$18.99hackmud Trust no one, hack everything
hackmud is a text-only cyberpunk RPG set in a goofy abandoned internet where you type commands, run scripts and scheme against other players. Team up in player-run corporations, share tools, crack systems together or scam each other for fun. Worth trying with co-op friends who like puzzles, coding curiosity and social trickery.
Is hackmud worth it?
hackmud is worth it if…
- you like co-op friends and shared plans, alliances and rivalries
- you enjoy text puzzles, mysteries and slow detective work
- you are curious about scripts and want to learn by borrowing them
- you like player-made games, tools and social hubs
Screenshots
A shared internet built by schemers
You wake up as a digital persona in a persistent abandoned internet full of player-run corporations, shifting alliances and underground economies. Nothing here resets for you. Markets crash, secrets surface and reputations stick because someone in the chat decided to do something clever.
With co-op friends, that means always having someone to plot with. You can pool scripts, form a corporation, run a social hub or plan a heist on a rival crew. Trust is useful and betrayal is allowed, which keeps every alliance slightly funny.
Typing, borrowing and finally writing scripts
Moment to moment you type commands into a retro terminal, poke at locked systems and figure out what argument unlocks the next layer. Early on you mostly wield scripts written by other players, which is the intended way in. The marks system walks you through the basics so a fresh face can survive.
If curiosity bites, you peek under the hood and start tweaking JavaScript into your own crackers, tools, puzzles or tiny games for others to play. No prior coding needed, just patience and friends willing to read error messages with you.
Lore hunting, puzzle nights and scams
There is plenty to do that needs brains more than code. You can dig into fragmented lore and decade-old unsolved puzzles, host an exclusive hangout, traffic data or play word-guessing games and door-choice gambles built by other users.
Sessions suit a slow, talkative rhythm. One of you reads the clue aloud, another tries a command, a third checks a script from the channel list. Some scripts help you, some rob you, which the game treats as part of the joke. Bring co-op friends who enjoy figuring things out together.
What else should you know?
Can you play it with co-op friends who cannot code?
Yes. You can explore, solve lore puzzles, use scripts made by others, join a corporation and hang out in social hubs without writing code. Coding helps for cracking tougher systems and automating tricks, but a group can split the work while everyone learns at their own pace.
What do you actually do together minute to minute?
You type commands, test scripts from the channel list, crack protected systems for in-game money, trade data and chat through puzzles. Groups often divide roles: one reads clues, one runs tools, one keeps notes on rivals. It is conversational rather than action-packed.
Is there PvP or is it all cooperative?
Both. You can forge alliances, build corporations and share tools, then use those same tools to steal, scam or sabotage rivals. Reputation matters more than levels, so being known as trustworthy, fearsome or ghostly is part of the long game.
How does the 90s hacker feel come through?
Through a retro terminal interface and an atmospheric soundtrack by Lena Raine and Ryan Ike. There are no flashy visuals, just text, scripts and scams in a chaotic future internet that plays like a 90s hacker movie.
