Great expansion! Loved the original game and this added about 3 hours of content. The price was right when I got it.
Re: Game Breaking Bug
The game gets really meta, so if you encounter a "game breaking bug" be sure to read everything, cause using your *own* OS is part of the game. Loved it!
About half way through the expansion at the moment and loving all the new aspects of this. If you enjoyed HackNet, then this is a great expansion for it, and the music is just as good as before. If you've played UpLink or any other hacker style games, but not tried HackNet yet, then you're missing out.
Hope this isn't the last expansion, would love to see this game grow and develop.
Everything gets even better here. The whole initialization of this campaign got me stumped. Brilliant music and animations, beautiful mystical theme and an isolated group of elite hackers set the right atmosphere for this serious branch. You will get torn off your original campaign and netmap completely for several hours to focus on missions which are deeper and even more interesting than Entropy or CSEC ones. Investigation will require more reading, tracking and teamwork to proceed. There are several new tools including memory dumping and analysis. I believe there is more text to read than in original campaign but this time it is really interesting - no more procedural infantile crap from IRC chat logs. Expect to be attacked by another hacker this time the solution of this forces you to tamper around real data files in your system out of game! And in the end you will be put in front of heavy dilemma under time pressure. Once done you will get back to your original campaign where you left armed with all the acclaimed programs and themes. It is also possible to initiate this DLC after completing the main campaign and getting to sandbox after credits. Really worthy expansion. Recommended.
(Below is a slightly modified version of my original review of 'Hacknet: Labyrinths' on Steam. I love the game so much that I purchased another copy on GOG just for the DRM-free version.)
@54.188.232.231> addNote
Note:
Dear Diary,
It has been a couple of weeks since I last booted up my computer. The last time I used it, I was introduced to a hacker named Bit. Somehow, he had installed HacknetOS into my computer. Before I could figure out what had happened, I found myself in the company of other hackers in Entropy and CSEC. The adventures that I subsequently had are still vividly etched in my mind.
I tried to fight the urge to further get involved in the affairs of Entropy and CSEC. The "work" that they do was dangerous, yet exciting; illegal, yet morally justifiable in some cases. I'll be honest: I like how HacknetOS gives me the power to snoop inside other people's computers and phones. The allure of HacknetOS, specifically the PortHack tool, is just too strong for me to resist.
Before I knew it, I found myself once again logged into CSEC's contract server. Some guy named Kaguya is recruiting. Little did I know my curiosity about Kaguya's trials quickly pulled me into deep labyrinths of computer networks one again. Soon after that, I found myself in a trio of hackers, and started taking missions from Kaguya.
The missions, technically, were very similar to what I took on with CSEC earlier. Thankfully, the purposes of the missions and the scenarios were different enough to keep things interesting for me. I needed to think, type and react faster than before. The missions required me to dig deep to find hidden (i.e. deleted) secrets. The best was that I got some new tools to help me navigate these "labyrinths", such as FTPSprint, which is WAY faster than FTPBounce. If only I had these wonderful toys at my disposal when I was part of CSEC!
It was a nice change to work alongside teammates, but I wish I had the ability or time to really chat with them. Even though we were a team, it still felt like I was working alone. They did help me out a couple of times, and I do wish I could learn what tricks they had up their sleeves. Still, in spite of our communicating via Kaguya's IRC channel, working for Kaguya was still a lonely, insulated experience as before.
In the end, working for Kaguya was thrilling, albeit it being a brief experience. I did not feel my time was wasted, and it felt great put my hacking skills to good use once more. Somehow, I feel like I'd hear from Kaguya again, for better or worse. It's just a matter of when...
@54.188.232.231> cd /log
@54.188.232.231/log/> rm *
Deleting @265_Connection:_from_82.237.35.60....Done
Deleting @265_82.237.35.60_Disconnected....Done
Deleting @265_82.237.35.60_Became_Admin....Done
Deleting @257_82.237.35.60 Opened_Port#6881....Done
Deleting @242_Connection:_from_82.237.35.60...Done
@54.188.232.231/log/> dc
Hacknet - Labyrinths is a full-scale new campaign not related to the main game; you can choose to start it early in game, later or even at the end. Doesn't really matter, depends on how skilled you feel.
The storyline here is simple, you take upon some hacker trials and gets invited to a group project. That's what differs from the main game; here you work in group with two other hackers. You do some small missions, all led by the mysterious Kaguya. Eventually it leads up to a final decision....
Gameplay-wise it is more or less the same with some new gimmicks, which are quite fun to play around with.
If you enjoyed the base game, you should definitely pick up Labyrinths for another 3-4 hours of enjoyment!