Belgian Game Spotlight - Midnight Protocol
Welcome to a new Belgian Game Spotlight! Last month we helped a scarecrow get back his stolen corn in Stitchy in Tooki Trouble, and this time we're rolling up our sleeves and diving into the binary world of Midnight Protocol.
Midnight Protocol is a tactical narrative-driven RPG with unique keyboard-only controls. Hack into servers, beat security systems and discover encrypted secrets while you try to find answers to why and how you got doxxed.
Before we continue, perhaps it's best to first check out the trailer, to get a better feel for what kind of game we're dealing with:
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Midnight Protocol takes place in the near future where the online world has grown to become even more important and with key operations all relying on digital information. It’s no surprise then that there is an equally increased activity from hackers who are either out to make a profit or those who use their skills to make the world a better place.
The story centres around a hacktivist called Data, who recently got doxxed and has been targeted for blackmail by a shadowy branch of the government. It’s up to you to set things right and uncover the many mysteries in this digital world.
Midnight Protocol is 100% controlled by keyboard; even navigating the menus is done through letter shortcuts. You’ll take on missions and syphon money, interface with important data and generally hack your way through secure networks. To achieve this, you have a Deck with various programs at your disposal.
You can equip Stealth programs like “Cloak” that will lower the detection rate or “Tunnel” which allows you to skip to the next node without being noticed or you can use programs like “Sniffer” to scout ahead and see if there are any obstacles between you and the next location. If there are, you can use attacks like “Harpoon” or “Dagger” to attack firewalls and spambots.
While each of those programs has its own animation, the majority of the action takes place in your own brain, as you allow yourself to roleplay more and more while you grow your hacker skills. You can customise your deck to suit your liking or you can keep changing things up, depending on what the next mission throws at you.
The flow of it all feels very natural, hacking into a network address, learning about a keyword, entering that keyword into an Intranet search to then send phishing email hoping to obtain a password. It’s cleverly written and thought out.
Those emails also feel fantastic to interact with: you can just type away on your keyboard and the game will fill in the actual message, including backspaces and moments where the protagonist seemingly changes their mind. The immersion is through the roof.
Sounds like this is the game for you?
Then be sure to wishlist it and support our local game developers! Midnight Protocol is releasing some time this summer, but you can already check out a public demo.
Wishlist Midnight Protocol on Steam
Want to keep up-to-date on the game and the studio? Here are a few places you can follow them:
We hope you've enjoyed this feature article and if you're a Belgian game developer yourself, don't be afraid to reach out and maybe we'll spotlight your game next month!
