalls, or alert the SysOp to your presence. So it becomes a constantly changing game of resource and risk management.

And the stakes are high. There are some routine, insignificant missions, yes. But the majority ask interesting questions about morality of technology, ask you to consider your principles, and some are literally about someone's life and death... and perhaps even more. That, combined with the ever ticking trace protocol, drive the tension through the roof - your brain is always at 100% processing while playing this; never a dull moment.

Of course, you're given a set of tools to accomplish your goals. Your deck - programs you bring with you on a mission, as well as your hardware - passive bonuses. As you progress, you unlock new pieces, which often you also have to buy, and money's tight early on. And while the hardware gives you a clear advantage, the new programs aren't necessarily better; everything comes with a cost. And it's up to you to construct a deck which minimises the cost but maximises the advantage, all while keeping an eye on what is best for this particular mission.

Of particular note is the music in this game. It breaks seemingly all rules of sensible design by having essentially two tracks playing for the majority of the game. One for "normal" missions, and one for more important ones. In the latter, as the trace bar slowly but surely fills, the music is becoming more and more intense. This takes the already sky-high feeling of tension and launches it into the outer orbit.

To wrap things up, writing. It's way better than I thought it would be. The story is coherent, has constant twists and turns, keeps you in its grip, and makes excellent usage of the Chekhov's Gun. It's also unique because it's a hacking story that takes place in the EU in the 2060s - and it's a very believable representation. Your character resides in Budapest, but other European cities also make an appearance, such as Berlin with it's tech hub.

If you're wondering why I only wrote good things, it's because I can't really think of anything bad. And my standards are high. If anything, I'm very displeased that the game has only 116 reviews at the time of writing, indicating it didn't sell very well; I'm hoping I convinced you to help fix that problem a little. Enjoy!

fun
good length
nice variety of build options in regards to the upgrades of your deck and the programs you choose to load
story was decent
writing was good and none of the npcs infodump at you

my favourite hacking themed game since uplink (although fyi gameplay wise they are very different)

Innovative gameplay that manages to be intricate and elegant. Interesting story with overlapping mysteries. Highly recommend

Very fun! Good balance of choices-matter narrative and turn-based tactical ~combat. Enjoyed the story very much. Made extensive use of the "." and TAB shortcuts.

On the short side but the story is very engaging and content is extremly polished. It is a gem.

Great "hackers" game. Puzzles and strategy with heist mechanics. Casual pacing and solid entertainment.

Midnight Protocol is an all right game that feels like it's one step away from worth recommending in every department.

Mechanically, using only keyboard commands winds up being more of a hindrance than an asset. So much targeting and movement could be done easier and quicker if the player was just allowed to click. Everything is already set up into a nice modern-looking GUI with discrete locations to mouse over and select. You just can't do that, and have to type anyway.

As for the puzzles and difficulty, there are a few interesting challenges over the course of the game, but for the most part you are handled powerful enough tools that you rarely have to think very hard. There's also a lot of downtime while enemy turns and animations slowly play out, which means that even if you know the next ten moves you'll want to make, actually executing them can be tedious.

Plot-wise, the game sets up a specific narrative and conflict you will eventually become embroiled in and resolve, but it's a little light on motivations for the player to actually get invested. The story feels like it mostly depends on a couple big surprise twists to do the legwork, but without grounding the player before and after them, it doesn't feel like enough to make a great story.

Maybe if there was an absolute banger OST, or the solutions to the puzzles could get really really crazy, that would be enough to push the game over the cusp of greatness. As presented though, it feels overall a bit underwhelming.

Let me start off by saying that this game is way better than Uplink. (Despite being somewhat inspired by it)

Midnight Protocol is a turn-based strategy game with some RPG elements. The game is 100% played on your keyboard and you type the commands that you want to perform while moving around a board. Commands range from offensive or stealth, with a multitude of types to choose from and while navigating the board, you are destroying/avoiding antivirus programs called ICE as well as security system admins called Sys ops. While it might not sound like much at first, the gameplay is a solid, intense and addictive experience.

The story and characters in Midnight Protocol are enthralling, and kept me constantly guessing as to what was going to happen next. To be brief, you are a reputable hacker named DATA taking on jobs for people from all walks of life. Your jobs range from hacking into banks, planting evidence, and deleting evidence of infidelity off of some couples' iCloud to prevent some idiot's divorce. (No, seriously.)

One thing that this game handles very well, in my opinion, is choice. In almost every mission, you are given a choice that affects your moral standing in the game' s world. The game measures your choices and you have 3 meters: White hat (Good), Black hat (Bad), Gray hat (Morally grey). A nice touch considering that hackers in this world (as well as somewhat in our own) are considered to be modern day outlaws. A good chunk of your choices are meaningful for the ending, and almost none are easy which I think is where this game really shines.

To get into negatives, there is a warning when you open the game that tells you that the game is controlled solely through the keyboard. That's completely understandable the first time you launch the game, but not every time. There’s also no way to turn this off for some reason to my knowledge and it became pretty annoying after launching the game for the first time. Another negative I wanted to mention is that there is a MAJOR difficulty spike towards the end of the game. Having things get harder towards the end of a game makes absolute sense, but it felt like the game’s difficulty curve went from an incline to a straight up 90 degree angle.

To conclude, I wanted to leave this great game a review seeing as how it doesn’t have enough of them and definitely deserves a bit more love.

4/5

10 out of 10. Fantastic story. If you enjoyed Hacknet/Uplink definitely worth picking up.

Midnight Protocol is a great way to relax if you want to get away from realism and just enjoy the style.
If I wanted realism, I'd go to HackTheBox or TryHackMe and actually mess around with real-world stuff. But if I want enough of an abstraction of the activity of hacking, Midnight Protocol gives me that.
One drawback is that I find the soundtrack to be a bit dour, but it's really a small criticism. It's a great soundtrack, I just think that other hacking games have a more "upbeat" feel to them, and it would be the perfect complement. There's not enough energy and tension in the music, but this is a really forgivable shortcoming.
I also enjoy the classic names given to the hacking tools, it gives it a really "gamey" feel that reminds me of the card game "Android: Netrunner". I'm not here for deep technical stuff, I just want enough there to remind me of hacking without it actually being hacking. If my hacking tool is an actual flurry of swords breaking down an actual wall, that's fine with me.
If you want realism, get a subscription or a free account on TryHackMe or HackTheBox. But if you want a nice little hacking game that's pretty fun that gives you plenty of strategic moments, play this game.