Decker (< 1Mb)
Decker is a free graphical Rogue-like game set in the 22nd Century which Takes place in a William Gibson-like cyberpunk world, where you ‘punch deck’ to travel through cyberspace and commit cybercrime and avoid getting ’iced’!
“In Decker, you are a hacker who specializes in breaking into corporate computer systems, for which you are handsomely paid. Of course, these corporations don’t idly sit by and allow you free run of their systems. The systems are guarded by Intrusion Countermeasure programs (ICE), which attempt to kick you out of the system, or possibly even kill you.
The basic equipment of a Decker is the cyberdeck. This wonderful piece of hardware plugs directly into your brain in order to allow you experience the full virtual reality world of the matrix. While in the matrix, you use programs to attempt to bypass the security measures of the corporate systems, or to crash them if all else fails.
You start out unskilled, unknown, and underequipped, but as you gain experience, you will increase your skills, hardware, and reputation in order to combat more difficult and dangerous systems. That is, if you don’t get your brain fried in the process!”
If you get hurt by the Intrusion Countermeasures, it takes time to recuperate and if your health falls to say 65%, it takes much more time to recover than from eg 80%. You ... do have counter measures of your own to ‘help’ you avoid being detected!
The graphics in their original form are a bit bright and perhaps a little over-bold, but there are user-designed skins that make the graphics more eye-pleasing. The illustration below shows a skin applied, (using the first skin available on the skins page) - Some of the skins are better designed and more professional than others.
Decker (a ‘skinned’ version)
You can of course choose your character’s attributes, and you can accept or decline contracts, though if/when you accept a contract you are expected to fulfill it!
The black market for jobs is slim at first, limited by your lack of reputation and lifestyle levels. With a higher rolling lifestyle and a name for yourself, you’ll find tougher, better paying jobs with juicier stuff to hack and steal!
Though there is an initial learning curve, it is nothing like as high as eg for NetHack. The game has some complexity, but isn’t nearly as complex as some Rogue-like games, making it much more suitable for casual gameplay! It’s great if you enjoy Sci-Fi scenarios!
There's a help-file and a search function ingame for when you're not sure about something.
Many aspects of the game are modifiable, if you have a few skills in that direction. You could even design your own skin for it!
I should mention ... you don't need or use any actual real-life hacking skills whatsoever to play the game. It's an explore and find things, attack and avoid being attacked experience!
The game is worth much more of a look than the screenshots might suggest! It’s an excellent and really very playable RPG!
Download HERE
You can find out more about Decker HERE
