Hacker Simulator - It turns out that being a hacker is not so much fun...

There are professions in the world with an indestructible romantic aura. Sailors are commonly imagined as brave conquerors of the seas, but many sailors do not know how to sail. A trader in the financial markets always appears to us hugging a bag of money, while the best traders in the world earn up to 40% of annual income from their investment portfolio... Investing, say, $100,000, a trader earns about $3,000 a month with a high risk of losing money. Where are the sacks of money here? But the most romanticized profession is that of the hacker. You are probably subject to the pressure of stereotypes. Perhaps you think that being a hacker is interesting, exciting and entails a spindle of interesting acquaintances. Well, Hacker Simulator may not make Satoshi Nakamoto out of you, but it will bring you down to earth.

Extremely niche product aimed at a very narrow audience

It is very difficult to write reviews of games like Hacker Simulator. Not only because they are full of critical simulation mechanics, but also because it is hard to call Hacker Simulator a game. Our current subject for review feels more like a practical aid for complete beginners than a full-fledged game. This is not Watch Dogs with Touch-ID hacking. Here you'll have to learn tags, uncomplicated algorithms, and, most importantly, have a high typing speed in English.

"Press X to win" - forget it! In Hacker Simulator, the controls are extremely specific. Throughout the entire walkthrough, the player will see a simulation of an operating system with a simple text editor. Functionality is cut down, no one will let you delete the folder Win32 and open the secret ending. Clickable only those buttons that serve to advance through the story. The functionality of the local text editor is also not striking. It is not the level of VS Code, not the level of Sublime Text, an ordinary text document - simplified, but imitating the work of a more serious program.

If you've seen the game's trailer, you've already seen half the game. In the story, an unnamed protagonist receives practical instructions from a mysterious person with the nickname Override and teaches him the basics of hacking. The mysterious person is a member of a rescue group. In it hackers join forces and, apparently, revel in megalomania. To prove his proficiency, the main character must perform an intricate task: to hack the network, using the exploit. Before that, he has to hack the neighbor's Wi-Fi. Typing eight ones or eight zeros into the password line is useless...I checked. Wi-Fi hacking is done through hacker plugins with real names, but a simplified method of operation. Yes, the game simulates data transmission, a real hack, but not in detail.

But since the protagonist is new to hacking, he does not own the plugins. We will have to buy all the tools for the cryptocurrency - for ShellCoin. Tools also do not work for a separate button, but simply unlock the script triggering the plugin in the game. That is, you won't be able to find all the commands on the Internet and not spend your blood money on some tag.

You have to use modified, established applications and websites. Here you have Ziscord, the Toor browser, the online store Mamazon, hacking Fishbook accounts and even buying video cards from Nwidia...

Passive income in Hacker Simulator is not a luxury, but a necessity. As in all other simulators, everything is decided by the amount of in-game currency and reputation.

At this point, however, thoughtful players might begin to suspect that all of the above comes off too smoothly. As the developer himself wrote, he did not delve into the maze of hacking, but focused on the gamification of this painful and dangerous work. Don't expect the highest level of realism from Hacker Simulator. The game is full of simplifications. For example, you just need to build a mining farm that will work by itself. There is no need to puzzle over the fact that such a machine will attract unnecessary attention due to high power consumption, there is no need to search for the most profitable pools, and the cryptocurrency itself is stored somewhere out there without a hardware wallet. Cryptocurrency anonymity is not worth worrying about either. It is in real life, the transaction of "bloody" cryptocurrency without the help of a mixer will lead to uninvited guests at the door of the intruder, in Hacker Simulator there is no such thing.

The only point where you will have to act convoluted is the constant change of Wi-Fi addresses. The longer the player will be doing his dirty tricks on one router, the higher the chances of attracting the attention of the police. Perhaps the protagonist's computer operating system was designed by psychics, but instead of the sixth sense there is quite a clear alarm bar. If you don't hack another Wi-Fi, if you don't manage to switch to another network, it's game over.

But the main question remains unanswered: does Hacker Simulator convey that feeling of eureka, as if you really managed to hack something or write working code? At first, yes. The game really manages to create the illusion of successful hacking, to feel like a digitized god Loki. A couple of points to the authenticity of what is going on is added to the local Synthwave. Cold, dark ambient music plays in the background. A couple more points to the authenticity is added by the fact that it is possible to stand up and look at the monitor from the computer table. Note: the image on the monitor and game progress are synchronous. The image on the monitor is not a static texture.

But the vast majority of the advantages lie behind a thickness of terminology and routine hassle. Hacker Simulator, besides its lack of realism, has another problem...

Programming not your thing? Hacker Simulator is not a panacea

The problem is that it is extremely difficult to get positive emotions in the game. It's worth starting with the tutorial, at least. It's complicated, non-intuitive, and full of terminology. It starts small: what an exploit is.

But after half an hour of play, the virtual desktop is strewn with open tabs. It's easy to forget the purpose of the task in such a clutter. Yes, there is a tab "Help", which lists all the actions, but to call such a pastime "gameplay" does not dare.

In Hacker Simulator routine tasks clearly prevail. If the game attracted you by the possibility to make a phishing, to make a scam, or even to hack the Pentagon, then you will not stay here. The first time will have to hack someone's insurance. This monotonous task takes hours, hacking quickly becomes a chore.

Is Hacker Simulator worth buying?

Depending on the region, the price of Hacker Simulator ranges from $5 to $30. This price tag is largely unjustified, because there are much more realistic hacker simulators out there. The total lack of localization in all languages except English, unnecessary game mechanics and exorbitantly high difficulty towards the end - all this repulses. In addition, the game has big problems with saves. Losing once, you have to start all over again, and the local gameplay is fascinating only at first. Even at a -70% discount, Hacker Simulator doesn't look like a good deal.