This updated game with new illustrations, examples, and clarifications is now titled Exploit Zero instead of Hardwired, for trademark reasons, apparently.

Exploit Zero is a cyberpunk, espionage and mayhem table top war game. It is miniatures and scale agnostic designed for 1 – 6 Players, and can played in either co-op or solo mode.

I really liked “Mission Critical” as indicated a few days ago but was extremely disappointed by this one.

The rules remain mostly unchanged, with a few extra units and fun building options. The hacker is now divided into two characters: a “saw bones” and a “splicer,” separating the roles from Mission Critical. A fourth choice, a shiver or psycher, adds an interesting option.

The rules are fine, but the production, layout, and graphics are terrible, resembling a basic word processing document. I was very disappointed. The idea of factions is great, but they don’t impact unit building or gameplay, except maybe for modeling figures.

The pdf download had forty six pages of which over half were “fluff” that included poor quality artwork including a large number of “one pagers” and some interesting but superfluous fiction.

Without already having some rules experience the layout and “rules text” would be very hard to follow. Maybe a few games may change my views on the rules, but certainly not on the production.

Rating for production, layout, graphics and clarity:

Rating for the rules themselves:

From my viewpoint, even as a Patrick Todoroff devotee, is leave them alone, and stay with “Mission Critical” or “Zona Alpha” which are both far better productions and are more value for money.