868-HACK / 86856527

By: Derek Yu

On: November 6th, 2013

Michael “brog” Brough’s 868-HACK is a hacking-themed roguelike on iOS that eschews exploration for focused, single-screen tactics. In the game, the player must traverse 8 levels, called “sectors”, filled with data – either points, which are used for scoring, or progs, which are used for defense against the enemies that are summoned to stop your intrusion. Enemies come in four types and move in simple patterns that are easy to exploit in small numbers but quickly become deadly in diverse mobs.

There’s a lot to like about 868-HACK, like the fun theme, the obvious risk/reward mechanisms, and the innovative zapping attack that hurts and stuns enemies. Figuring out how to use zapper and prog to clear out large groups of enemies is extremely satisfying. In many ways, 868-HACK distills the roguelike experience down to the parts where you’ve been dropped into a room full of monsters you’re not fully prepared for and each move is potentially life-threatening.

The free, Windows version that was made for 7DRL is called 86856527 and is still available for download, but the changes for iOS are well worth the $5 price tag, in my opinion. A port of 868-HACK to PC is also planned, but there’s no release date yet.

Posted in Freeware, Highly Recommended, iPad, iPhone, Roguelikes, Windows | Tags: brog

Anonymous

If you made it this far without downloading, go back up and try again.
http://bp.io Ben Porter

Yeah this is a great game. The best bit is learning how different programs combine to become more effective. The glitchy neon aesthetic was also refreshing.
james

lol ios
MrBrown

The existence of a full-featured, polished version completely undermines my motivation to try the older freeware version. If the full version will ever be released on PC I might throw my money at it very quickly, otherwise I’ll just let it pass.
Michael Brough

it will
herp derp

I always enjoy seeing game devs posting on these articles.
Mart Scharl

I DL’d this based on recommendation here and it was worth it. Deep, strategic gameplay and a lot personality. Also nice for mobile type play sessions, just the right amount of depth for a few games on the train. Bravo.

Also it’s really hard and kind of brutal, which I like.
David Bandel

my review of 868-hack:

ios.

0/10.
Anonymous

no wait, refreshing glitchy neon aestetic? it’s a good game but graphics-wise it sucks hard. It’s hard to find a game as fugly as this one even in the freeware scene
Anonymous

the ones complaining about it being on iOS: it’s VERY well suited for that platform. There are games meant to be on bigger devices and others that works very well on the go.