There are a lot—and I mean a lot—of games whose central theme is hacking. Which makes sense. Hacking is peak sci-fi cool. Movies have told us for decades that all it takes is a black hoodie, green text, and someone shouting “WE’RE IN.”

Everyone wants to imagine themselves as the ultimate hacker, right?
(No? Really? Then please go watch more movies and come back. But do watch good ones. Just because a movie shows nmap on screen doesn’t make it authentic. Dear Hollywood: it’s time to discover that more than one hacking tool exists.)

HackHub is made by a publisher/developer that clearly isn’t new to this genre. They’ve released several hacking-themed games before. Full disclosure: I haven’t played the others, so I won’t pretend this is a detailed comparison. But I have played plenty of hacking games—everything from “connect the dots in a neon UI” to abstract puzzle metaphors pretending to be terminals.

What makes HackHub stand out is that it doesn’t pretend you’re a cyber wizard commanding a team in a dimly lit war room. Instead, it plops you in front of a PC. Alone. No one yells “we’re in.” No one screams “we’re under attack!” It’s just you, a computer, and some contacts on the screen who feel about as emotionally close as your coworkers on Teams or Slack.

(Except these contacts are way bolder about asking you to do questionable things. Very movie-accurate, honestly.)

The tools in the game borrow heavily from real-world counterparts—some straight up, some lightly fictionalized. Don’t expect flashy visuals or fireworks. You get terminals. Browsers. Work-looking tools. The kind of stuff you might already stare at all day. When you finish a task, there’s no explosion, no dubstep drop, no “MISSION COMPLETE” fanfare. Just… quiet competence. This game is aggressively unsexy in that way.

That said, while the tools are simplified and abstracted (no, you cannot use this game to ruin your neighbor’s Wi-Fi or change your grades like in WarGames), many of the underlying concepts are at least plausible. Some things are fantasy, some are outdated, and some are wildly easier here than in real life—but it still feels grounded.

It’s a “down-to-earth hacker” game. Which is a weird sentence, but accurate. Also, for bonus points, there’s a built-in TypeScript engine and a lightweight version of Git. Yes. Really.

So… is it fun?

It depends.

If you’re the cybersecurity-adjacent type, you’ll probably crack a smile at the references and design choices. If you’re not, there’s a good chance this will feel intimidating, slow, or just plain weird. This is not a game for everyone—but for the people it clicks with, it’s quietly entertaining.

As for me? I’m partly a cybersecurity guy, and I enjoyed it. There’s also a demo, which is honestly the best way to figure out if this is your kind of thing before committing.

No hoodies required.

There are a lot—and I mean a lot—of games whose central theme is hacking. Which makes sense. Hacking is peak sci-fi cool. Movies have told us for decades that all it takes is a black hoodie, green text, and someone shouting “WE’RE IN.” Everyone wants to imagine themselves as the ultimate hacker, right? (No? Really? Then please go watch more movies and come back. But do watch good ones. Just because a movie shows nmap on screen doesn’t make it authentic. Dear Hollywood: it’s time to discover that more than one hacking tool exists.) HackHub is made by a publisher/developer that clearly isn’t new to this genre. They’ve released several hacking-themed games before. Full disclosure: I haven’t played the others, so I won’t pretend this is a detailed comparison. But I have played plenty of hacking games—everything from “connect the dots in a neon UI” to abstract puzzle metaphors pretending to be terminals. What makes HackHub stand out is that it doesn’t pretend you’re a cyber wizard commanding a team in a dimly lit war room. Instead, it plops you in front of a PC. Alone. No one yells “we’re in.” No one screams “we’re under attack!” It’s just you, a computer, and some contacts on the screen who feel about as emotionally close as your coworkers on Teams or Slack. (Except these contacts are way bolder about asking you to do questionable things. Very movie-accurate, honestly.) The tools in the game borrow heavily from real-world counterparts—some straight up, some lightly fictionalized. Don’t expect flashy visuals or fireworks. You get terminals. Browsers. Work-looking tools. The kind of stuff you might already stare at all day. When you finish a task, there’s no explosion, no dubstep drop, no “MISSION COMPLETE” fanfare. Just… quiet competence. This game is aggressively unsexy in that way. That said, while the tools are simplified and abstracted (no, you cannot use this game to ruin your neighbor’s Wi-Fi or change your grades like in WarGames), many of the underlying concepts are at least plausible. Some things are fantasy, some are outdated, and some are wildly easier here than in real life—but it still feels grounded. It’s a “down-to-earth hacker” game. Which is a weird sentence, but accurate. Also, for bonus points, there’s a built-in TypeScript engine and a lightweight version of Git. Yes. Really. So… is it fun? It depends. If you’re the cybersecurity-adjacent type, you’ll probably crack a smile at the references and design choices. If you’re not, there’s a good chance this will feel intimidating, slow, or just plain weird. This is not a game for everyone—but for the people it clicks with, it’s quietly entertaining. As for me? I’m partly a cybersecurity guy, and I enjoyed it. There’s also a demo, which is honestly the best way to figure out if this is your kind of thing before committing. No hoodies required.