Games worth discovering

Cracking passwords and reading emails to discover dark secrets in Cyber Manhunt - Pocket Playfest

3K View2023-06-07

Cyber Manhunt is a thoroughly modern mystery game that lets you dig up information without ever leaving your home. You play as the member of a shadowy organization that’s determined to uncover secrets by any means possible. Instead of wasting your time on traditional detective work, you’ll use tools like search engines and password crackers to learn more about the targets you’re investigating.

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Welcome to TapTap’s Pocket Playfest - An Indie Celebration! Beginning on June 16 and running through June 28, we will be showcasing demos for ten brand-new, unpublished mobile games. These ten games are all from indie developers and represent some of the most exciting upcoming mobile games on the horizon. You’ll only be able to download those demos for Android right here on TapTap, so stay tuned!

In addition to checking out some exciting new games, you’ll also be able to vote for your favorites. The developers whose games get the most votes will get a big cash prize from TapTap, and that’s not all: You can win too! Just by playing these games and voting for your favorites, you’ll earn points and get entered into a giveaway! You could win a Steam Deck, an Xbox Elite controller, or even a $1000 gift card.

Cyber Manhunt is one of the ten games TapTap will be featuring as part of our Pocket Playfest. Enjoy the rest of our thoughts, and be sure to come back on June 16 so you can download it and try it for yourself. Play and vote for your chance to win!

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After a quick and easy tutorial case, Cyber Manhunt tossed me into the deep end and asked me to get to find the truth behind a CEO’s mysterious suicide. The only information I was given was a brief newspaper article, but before I knew it, I was hacking into people’s Facebook profiles, reading through their emails, and cold-calling their college friends. There were times when the invasiveness of it all made me feel guilty, but since most of my targets used their name and birth year as their default password, they probably had it coming.

Most of my searches started out with something simple, like a person’s name. I’d use that information to track down their social media profiles, comb through their activity on dating sites, and dig up other clues about their life. Once I’d gathered enough info, I plugged it all into a password cracking tool so that I could find their most common passwords, log into their accounts, and expose their deepest, darkest secrets.

Cyber Manhunt touches on some serious topics, like romance scams and domestic violence, but the game isn’t overly dark, and it doesn’t really get into the grimy details of any of the subjects it tackles. The investigative tools are similar to tools people use in the real world, but the results are a lot more streamlined. Most subjects I spied on only had a few social media posts and a handful of messages in their email inbox, for example.

There’s definitely a part of me that would have loved to spend hours reading through juicy fictional emails, but I think the streamlined approach that Cyber Manhunt takes is the right one. I was never overwhelmed with information or distracted by spicy messages, and because of that, I was able to stay focused on my case and move forward with the investigation. The demo ends before the first full case is finished, but I’m definitely eager to see things through and wrap up the case when the full game releases.

If you like mysteries and puzzle games, take a dive into the world of Cyber Manhunt. Not only is it a fun little twist on traditional detective games, but it’s the perfect way to indulge your inner spy.