Best hacking game, still holds up
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews
“20 years later and it is still the best hacker game on the market.”
Steam review · 37.2 h played ↗
Uplink
Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.
Very Positive · 90%Very Positive · 90%Introversion Software2006Simulation · Puzzle · Strategy
$11.99
Open on Steam ↗US Steam price, checked 5 h ago
The verdict
A pioneering, atmospheric hacker sim with tense permadeath stakes and a great soundtrack. Skip it if you dislike tiny dated UI, repetitive missions, or losing hours of progress to one mistake.
Great for
Players who want a tense, immersive movie-style hacker roleplay and don't mind a steep learning curve
Main risk
Poorly explained mechanics and permadeath wipe your progress, on top of a tiny dated UI
What players love
UplinkOS and Onlink mods modernize it
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews
“Install the UplinkOS mod and it becomes the best hacking game ever made.”
Steam review · 1.5 h played ↗
Tense, immersive movie-hacker atmosphere
Mentioned in ~1 in 6 positive reviews
“feels like you're one of those hackers from 90s movies”
Steam review · 36.1 h played ↗
Nostalgic and replayable
Mentioned in ~1 in 6 positive reviews
“You'll get addicted for a couple days and be all set for another few years.”
Steam review · 3.2 h played ↗
Real consequences and rewarding challenge
Mentioned in ~1 in 10 positive reviews
“Screwing up and getting a game over sucks, but it gives you some actual stakes, and encourages multiple playthroughs.”
Steam review · 2.8 h played ↗
Great soundtrack
Mentioned in ~1 in 14 positive reviews
“But it's ok, the music is worth it.”
Steam review · 15.5 h played ↗
What players complain about
Tiny, clunky, dated interface
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 negative reviews
“the text and UI is so small its unreadable without pushing your face into the monitor.”
Steam review · 14.8 h played ↗
Bugs, and broken on Linux/Mac/modern setups
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 negative reviews
“sometimes a mission file would just not exist, or the mission would refuse to accept that you completed it”
Steam review · 4.9 h played ↗
Poor tutorial and unexplained mechanics
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews
“First mission impossible to complete without watching videos online.”
Steam review · 0.3 h played ↗
Repetitive, tedious missions
Mentioned in ~1 in 7 negative reviews
“missions are 90% the same with only small adjustments in how they are executed”
Steam review · 11.2 h played ↗
Permadeath wipes hours of progress
Mentioned in ~1 in 10 negative reviews
“this game has perma-deaths. I’m sure there’s people out there that enjoy the 'thrill' of having hours worth of progress wiped with a singular mistake, but I’m not one of them.”
Steam review · 17.1 h played ↗
Unclear why you got caught
Mentioned in ~1 in 17 negative reviews
“I would follow all of the recommendations for covering my tracks and still get caught out of nowhere, with no explanation of what I did wrong.”
Steam review · 5.2 h played ↗
System requirements
From the Steam store page
Steam Deck: Playable
Steam doesn’t list requirements for this game.
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