usasan3 has released the cyber-noir roguelike *smoke.exe*. The game involves building automated hacking routines by placing nodes with various effects on a board, but its unique feature is that a single cigarette serves as both the time limit and the placement cost.
Become a Hacker in the Depths of a Cybercity
This cyber-noir roguelite game lets you take on the role of a hacker in a cybercity and build automated hacking routines. You’ll place nodes on a 6×6 grid; these nodes come in 31 different types with various effects—such as “SCAN,” which generates signals, and “BOOST,” which amplifies them—and signals flow automatically as long as the lines are connected.
Each stage consists of three rings where you set up your hacking operations, and one run comprises a total of five stages. The three bosses are said to interfere directly with the circuits you’ve built.
How do you make the most of a single cigarette?
In this game, you light a cigarette after placing nodes and run the hacking routine within the time it takes for the cigarette to burn out; however, placing each node also consumes part of that burn time. Therefore, the cigarette serves both as a time limit and as a cost for placing nodes, and it’s explained that “how you use up a single cigarette is the essence of this game.”
Furthermore, the nine different cigarette brands not only have unique burn times and starting kits but also feature an “addiction level” mechanic; if this level accumulates too much, it can cause unexpected effects on your signals.
Furthermore, shops encountered during runs offer 23 types of items—such as “canned coffee,” “whiskey,” and “kaki no tane”—that can be used alongside cigarettes to provide special effects.
"smoke.exe" is currently available for Windows (Steam) for 1,150 yen (805 yen until October 20).
