Squally

Squally
N/A
Metacritic
75
Steam
49.5
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$24.99
Release date
6 November 2018
Developers
Publishers
Steam reviews score
Total
75 (98 votes)

Squally is a 2D puzzle RPG programming game that teaches you how to hack. Control the world by rewriting it in x86/x64 assembly language!

Show detailed description

Squally system requirements

Minimum:

  • OS: Windows XP
  • Memory: 512 MB RAM
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m4ra
m4ra

I've been wanting to learn more about Assembly for years now. I will usually try to find a course somewhere or watch a few videos on Assembly but many times even getting started feels overwhelming. I heard about this game recently and thought it sounded like an easy and fun way to start learning more about low-level computer programming.

I really like this game. The story and characters are quirky and the "hacking" mechanic is implemented in a way that isn't jarring and doesn't pull you out of the gaming experience. The story of you learning the "magic of altering reality" suits the game very well and it has kept me motivated to keep on playing. It feels like the skills you learn while playing have a purpose beyond just defeating the enemies before you.

I really like how the game introduces assembly instructions and shows you ways to manipulate them to achieve different effects in world of the game. The pace is nice and slow and I haven't felt overwhelmed at any point. The Discord community is fairly active so once you complete the game, you can find resources there to help you continue learning more.

I have also really fallen for the Hexus card game. It has a surprising depth to it and I really like how it forces you to think of numbers in a binary sense. The mechanics of Hexus only really open up after playing for a while so don't be discouraged by how simplistic the game seems at first. Once the Shift and other operator cards are unlocked, the full richness of the game is revealed. I like it so much I would love to be able to play it with real cards against human opponents!

If you play this game, you might just start yourself on a path to learning skills that can change how you interact with computers. I strongly recommend it!

J.P.
J.P.

I really like this game, the animation is nice and teaches you how to work with machine code and you get an awesome mini card sidegame which is also quite fun. Price vs fun factor, its totally worth it.

notorious turtle
notorious turtle

Boring.

If you've done a reasonable amount of REing before, you'll get bored pretty quick. I was hoping I could play this just to chill.

- Too many card games that consist of just adding numbers in dec/hex/bin.
- The in game ASM editor is limited to specific scenarios. I want to edit the whole game, not just a single line of ASM, that is often preset from code you wrote previously.
- I want to write a small amount of ASM lines to solve a different challenge each time, not just change an op.

Jimmy with Beanie
Jimmy with Beanie

Hello, im here to share my experiences and thoughts about the game Squally.
If you before the purchase it might be useful.
Squally is not a bad game tho it has a lot to improve.
The game show the very basics of Assembly as the author mentiones, but i found it a little bit misleading and not exact, well it sure explains some operators and functions but other than that i found lacking of information about what i am exactly doing so i had to look up on the internet.
If you are interested in a fun little journey with puzzles and dont want a really deep dive in Assembly this game is for you.
If you came here with a purpose of hardcore Assembly learning and game hacking i wouldnt recommend learning this way.
but i am speaking for myself after all.
i recommend this for very beginners and people who prefer slow and fun way to learn rather than raw hardcore.

Tswifty
Tswifty

This game hasn't had an update for around 2 years. It's pretty clear that the developer had abandon the project and it is very incomplete. I would not recommend getting this game. There are better places to learn game hacking now. Please don't support projects that become abandon ware.

8bitvision
8bitvision

This game has great potential, but as of 11/19/22, it would seem that there will never be anything past the ferry boat ride. So think of this as a good place to go if you are struggling with the game tutorial in Cheat Engine because you will get nothing more here.Don't go to the Discord expecting to find any guidance either. This was just an outstandingly ambitious passion project in the same way a family talks about the idea of learning multiple languages together and traveling across Europe.

nussance
nussance

Want to start learn binary and game hacking? This is the place. Even as a seasoned penetration tester, I am learning new things.

RoteBeere
RoteBeere

The idea is nice and I was highly motivated to learn the basics of assembly with this game.

Well, it did not last very long. Quickly I had to discover that this game is a graveyard for your money.
20,99€ for almost no content is rediculous.

But why?
- The in-game lexicon for operations has only 2 complete sites and covers content of a 5-minute google search.

- The game is slow. You have to walk unessecary long to the next objective.

- Out of 4 chapters of game hacking tutorials only one is complete, one chapter has only one lesson and 2 chapters are completely emty.

- The Hexcard game is somewhat a fun concept, but does not really teach usable knowledge.

- "The game should be out of early access in Q3 2020" - yeah... no. In Q3 2022 it is still unfinished, only 2 out of 6 chapters available.

I made the best of it and watched the Guided Hacking CS420 course on YouTube, where some fundamentals are well explained. You can build on this to expand your knowledge in a meaningful way.

But you don't need Squally for that, any other offline game and a few good tutorials (Guided Hacking on YouTube) will do.

[20R] Banana Chonker
[20R] Banana Chonker

A fun game to learn the basics of assembly and game hacking

Helios
Helios

The card game is fun, but not something I would keep playing as I didn't feel like I was actually tought anyting. I was introduced to some assembly instructions, but when used in a game I don't feel like it provides any real-life knowledge.

I would very much like to learn Assembly, so I look forward to the story-mode and hope that it will provide me with some knowledge.

Checking out until then. Can't recommend this game yet, if you're actually trying to learn.

wheat on toast
wheat on toast

Teaches nothing currently. Nothing at all. I highly urge no one to buy this until great strides in development are made, it's a wonder as to how the devs managed publish such an unfinished product.

Jake^
Jake^

Good for early access. Has a lot of potential for teaching computer coding fundamentals. Does absolutely need work, but that's what you are buying when you buy early access.

FR-QC Gh0stID[Bl2oDs] MIC ON
FR-QC Gh0stID[…

Game have a lotttt of potential ... in about 1hour of Hexus ive been able to calculate binary value in my head
cant wait to see the finish product, story line and such... I can only hope it will be close to Hack N Slash ( another game that introduce variable .. ) but for real this time..

would pay again ... in a blink just to get my hand on the complete finished product !

on windows I have a lot of issue but its clearly in link with my driver ( the game use opengl ) and my card is limited to opengl 4.4 somehow ... and the new driver are 4.5 had to downgrade and do a lot of debug

on linux, lol it run first shot !

luchillo17
luchillo17

It's still early access but it already looks interesting, the first look at the story mode looks awesome, hope to see the rest of the campaign soon.

A bit of rough edges like in the pointers mini-game, where the holes sometimes render like transparent squares, hard to look at, but definitely playable if you realize you shouldn't touch the missing parts.

Anonymous
Anonymous

The game is extremely unstable, it crashes for no reason.
Crashes even when I am trying to starting the game.
It crashes for almost everything, I have wasted my money over this game.
Will not recommend this at this stage, this seems like a good concept though there are more bugs than features, unless the author of the game want us to debug the whole game and handle all those unhandled exceptions to make this thing run properly.

EDIT:
The game is much stable now and playable.
I have started playing it yesterday. As afar as I have played it got some assembly but not much.
Over all game is not too bad.

[AJSA] skprog
[AJSA] skprog

current price gets you demo purchase if you want to support game.

turner();
turner();

Played a little bit, its fun, but definitely not for learning. You can't learn hacking in this game. It just lacks the real world examples and it is so bare bones. A lot need to be added/changed for it to be good for learning.

If you wan't something to goof around with, sure go for it.
But if you plan on buying for learning, stop its not worth it. The price is too high for a "learning" game. If the game actually learned you how to hack, the price would be solid.

0xTheVoid
0xTheVoid

The idea of the game and implementation are on such different levels.

Of course, when one visualized a product, one probably leaps the line a bit, and squally is no exception. As a developer proficient in many languages, including assembly, this game probably isn't worth recommending to the least knowledgeable potential programmers. It lacks depth, it lacks explanation, and most, if not all the knowledge gained from this game is not usable without heavy background knowledge.

The the implementation of education makes people think that editing a routine / changing a game's function is as simple as changing register values, or adding variable amounts of code to get the desired effect, when in practice is almost never the case - never mind wanting persistence or a more permanent effect.

This game is in early development, and I have had high hopes for when it was first announced to use this as a supplement to reverse engineering, but sadly at this point, this is still a waste of people's time and more importantly, if their goal is to truly to learn reverse engineering of games, doesn't do service to those optimistic to learn.

I am still hopeful, and am willing to change the review as time tells. Until then, good luck.

TheScoperA2
TheScoperA2

Great game, its the first of its kind that I have seen on steam. I have a few suggestions and bugs though.
S = Suggestion
B = Bug
S1. Add more assembly modification parts, there was not enough in the first part.
S2. If you see the video by GuidedHacking he shows all sorts of things he plans to do in his series, I would like to see things other than assembly modification like those in his videos.
B1. A lot of times in game after the first village I get a lot of random characters in the dialog and they may even replace the words itself.
Besides those, I hope y'all keep developing this game! It has great potential!

Info
Info

Finished the early access content thus far (right before limestone boss) definitely a little rough around the edges. I'd prefer the game to be more instructive than fun. I found the travel time to be too slow for someone trying to play the parts where they'll learn. The TAB 3 use limit should be removed, found myself stuck at the first trap because I'd spam TAB and no audio/warning that I'm out of charges. Can't wait for the full release

Tsproggy
Tsproggy

Not a game yet, it's in very early access. It might give you a hint, when it doesn't encounter a bug; Because it's a barely started game. It has what appears to be basic vector art, which is forgivable since it's meant to be a guided lesson. Which it can't accomplish and doesn't do, yet. Somehow as a 2D game it even manages to lose frames on a PC that can run Red Dead Redemption 2 on high settings at a steady 60 fps. Somebody needs to look at their rendering pipeline.

It doesn't appear to even have music yet. I bought this barely functional pile of assets, messily slapped together that is neither functional or punctual to support it's developers in a new tutorial series they're making on Youtube. If you aren't feeling generous and charitable to developers who may or may not take your money and run for the possibility of a game that may or may not be completed for a video series that also may or may not be completed. Do not buy this "game". Otherwise, buy it and let it slowly develop in your Steam library hoping it has something to teach you in a couple years.

I've written code for a long time, it's one of my only passions. This passion branched off into reverse engineering and I'm already familiar with assembly, but always consider myself a student. I like reading and watching tutorials to see if someone else caught something I missed. I don't need this game to teach me, but I like the concept and hope it is completed to help others.

Maybe I could refer a friend to it in the future as an easier introduction than I had. That's why I'm willing to buy this and not refund it for being something I feel I could write better in a week, including writing the engine itself from scratch and using my own shit, hand-drawn assets and sound effects recorded with my microphone.

Too long didn't read: If you're in the market for a game that teaches you how to reverse engineer it or even a playable game. This is not for you, yet. If you want to invest in something that may become that in an unknown time span in the future. Feel free to invest in these developers like I have.

I will change this review in the future if the developers update the game.

derpy588
derpy588

It would be a good game if it worked the thing is when you get to the castle and you enter it, it crashes and then you try to open it and it crashes the game again. another problem is it randomly crashes and it gets annoying. until these bugs are fixed I would not recommend playing it.

Gregg Lee
Gregg Lee

I wish I was able to play the minigames separately again. Waiting for the main story updates takes quite a while.

tallmankyy
tallmankyy

It is pretty fun. Can be explained a lot better in my opinion. Looking forward for updates!

Zenny
Zenny

I wouldn't recommend it as of now, the gameplay lacks tutorials, navigation around the map is slow and boring.
No BG music!
The mini game is quite good though.

Ebolaisdewae
Ebolaisdewae

i recently bought this to check it out cause it looked interesting. If you are new to hacking and would like to learn then yes this game is great! Unfortunately for me i already knew most of the stuff they were trying to teach in the game therefore it did not help me! But like i said its great if you are new, In fact when i got into game hacking i wish this game was around!

Overall i would say its a 5/5 stars for newbies but wouldnt recommend if you already have experience

Reimu
Reimu

The game is poorly made, gives the impression of a slightly enhanced platformer game template. The gameplay looks raw, there are some small bugs, languages are literally google translated, and I'm getting less fps than in minecraft on my Windows 8.1 8GB RAM laptop.

klip
klip

Even though this game is still in early access, i've thoroughly enjoyed the game!
I started this game knowing nothing about assembly language, and now I can confidently say I know how to read and understand operations to some extent! Good thing is, because it's learnt through playing.. I can remember things better..

The mini game Hexus was also very fun, and refreshed my memory about binaries and hexes!
I definitely recommend this game to anyone looking to learn assembly language and binaries / hexadecimal calculations!

screen names
screen names

Haven't finished the game yet but so far its quite enjoyable! As an aspiring game hacker, squally as well as other tutorials made by the same Developer have taught me some new things while keeping me entertained playing through the story mode. It is an early access game but with that said it is going in the right direction. If you plan on picking this up just as a game to play then go for it! If you plan on picking this up to learn game hacking then I recommend you follow along with the Developers CS420 tutorials while playing through the game. Overall it's a fun game that anybody can beat!

Bigisoft
Bigisoft

Good and interesting game with verry helpful content, one advice to everyone who wants to learn the hacking... first finish the game story and then start with Cheat Engine, after that u can continue with IDA Pro and x64dbg and etc. This game is not waste of time for sure. Oh, one more thing... look for tutorials in GuidedHacking, u can find very helpful tutorials there too, also if u are lazy to read, code and etc. dont waste your time with this things, its just not for you :)

tap
tap

This game is a super fun way to learn assembly. I would much rather play this than watch boring youtube videos! My favorite part is the combat and how there are so many ways to solve a single problem. I remember one time there was a super obvious solution to a problem but there was a more complicated way to do it allowing for me to oneshot all of the enemies which was super satisfying for the extra work I put in. I wasn't a huge fan of the card game hexus but luckily you don't need to do that to progress in the story. All in all it was fun and I feel like a learned a lot. I would seriously recommend it if your interested in learning this kind of stuff.

Teh
Teh

Starts off REALLY slow but gets interesting. While it probably wasn't needed, I constantly had to research a lot of the assembly I was using to get an understanding of what I was doing, which I was fine with. Good game. Cant wait for more levels.

Ambatukam
Ambatukam

Pretty cool, tho its too easy if you know how to program already :/
I hope in the end game there would be some really hard puzzles.
Really good game if you are just starting with stuff like this, so i fully recommend it

123
123

I got addicted to the hex card game, honestly. xDDD. It's a fun little game.

wolfleader
wolfleader

My thoughts on the game:

The hacking Tutorials are good to learn the basics of memory editing, hex editing and pointers, especially when following Zac's tutorials on GH as he explains it quite thoroughly. however, I do wish there were more challenges to complete for each section and definitely some harder ones as well. (However, I do understand that it is in Beta)

The story mode is all about editing simple Assembly code and Hexus is the card game about learning how to count on hexadecimal and binary. I found Hexus extremely useful and it solidified my binary counting skills, however, my Hexadecimal still need some work! The Assembly code editor is a cool concept, however, I do think it could be expanded on to include more game entities to "hack" and maybe having to learn some more advanced stuff.

TLDR: Besides a maybe adding some more challenges the game is awesome and helps teach the basics of game hacking

Nihil
Nihil

Squally has a lot of promise despite being in a very early stage. Some are writing this game off as not very informative, it teaches you in a very unconventional way which is to actually do things related to assembly as opposed to droning on about it in a hour long section in a part of youtube with maybe a few thousand views and an accent you can barely understand. With Squally, I had so much fun, I forgot I was programming.

The very reason you should buy Squally is because it teaches you through repetition and actual work as opposed to just giving a lecture. It's fun and I found myself eager to get to the next section of enemies to learn some new thing about assembly language. Hexus makes for a fun little distraction that despite being seemingly pointless is very important, it familiarizes you with opcodes and tasks related to them. All opcodes can be found in your standard x86_64 assembly book that's available for free from intel's site. Squally covers a majority of opcodes in a fun and addictive way. The battles feel like paper mario, but instead, you're hackerman and basically God. The game really deceives you into thinking you're not learning but you actually are.

There are a few bugs to be aware of, the game despite being centered around hacking, makes the first cardinal sin of coding which is to assume the user's input. Many things can be input when using squally's ability to hack, therefore things can go horrendously wrong which to average computer illiterate users can be frustrating. There needs to be messages that explicitly state things that the developers might consider common sense but to the newbie won't be so obvious.

All-in-all Squally is a buy for the up and coming comp sci student or anyone interested in comp sci who wants a better understanding of the lowest level computer language, which is x86_64 assembly. It gets you to just do things, and no matter how many books you read, doing will always lend more experience, than reading ever will. Squally manages to make doing assembly, feel like you're just playing a fun RPG. Give it a shot and I hope you enjoy.

Viky
Viky

This is a great game if you`d like to learn about game hacking and stuff like that , it`s made really nice and has a great game experience !

Safari
Safari

Good Game for learning hacking skils

Replica
Replica

i like game
i recommend game
this game good
this game teach a lot
me tired, low effort review
will update later

Absolute Beginner
Absolute Beginner

There could be a bug in the game, I have reported for them in their Discord server.
But, they are not answering at all. After several days of waiting, I have to rate the game negative.

x509
x509

At first, I thought the game was boring to be honest, rather slow start. But I kind of expected that coming from a developer background.

But today, I didn't feel like playing any fast paced games like first person shooters and decided to dig up some old "actually think" games I bought a while ago. Squally being one of them.

After giving Squally a serious try, I absolutely love the charm and aesthetic it brings. The calming music, the fun minigames (like the gwent style card game), The interesting rooms to explore, the neat features involved around working with low level computer science.

It's all fantastic and you can tell the author or team behind this genuinely put love in the game. It brings me back to the nostalgic kid playing flash games that were just interesting and fun in their own unique way.

Truly, thank you. I got 47 minutes now and plan on adding a couple more hours today

LinusFlexTips
LinusFlexTips

good game but the mana system is underused really and would be good to touch more on making godmode team specific in hacking tuts

Zero
Zero

Keep it up. Games like this are worth every penny.

Memory
Memory

Great game for learning how assembly works at a super basic level. People often think this game is gonna make them a pro-haxxor when really its just an intro. Once you beat the game and do the haxing tutorials, then its in your hands to further your knowledge.

killing_flies
killing_flies

Great game for learning Assembly. It's actually very fun and has a great learning curve. Starts out right at the level of a layperson. Some of the concepts could bear greater explaining, but in the context of the game it tries to keep things fresh. Definitely doesn't detract from the learning experience. I also like the inclusion of the Lexicon and tutorials as nice bonuses.

Hope
Hope

As a hacker who's full-time job is web application penetration testing and cloud security engineering, I rarely have time or the desire to learn more assembly or C++. This game is a really good way to refresh your memory and learn the basics.

SubTerrel
SubTerrel

Well I had high hopes for this game considering its $25 but I was disappointed with the outcome. The game has some major game breaking bugs that make it impossible to continue forward. I have had to completely restart the story about 6 times due to these bugs and not being able to continue forward.

The Bugs I've found:
-Shop takes the currency but doesn't give the items
-Many ways to glitch out of the map
-Chests don't give items
-Player doesn't heal

I tried a lot to like this game but I'm sad to say that it just isn't worth. If it was $5 then I would give it some slack but since they are selling for $25 its just not worth. The card game is fun but you have to play through the story in order to experience it which with the bugs makes it impossible to play. No word from the development team in over a year and I can't really expect much from them. Spend your money on something better, Zach I hope that you refine some of these things and lower the buy price to $5 until the game is complete.

SergioSkydiver
SergioSkydiver

Lack of gameplay and documentation in the game. At least used commands would be explained in books instead of doing that in the code.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Very fun way to get familiar with computer sciences concepts. Hopefully this game is completed, so much potential!

User
User

This Game is not Bad BUT in it isnt for people that know the basics or want to REALY learn how to "hack games". But that doesnt mean it isnt a bad game. Just only good for beginners

᠌ ⁧⁧H4PH4Z
᠌ ⁧⁧H4PH4Z

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