Ten Games That'll Make You Feel like a Master Hacker

"I'm in..."

by Dominic Tarason
Tue 30th Jun 2026

Vibe Check: Ten Games That'll Make You Feel like a Master Hacker 1 — *Image: United Artists*

Why do we play videogames? Sure, to pass the time. Spend time with friends, maybe. But often it's to immerse ourselves in a fantasy. Galactic adventurer, barbarian overlord, homeowner - whatever you want to be, you can probably find something on Steam that'll fit. With Vibe Check, we're here to help you to find the virtual world for you, with the opportunity to vote on what theme we cover next!

But for now, today's theme is.... Hacking! Whether you're tearing up cyberspace, infiltrating robot bodies, pulling off audacious high-tech heists or tapping away on a retro beige laptop, we've got a game to make you feel like a techno-wizard. Let us know what you think of our picks (and rank ours) in the list below.

Let's hack the Gibson.

s.p.l.i.t

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3684610/split/

Let's open with something intense, but not too difficult to see the end of. A short but incredibly intense hacking horror short from the darker side of the web, all about the terror of digging too deep and learning things that you shouldn't know. As dark as you'd expect from the maker of the twisted and grimy Buckshot Roulette, and devoid of its dark sense of humor.

Ctrl Alt Ego

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1571940/Ctrl_Alt_Ego/

Laughs and chaos ensue in a wobbly world made out of cheap plastic and hot glue, in the style of '70s and '80s British sci-fi TV sets. Ctrl Alt Ego is a very smart little immersive sim (think Thief, Prey, Deus Ex) where you play as a disembodied cyber-ghost, able to take over any body (including doors, cameras and more) in a space station populated by robots. All the fun of hacking with none of the computery shenanigans.

Duskers

https://store.steampowered.com/app/254320/Duskers/

Of course, the computery shenanigans are part of the fun. Duskers isn't technically a HACKING game, but it sure does make you feel like a sci-fi tech genius, hunched over an ancient green terminal screen. A tense sci-fi horror roguelike where you stay safely in your ship and explore derelict/haunted/infested spacecraft through a squad of remote control drones, controlled purely through a keyboard command-line interface. Think fast, type faster.

Deadeye Deepfake Simulacrum

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1545990/Deadeye_Deepfake_Simulacrum/

Once again seeing the world through a terminal, but that's just because you're stuck in a corporate-owned cyborg body with an enormous debt to repay. This tactical action-RPG is viewed from a blueprints-eye view and features plenty of bullet-dodging combat, but at any point you can pop open your hacking terminal to type in commands directly to interact with systems, take over enemy turrets or do some really wild stuff to the world once you unlock your weirder cyber-powers.

Quadrilateral Cowboy

https://store.steampowered.com/app/240440/Quadrilateral_Cowboy/

Another game with a clever hacking terminal to help you solve problems, but a lot more low-tech. Quadrilateral Cowboy (from the developers of recent hit Skin Deep, and set in the same retro-future universe) has you carrying out audacious heists, crawling through vents, dodging cameras and all that good stuff, but at any point you can set up your chunky retro laptop (with very localized wi-fi) to bypass security, unlock doors, solve problems and even remote control a tripod-mounted robot sniper rifle. Bet you never expected to do command-line sharpshooting, huh?

PRAGMATA

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3357650/PRAGMATA/

See? We're not ALL indie here. While recent buddy space-uncle buddy-action shooter Pragmata is more of a pure action game, a key part of the action is hacking. Without bypassing the security on your robot enemies, their armor is nigh unbreakable, so you've got to juggle moving, shooting, dodging AND playing a Snake-like hacking minigame all at the same time, with each new enemy having their own security quirks to bypass. You'll feel your brain splitting in two before the credits roll. Achieve cyber nirvana.

The Magic Circle

https://store.steampowered.com/app/323380/The_Magic_Circle/

This game is broken, and you're here to fix it, although its egotistical lead developer (voiced by Venture Bros' James Urbaniak) might be beyond your help. The Magic Circle is a smart, funny puzzle-adventure where you can alter the world around you, one variable or spawned entity at a time via a simple but powerful interface. With plenty of secrets and multiple solutions to almost any given problem, this sells the fantasy of being a god of cyberspace with none of the coding.

EXAPUNKS

https://store.steampowered.com/app/716490/EXAPUNKS/

But what if you WANT to get elbow-deep in code? Exapunks, from freeform puzzle studio Zachtronics (of Opus Magnum and Spacechem fame) is a programming puzzler set in a weird alternate '80s world. To make ends meet (and perhaps save your life), you've got to hack into systems by programming little virtual bots named EXAs, with real actual code. How do you learn to do this? Read the manual (which doubles as an in-universe hacker zine) and bone up like a real hacker. Demanding, but you WILL feel like a genius.

NITE Team 4 - Military Hacking Division

https://store.steampowered.com/app/544390/NITE_Team_4__Military_Hacking_Division/

If you're up for command-line chicanery and deep thinking, but don't want to learn real programming, NITE Team 4 might just hit the right balance for you. Feeling like a (very) extended hacking scene in a techno-thriller movie, there's hacking to be done, social engineering, tapping into phone lines and other modern-day spycraft, as well as plenty of ARG-style puzzles that'll require you to visit fake websites or do real research.

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

And lastly, sneaking around is fun enough in this cyberpunk heist tactics RPG, but the moment you put a hacker on your crew it transforms into two games at once - alternating between leading your gang of high-tech thieves to frustrate the guards while your Matrix expert steals valuable data and causes havoc with security systems, all via a surprisingly complex Shadowrun-inspired hacking interface.

While not a comprehensive list of all things Cyber, we think you'll find something to like in this list. Let us know if we missed any must-played faves in the comments below, but more importantly, let us know which rabbit-hole you want us to delve into next?