Platform: PC

Developer: Reflect Studios 

Publisher: Reflect Studios  

Release Date: April 3rd, 2018 

Genre: Horror, Puzzle  Simulation

Nerd Rating: 7 / 10

Reviewed by Rhutsczar

Apparently, we didn’t get enough of the Deep Web when we dove in the first time. Welcome back to Welcome to the Game 2.0 for another voyage into the Anonymous Node Network to search for yet another key to a far-off corner of the web. This is the sequel to 2016’s Welcome to the Game and shares many elements from the first title.

For those of you who are not familiar with the Deep Web, let me give you a quick rundown. The Deep Web is where the majority of the Internet actually exists, unreachable by normal browsers. Users can access the Deep Web from their personal computers using a specific type of browser, the most popular being ToR. The Deep Web is your one-stop shop for everything deplorable. Need some drugs delivered directly to your door? The Silk Road had you covered. How about some children to work for you? Check. How about needing a rival killed? They have that too. At least most of the hitman have standards, as they won’t kill children…or most people under the age of 18 for that matter. Welcome to the Game 2.0 depicts some of the worst websites I have ever seen, including a “bug-chasing” website where you can buy infected bodily fluids for your favorite STIs.

Just a tame website on the A.N.N

This time around you are Clint Edwards, one brave yet incredibly naive freelance reporter who decides to run an investigation into a missing person on the dark web. Known only as Amelea, she catches Clint’s attention after a mysterious man known only as Adam directs the player to a rather barebones site that she is live-streaming from. Amelea is being chased by men in masks and her fate is left up to the audience, will she live or be tortured in front of our eyes?

So how can Clint reach her in time to save her? Well Welcome to the Game 2.0 gives a pretty solid time frame of eight hours to find her. In order to find her location, the player has to crack the N.O.I.R. Tunnel, essentially a back channel for the N.O.I.R. cult (who happen to be the prime suspects). In order to hack this tunnel, Clint must discover eight hashes (layers of code) hidden among various websites on the Deep Web. Hooray, what we have always wanted! Put your gas mask on bois, as we are going to be searching through some really deplorable websites that will sully your search history in a heartbeat.

Oh no, it is the Russians! Oh wait, just a mini-game.

While we are searching through these sites, we have to be wary and ready to be hacked at any moment. Just like the original game, hacking essentially serves as mini-games for the player to keep their items and earn currency. There are now multiple mini-games that appear if the player is unable to block on the first try, which vary heavily on difficulty. Hacking serves a bigger purpose this time around, as Clint can become a hacker himself. Since changing networks to remain undetected (more on that later) is incredibly important, the player can buy hacking software using cryptocurrency and hack your neighbor’s wifi networks.  Using the software feels like the most realistic aspect of the game, as you have to understand a bit about computer coding to understand it fully.

Definitely one of the biggest upgrades for Welcome to the Game 2.0 is the much larger world you are able to explore. While the first game had the player stuck to one room where you could only get up to turn off the lights, you can now roam around your own apartment building! Since your apartment is on the 8th floor (I mean why, honestly) you have multiple levels of rooms to explore as well as your dead drop location in the adjoining alley.

But why do I live on the 8th floor?

Of course with more room to maneuver comes with an entirely new set of obligations and ways to further your own life. As I mentioned above, changing wi-fi networks is essential to your survival. You primarily change these networks via hacking or moving the Wi-Fi dongle around the apartment, but why must you go through all of this trouble? Well since the N.O.I.R. have plenty of hackers on their side, they track your IP address to figure out which apartment is yours to do the obvious. On a lighter note, there is a way to lose the game and not die (I mean, depends on the real-life city I guess). Since your investigation is actually completely illegal, the FBI is on your trail too. If you are caught, which can also happen if you crack their dummy network, they will flashbang your apartment and the investigation is over.

While the game tries to be as realistic as possible when you’re hacking, where it excels is in its utilization of sound and our paranoia. Since the game is relatively quiet when you are surfing the A.N.N, the developers utilize their ability to jump-scare you with the fantastic sound design. For example, the notification that you are being hacked is much louder than the normal game volume, startling even the most seasoned of players. You can’t ignore the little noises off in the distance either, as acknowledging them could be the only way you survive.  You can only detect certain threats to your well-being by listening closely, i.e. hearing for N.O.I.R. cultists open your window or Lucas the assassin picking the lock on your door. Also, make note that when you are hiding from someone in your apartment, the game WILL register your microphone and you WILL DIE if you make a peep. Make sure you have proper headphones for this one, you’re going to need it.

He just breathes casually outside your apartment. No big deal.

The biggest problem, however, is that Welcome to the Game 2.0 still feels like it is a beta version. There is a multitude of bugs that take the game’s already challenging difficulty to the next level. There are large bugs, like being hacked when you are not connected to a network or becoming targeted before you even have found your first hash. While these are issues that are being fixed as we speak, there are little bugs like the home button not working after you change networks. While this can be seen as a minor inconvenience, it also eats up valuable time that could be better utilized on the next site.

So while Welcome to the Game 2.0 has the makings to be a fantastic and challenging hacking simulator with a whole slice of the deplorable side of the Internet, the launch day bugs make it an incredibly difficult challenge that can turn off many players from traversing further. For those that can stomach the sights of genital torture and casual murder, Welcome to the Game 2.0 will give them a run for their money. If you would like to try Welcome to the Game 2.0, you can currently buy it on Steam for $9.99.