Code 7: A Story-Driven Hacking Adventure

I'm hooked. What an excellent game! I'm surprised I haven't come across it before. Can't believe Steam hadn't suggested it to me. Picked this up quite by accident last night whilst searching for a different game... Played Episode 0 and just had to get back on to it today. Given Episode 0 only took about 1.5 hours playing fairly cautiously, I really didn't expect it to take me another 3.5 hours to get through Episode 1... Alright, I do like to fully explore in a game like this, but I think most people do if they enjoy this kind of title. So I'm very much looking forward to the next couple of episodes and it looks like the fifth instalment (episode 4) is well into development. Something tells me I won't want to wait once I get to that point. Excellent value for money so far! I don't normally bother with reviews, but given how surprisingly good this hidden gem is, I thought it deserved the time and I thoroughly recommend it. For those who like a little more detail (without any spoilers), here you go: Graphics: - It's a text adventure, but it runs smoothly and quickly... no graphical glitches. The animations are appropriate to the story and setting. Everything looks "right". 9/10 Music: - Fantastic... just fantastic! Does exactly what great game music should do. 10/10 Voice acting: - I can't imagine how difficult it must be to bring characters to life without the aide of visual communication, but this is about as good as I've come across. Some very occasional and very minor cutting issues - presumably where lines are recorded at different times then put together... no overlaps or anything, more emotional oddities such as a character seeming calm in one sentence then emotionally charged in the next even though ti's a continuous speech and nothing has changed. I'm being very picky though! 9/10 Story: - So far, completely captivating. I may revisit this once I've completed the game, but unless something goes seriously wrong, this is shaping up to be a fantastic story arch. For every moment I find myself thinking "I saw that one coming" there's a least one far bigger "how the hell did I miss that?" or "wow, did that just happen?"... very impressive and engaging. Even a touch emotional at times. 10/10 Game-play: - Essentially a text-based adventure, well constructed with plenty of puzzles that are enough to get me thinking without tearing my hair out. Haven't come across any annoying dead-ends as of yet and everything flows nicely, seemingly regardless of the route you try and take, the game gets you to the right path comfortably and without anything feeling forced. Keyboard only controls with a nice "hacking" element to it. If you are a fan of text adventures or any hacking type games, this is for you. Also, the occasional time-based challenge appears which generally will require you to use the skills that you have developed to be applied quickly and accurately. These challenges are tough, but failure only sets you back to the start of the challenge, so it's not painful. 8/10 Replay-ability: - Looks to me that there are some achievements which are dependant on taking different paths in the game, so there will be a reason to replay, but I'm not sure this is really the kind of game that would be particularly rewarding if replayed... not that I imagine it was designed to be. Overall: - Engaging, entertaining, attractive, challenging and [i]that soundtrack![/i] 9/10... And that could easily move up a notch by the time I'm done with it!

This is one of few story-driven games that can actually pull off a convoluted plot. Far too many story-driven games have either (1) a plot twist you can spot in the first 5 minutes (2) a plot twist so far out in left-field that you just don't believe it and lose interest or (3) a singular hook that might be good, even epic, but you get just one. This one has convoluted plot, interesting themes, and I'd say engaging game play. The game play is largely based on you directing your partner (different one each episode so far) around various stations gathering information, supplies, passcodes, keys, .... Their kickstarter describes it as a "fully voiced text adventure", and that's not a bad description for how your partner will describe what they are seeing while you're looking at a computer screen with network information and a map. And the superb sound effects allow them more than once to have tension as you can clearly hear that something is going wrong before your partner describes the situation. The one part I don't really care for: They don't have an manual save system, so some of the mutually-incompatible achievements mean you need to replay the entire game unless you enjoy mucking about with the save game folder. And while I like the idea of having choices matter in the ending, I'm wondering how many times I'm willing to replay the entire thing just to have different combinations of which characters trust me. But that's a relatively minor point for completionists --- the story is certainly compelling for the playthrough, and it is worth the money. Especially since they have Episode 0 for free. Oh, and as a P.S. congratulations to the developers for Rick-rolling me in a secret message!

I was happy to try this game as there are only a few really good games in this genre. I like the story and the voice-overs. It was nicely built up. On the hacking part it's really light, I hoped it would go a bit more in depth but this makes it more accessible to a bigger audience. Maybe a little con is the slow movement of the characters. I would imagine if they're in a haste they would walk/run faster. Looking forward to play the next episodes.

Edit for trigger warning: Beware BYG trope. ----------------------------------------------------- Original Review: brilliant game, absolutely love it. By far one of the best games that i've played in the last 12 months. Brilliant voice actors, great story, loads to find and figure out. I did need to clarify a few settings options for streaming but even that was super quick and easy.

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Been really loving this game. Really good voice acting and story. I'd recommend this to other people.

Code 7 is a hacking themed puzzle game with a very intricate plot. So far there are four episodes (0-3) with at least one more planned for release (Ep 4) and some additional content to tide everyone over until then. The game achieves some really great storytelling with some interesting effects and mechanics. The puzzles are challenging without being infuriating and the mechanics are simple enough to grasp that anyone should find it accessible, though there are some optional additional challenges that can be quite hard to tackle. It's got humor, fun references, and feels. It also follows in the tradition of the TellTale games where it'll list your most notable choices at the end of each episode for comparison to what choices the rest of the player base has made - choices that do actually carry some impact in later chapters. The few downsides that the game suffers (at this time) are occasional bugginess (though nothing exiting and re-entering the game can't fix), a lack of information/tips/guidance online (likely due to the relative obscurity of the title at this time), a bit of a chaotic climax for Ep 3, and some decidedly campy voicing (though it's really your personal preference as to whether that's a negative or a positive - I kind of find it charming). All in all this game is definitely worth the price of admission and I'm looking forward to Ep 4.

Honestly - none of my friends own this game, but I'm sure a lot of them would have an absolute blast with this title. Yes, it takes a bit of time to learn how everything in this game works, but all that really shows is this isn't the 799th ripoff of the most popular adventure-inde game. Yes, the text based controls take time to get used to and can be a little wonky, yes while the voice acting is usually pretty good - it's not perfect. It has an amount of polish that is a bit beyond what you'd expect for a less-than-popular game currently sold for $5.99. Personally I found the game legitimately exciting, nerve wracking, even giggling at some jokes, or some silly audio log by some side-character voice actor. Seriously, I can't promise that you'll love this game, but on average you'd be spending more at your local Starbucks than the developer is asking for a game that they truly put a lot of effort into. If you love the game you'll have no problem buying the season pass, if you didn't care for the game you're not wasting $26 on all 4 episodes - win/win.

Thoroughly enjoyed this game - a unique concept beautifully done. Can't wait for ep 4!

i love the details in this game and also the emotional dialogue, i would suggest you buy it, 10/10