Have You Played... Uplink?
Look at you, hacker
Have You Played? is an endless stream of game recommendations. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.
Uplink was the game that made me realise how effective an immersive user interface can be. You play a hacker and the screen is your screen. Your keystrokes and clicks are the actions, 1:1, of your alterego in the game. From that simple setup, Introversion create nailbiting tension as you evade, infiltrate and see the stakes getting higher and higher.
As well as creating a wonderful and almost unparalleled sense of immersion, Uplink's interface has another powerful side effect. Over time, the game has become an unintentional period piece, with its operating system now a representation of another time.
It's also one of the earliest indie games that I remember seeking out in a shop and the search for a boxed copy in the pre-digital download era was long and hard. Now, the game is available on GoG and Steam, but back then it was a rare commodity.
Introversion have since gone on to great success, most recently with the continuing public development of Prison Tycoon, but Uplink is the game that I'll forever associate with them. And, my oh my, I'd love to see a sequel one day.
