Midnight Protocol Makes Hacking Into Networks Extremely Cool

thegamer.com:

Hacking, at least according to pop culture logic, appears incredibly arcane, as if a manuveure that can only be carried out only by the geekiest crew member partaking in an elaborate heist, or the largely ignored IT dude, pantomiming a hack with their fingers at the back of the office in the police headquarters. More than just a cyberpunk pastime for the hooded tech whiz, hacking in real life is probably a lot more measured and not usually as fast-paced as attempting to shut down a flurry of huge, red, aggressive-looking takedown notices in real time, all as the pulsating electronic music of The Prodigy gets blasted in the background.

The more deliberate—although perhaps less glamorous and dramatic—aspect of hacking is what I like about Midnight Protocol, a tech noir game that puts you in the shoes of a hacktivist named Data. The game begins simply enough, with you logging into your computer and introduced to your home screen, which you can check your emails, surf the intranet, purchase tools, programs, and malware kits on the dark web, and select from a litany of networks to hack into. You then discover a conspiracy involving a rival hacker named Kraken, all while trying to etch a living either as a black hat (non-ethical) or white hat (ethical) hacker.

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Progressing through this storyline, however, involves quite a bit of hacking. Your old hacking crew will have your back by offering several contacts and jobs for you to earn credits with. These jobs usually revolve around breaking into networks, made up of several interconnected nodes that you’ll need to hop on to make your way towards your target. Your goals for these hacks vary—it can be stealing credits from a