Greyhat is a hacker thriller and makes a cracking introduction Eurogamer.net If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy. Greyhat is a hacker thriller and makes a cracking introduction Terminal velocity. Feature by Robert Purchese Senior Staff Writer Updated on 14 Mar 2020 24 comments Greyhat doesn't hang around. I'm straight into a hacking job, inside someone's computer trying to work out the name of a mystery person. I have to look through emails and documents for keywords, so I can try them as passwords to get into a protected folder, then I find the name I'm looking for on a calendar appointment. Bingo, nailed it. I'm a big deal. Not wanting to brag or anything. Greyhat Developer: Greyhat - A Digital Detective Adventure Publisher: Limited Games Platform: Limited Games Availability: Demo out now on Steam, full game out in the summer Oh, I actually am a big deal - I'm a really well known hacker, it turns out. My friend tells me when I'm back on my computer chatting on ICQ, or something like it. It's very 90s. I also find out I have a wife and daughter, and that I work in the basement, how typical, and I should go up for tea - oh and my daughter has lost her teddy bear, poor thing, so I see if she's OK. More importantly, I learn I am on my last job and then I'm out, I promise, which doesn't sound ominous at all, especially when I discover the person I compromised just now, in my hack, is actually a hacker too. A dangerous one and apparently I better watch out. This all happens within about 20 minutes, if that. Greyhat is pacey. The dialogue is crisp and just enough to add flavour, and a bigger story builds in snippets of conversations and files I find - tasty little morsels to pique my curiosity. It's fun to play, too. There are mechanics I've never seen before. Chatting to people on the ICQ-like program involves pressing a button on either the left or right side of the keyboard to build either a negative or positive response (and once you build it, there's no deleting). There's no need to be accurate, you can quite happily mash the side of the keyboard you want, and it feels a bit reckless and a bit silly, and it reminds me a lot of how hackers smash away at keyboards in films, like geeks possessed. There's a hacking mini-game based around the same theme but slightly different. You press buttons on either side of the keyboard to erase lines of code, and there's an endless screen of it. Clear enough and you fill a gauge and you're in. But look out for the red bits of code! If you bang into them, ehh uhhh, you lose, and if you take too long, you'll never get in. The result: more keyboard mashing! And when you get confident with this game, a box appears with a word you have to type - at speed. Underneath all this, and not to be overlooked, is the inherent fun of being somewhere you shouldn't, sleuthing around in someone else's computer and nosing through their files. What's their password? Check their photos - have they named the people in them? What about their emails, do they mention anyone there? And as you nose around, discreet little stories unfold. This guy works for big pharma and there's something going on there, and this person is involved with terrorism - can you track them down? But nothing quite prepares for where the story is about to go. All of a sudden, a sledgehammer of a plot development hits me and I'm stunned. Remember that hacker I shouldn't have messed with? Oh yeah. And with that, the demo ends, and I desperately want to know more. Greyhat totally surprised me. I didn't expect this, I didn't expect a thriller. I just hope Limited Games has enough clout to deliver on what it started. It's taking on delicate subject matter it can easily mistreat so please, Limited Games, proceed with care. And hurry up! Your hacking game makes a cracking introduction. Become a Eurogamer subscriber and get your first month for £1 Get your first month for £1 (normally £3.99) when you buy a Standard Eurogamer subscription. Enjoy ad-free browsing, merch discounts, our monthly letter from the editor, and show your support with a supporter-exclusive comment flair! Support us View supporter archive More Features Digital Foundry Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090: a new level in graphics performance The Digital Foundry video review - and how the new GPU champion delivers for 4K 120fps gaming. 12 Feature Evercore Heroes wants to wind people up the right way "There's less rage at them, because they didn't end your fun." Feature What games get wrong about horses And what they could do about it. 34 Feature Shout out to all the Overwatch supports - where would we be without you? Merci. 55 Latest Articles Preview Football Manager's new Console edition is the best you'll get without a PC Getting Touch-right. Splatoon 3 Amiibos will be out next month Ink-coming! 3 Fans think Phil Spencer's shelf is teasing the Xbox Game Pass streaming box UPDATE: Xbox confirms old Keystone prototype. 59 Modder dives into Demon's Souls files following PS5 jailbreak, discovers fabled Ring of the Chieftain Who knows what's nexus? 4 Supporters Only Premium only Off Topic: Take a minute to appreciate Cookin' with Coolio's incredible scallops recipe. What a great book. Premium only Off Topic: Reading City of Glass in comic form "Where exactly am I going?" Premium only Off Topic: Il Buco is a transporting film about a really big hole Underlands. Off-Topic Netflix handled Sandman brilliantly It was Dreamy. 9 Buy things with globes on them And other lovely Eurogamer merch in our official store! Explore our store