Null State

Null State is a hacking game set in a dystopian near-future, years after a global systems crash called Obsidian Wednesday. You help people in need while exploring networks and branching storylines to uncover what caused the disaster, which brought most of the world’s computer systems down simultaneously.

Obsidian Wednesday

The crash lasted just over two minutes, but its effects continued for hours and days. The final death toll reached tens of millions before systems and services returned. Hackers were blamed, but your mentor Sid believes that explanation hides a global conspiracy to protect those in power. You can help him investigate what really happened.

Stories and contacts

More than twenty characters have their own problems, branching stories and questlines. You take jobs from contacts, and some pay you for manipulating networks to meet their clients’ specifications. Dozens of archived data files reveal the world’s history and lore, including clues from networks that were still operating before Obsidian Wednesday. Some of those clues concern questions that have troubled your new associates for over a decade.

Explore networks

You move through networks node by node, searching for data and ware to use or sell. The game includes nearly a hundred procedurally generated networks, while its feature list describes hundreds. Networks range from pre-crash systems to modern ones, and contain found-data logs and files that reveal more about the setting.

You can try to evade detection or fight your way through. Passive IC guard the contents of nodes, while active AV move between nodes and scan for intruders. Real-time stealth lets you avoid them, and combat is turn-based and risky.

Combat and equipment

Your inventory takes center stage in combat: security systems attack the ware on your deck, the equipment you bring to break into networks. Clearing a node’s security can uncover new data and upgraded ware for future runs. Combat can be brutal, so avoiding fights is often preferable.

Custom stories

A UGC framework lets you add your own stories to the Null State engine using custom datapacks.