John is a fan of the ARG-y puzzle games of Alice & Smith [not our Alice, Adam, or Graham, honest guv -ed.], looking at games like The Black Watchmen as part of his Bleeding Edges series, but their latest demands the attentions of a specialist. ‘5up d00dz’, as we ‘l33t’ planet-hackers say on the ol’ datanet.

NITE Team 4 [official site] is a hacking RPG about military hackers and cyberwarfare. As well as probing and jacking computers remotely, hackers will get to send out a military unit for field work, which is an intriguing combination. If you’re interested, hey, Alice & Smith have launched a Kickstarter to fund finishing it.

NITE Team 4 is a spin-off from The Black Watchmen, set in the same universe and building upon its hacking ideas. The eponymous group are a military group defending against (and attacking) rogue states and other naughty groups, and players will get to have a go at that. Wait, hang on, hacking for The Man? This isn’t what I’m about, man.

Taking control of a hacking suite supposedly based on “real cybersecurity systems”, we’ll get to hack the planet in three phases. The Recon phase is about researching enemy facilities, trying to uncover intelligence to help target attacks. The Exploitation phase moves on to actually hacking people, getting into their systems. Then the Raid phase will let you affect the real world, doing things like sending in teams to plant malware and calling in drone strikes. Lawks! In theory, it’s an interesting one.

Here’s the pitch video:



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The Kickstarter is seeking at least $30,000 Canadian (£17.5k) to fund development. Pledging at least $25 Canadian (£15) would get you a copy of the game for Windows and Mac when it’s finished, which Alice & Smith estimate will be in March 2017.

The the alpha prototype from May is still downloadable for Windows and Mac, though the Kickstarter doesn’t mention this – presumably because it’s outdated now.