Disrupt: hack for good or evil in an open cyberworld

In another life, in another world I can well imagine that I became a hacker - it's just a shame that in this one I lack the programming ability, the quick typing fingers, and the shades-and-leather-trenchcoat combo that would be necessary to fit in with the hacking community. I imagine Other Me would be right at home in Disrupt , an upcoming hacking game that promises a "simulated cyber world of designated cities, including infrastructure such as police, medical, academic, electrical servers etc." It's a free-roaming hackathon featuring moral choices, side missions, and the ability to play as some sort of modern-day computer-nerd Robin Hood. I never realised how much I wanted that until now. Trailer below, if you can infiltrate the firewall I like to call 'the break'.

There's a neat hacktivism theme that appears to be running through Disrupt, although it's worth noting that you don't have to be a champion of the people - the game will apparently let you be a right selfish rotter as well. You play the part of a hacker who's gained access to a secret government operating system known as NexOS, which is almost too smart a name to ring true. Your decisions - for instance, whether to hack for your own personal gain, or to free those persecuted by the government - will affect the media's perception of you as either a hero of the people or a bit of a selfish git. It's hard to tell how involved the actual hacking will be, but based on the above video it appears to be less hands-on and more of a broader simulation than something like Quadrilateral Cowboy. Whatever the case, it's worth keeping an eye on - the more hacking games the better, I say.

You can vote for Disrupt over on Steam Greenlight , if it sounds like the sort of thing you might enjoy.

Tom loves exploring in games, whether it’s going the wrong way in a platformer or burgling an apartment in Deus Ex. His favourite game worlds—Stalker, Dark Souls, Thief—have an atmosphere you could wallop with a blackjack. He enjoys horror, adventure, puzzle games and RPGs, and played the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VIII with a translated script he printed off from the internet. Tom has been writing about free games for PC Gamer since 2012. If he were packing for a desert island, he’d take his giant Columbo boxset and a laptop stuffed with PuzzleScript games.