My Playtime: 25.6h (finished the game)

Uplink is a hacking game where you need to hack servers to finish missions. However, despite being a hacking game, you'll mostly do it with a UI - console with its commands will be provided in some servers, but you won't be able to finish the game with only that.

Pros:
- A lot of randomized missions for replayability
- Freedom to choose which missions to take and which tools to buy
- 2 endings

Cons:
- Small text
- Game crashed with Alt + Tab
- It can be hard to figure out which server you want to connect to if you have too many bounces in the map


Specs
Intel Core i5-9300H 2.40GHz, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650

Yes.
If you like hacking games that have a lot of replayability, buy this game

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Uplink's visuals are simple, but it's done its job. It looks like an OS, especially since the game tries to make you feel as if you are connecting to another computer in other parts of the world. Several buttons will be placed on the bottom and top of your screen, but they aren't confusing once you know what they do. The "OS" is easy to get used to, although there are some issues like how placeholder texts need to be erased completely before you can type your input.

The story might not be visible unless you know what to do. It's masked beneath the in-game news which will be related to your job somehow. However, the game never gives you any hints on how to proceed for it - you just need to figure it out by yourself, and just like how it is in the real world, you need to wait for several days before the next story develops. Those who aren't focused on the story might forget about it altogether, especially since there are a lot of missions that you can take in between. As for the story itself, it was okay. There isn't much to it except for some news pieces and emails that you have to read, which will mostly show the conclusion of your actions.

Gameplay
Uplink is played in an OS-like interface that looks vastly different from the OS that we usually know. The date and IP are displayed on top, along with the fast-forward button to speed up the in-game time. However, despite having a fast-forward button, it doesn't fast-forward everything. There was an occasion when I tried to use it to fast-forward my password breaker and it doesn't seem to make it faster despite the clock and trace speed's increased times.

It can take a while to learn how to hack. There is hardly any tutorial apart from the know-how on the OS and a mission telling you to hack a server. The actual "tutorial" is hidden beneath a certain server that holds a lot of information about the game in general. However, it still doesn't cover everything. Although it gives info on how to hack most servers, it hardly has any info about LANs, the hardest system that is available in the game.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=583678351

The core of the gameplay is mostly the same: you buy some software, take on some missions, and use the reward money to buy more software to take on more difficult missions and break into higher security servers. At first, you will take a very long time before you can finish doing anything - breaking passwords, decyphering ciphers, even deleting logs - although it will soon be changed once you upgraded your CPU to a faster one.

What I liked about the missions is that there are a lot of ways to finish some of them. Do you want to break into a bank's system to get this account's password? Feel free. Do you want to break the password without getting admin access? You also can do that. You even can think outside the box and do whatever idea comes to your mind, missions or not, although you have to deal with the consequences yourselves if you get caught.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=93504069

However, the game can be repetitive. You have to grind if you purchase the wrong upgrades at the beginning, and you need to take on the same missions over and over again at the end once you have purchased everything. There might not even be any motivation for you to finish the mission if there is nothing new that the game can show you.

Length and Difficulty
I finished the game in 25.6h, and that also includes the two times when I got a game over screen when I got caught. Yes, Uplink has a perma death system where you can't continue if you get caught bypassing a higher security system. However, the game is also quite buggy in the fact that it can start a trace on a server that you previously broke even though you have disconnected from it. You can expect to finish it in less than 10 hours.

The game has 2 endings, but I don't find the motivation to replay the game and finish with the other ending after replaying so many times. You also can "cheat" by doing a manual backup to your save to get to both endings, though. The game isn't difficult once you know what to do - you just need to be patient and wait for the hack to finish.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=42381167

Issues
You can't filter connected connections based on a name. It can be hard to figure out where you need to connect to once you have a lot of bounce connections available. Also, alt-tabbing crashes the game and it can be hard to read the small font sometimes.

Uplink might be an old game, but the gameplay will still get you hooked if you enjoy hacking games. There might be some aspects that you need to tolerate such as the inability to alt-tab and the lack of quality-of-life fixes too, but I still find them to be acceptable, especially since they don't hinder much of the gameplay. I could recommend it to those who like hacking games and replayability in them.

[b]My Playtime:[/b] 25.6h (finished the game) [h1]Intro[/h1] [b]Uplink[/b] is a hacking game where you need to hack servers to finish missions. However, despite being a hacking game, you'll mostly do it with a UI - console with its commands will be provided in some servers, but you won't be able to finish the game with only that. [b]Pros:[/b] - A lot of randomized missions for replayability - Freedom to choose which missions to take and which tools to buy - 2 endings [b]Cons:[/b] - Small text - Game crashed with Alt + Tab - It can be hard to figure out which server you want to connect to if you have too many bounces in the map [b]Specs[/b] Intel Core i5-9300H 2.40GHz, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 [h1]Should you buy this game?[/h1] [b]Yes.[/b] [i]If you like hacking games that have a lot of replayability, buy this game[/i] [hr][/hr] [h1]In-Depth Review[/h1] [h3]Visuals[/h3] [b]Uplink[/b]'s visuals are simple, but it's done its job. It looks like an OS, especially since the game tries to make you feel as if you are connecting to another computer in other parts of the world. Several buttons will be placed on the bottom and top of your screen, but they aren't confusing once you know what they do. The "OS" is easy to get used to, although there are some issues like how placeholder texts need to be erased completely before you can type your input. [h3]Story[/h3] The story might not be visible unless you know what to do. It's masked beneath the in-game news which will be related to your job somehow. However, the game never gives you any hints on how to proceed for it - you just need to figure it out by yourself, and just like how it is in the real world, you need to wait for several days before the next story develops. Those who aren't focused on the story might forget about it altogether, especially since there are a lot of missions that you can take in between. As for the story itself, it was okay. There isn't much to it except for some news pieces and emails that you have to read, which will mostly show the conclusion of your actions. [h3]The Game[/h3] [b]Gameplay[/b] [b]Uplink[/b] is played in an OS-like interface that looks vastly different from the OS that we usually know. The date and IP are displayed on top, along with the fast-forward button to speed up the in-game time. However, despite having a fast-forward button, it doesn't fast-forward everything. There was an occasion when I tried to use it to fast-forward my password breaker and it doesn't seem to make it faster despite the clock and trace speed's increased times. It can take a while to learn how to hack. There is hardly any tutorial apart from the know-how on the OS and a mission telling you to hack a server. The actual "tutorial" is hidden beneath a certain server that holds a lot of information about the game in general. However, it still doesn't cover everything. Although it gives info on how to hack most servers, it hardly has any info about LANs, the hardest system that is available in the game. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=583678351 The core of the gameplay is mostly the same: you buy some software, take on some missions, and use the reward money to buy more software to take on more difficult missions and break into higher security servers. At first, you will take a very long time before you can finish doing anything - breaking passwords, decyphering ciphers, even deleting logs - although it will soon be changed once you upgraded your CPU to a faster one. What I liked about the missions is that there are a lot of ways to finish some of them. Do you want to break into a bank's system to get this account's password? Feel free. Do you want to break the password without getting admin access? You also can do that. You even can think outside the box and do whatever idea comes to your mind, missions or not, although you have to deal with the consequences yourselves if you get caught. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=93504069 However, the game can be repetitive. You have to grind if you purchase the wrong upgrades at the beginning, and you need to take on the same missions over and over again at the end once you have purchased everything. There might not even be any motivation for you to finish the mission if there is nothing new that the game can show you. [b]Length and Difficulty[/b] I finished the game in 25.6h, and that also includes the two times when I got a game over screen when I got caught. Yes, [b]Uplink[/b] has a perma death system where you can't continue if you get caught bypassing a higher security system. However, the game is also quite buggy in the fact that it can start a trace on a server that you previously broke even though you have disconnected from it. You can expect to finish it in less than 10 hours. The game has 2 endings, but I don't find the motivation to replay the game and finish with the other ending after replaying so many times. You also can "cheat" by doing a manual backup to your save to get to both endings, though. The game isn't difficult once you know what to do - you just need to be patient and wait for the hack to finish. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=42381167 [b]Issues[/b] You can't filter connected connections based on a name. It can be hard to figure out where you need to connect to once you have a lot of bounce connections available. Also, alt-tabbing crashes the game and it can be hard to read the small font sometimes. [h1]Conclusion[/h1] [b]Uplink[/b] might be an old game, but the gameplay will still get you hooked if you enjoy hacking games. There might be some aspects that you need to tolerate such as the inability to alt-tab and the lack of quality-of-life fixes too, but I still find them to be acceptable, especially since they don't hinder much of the gameplay. I could recommend it to those who like hacking games and replayability in them.