Cyber Manhunt

Cyber Manhunt is a story-oriented puzzle game by Chinese studio Aluba Studio that uses the framework of hacking and social engineering to interrogate broader social issues — cyber violence, privacy breaches, online mob behaviour, and the disproportionate consequences of casually destructive internet culture. Many of the plots draw directly from real-world incidents, and the resulting experience sits closer to a moral-weight thriller than to a hacking fantasy.

The gameplay covers the actual texture of social engineering work. Web searches gather basic information about targets. Database queries pull deeper records. Password cracking uses information you've collected to log into accounts across email, social media and chat platforms. Picture analysis extracts hidden clues from images. Phishing links compromise the target's computer or phone. Most notable is the chat system: you disguise yourself, build trust with the target through conversation, and extract information that the other tools can't reach. Advanced techniques unlock as you progress.

The studio cites This War of Mine, Papers Please and Orwell as direct influences, and the design priority is the same — give the player tools that make uncomfortable behaviour easy, then let them feel the consequences of using those tools. The narrative judges player choices, with different ethical patterns leading to different story outcomes. Aluba consulted social engineering experts and read Kevin Mitnick's The Art of Deception to ground the gameplay, and the resulting experience genuinely makes the player reckon with what cyber-mob behaviour does to its targets.