Hardwar may have less enduring appeal than any other game on my list, but while it had its hooks into me, I played it intensely. For a few short months, it didn’t just have me addicted. It consumed me.
The game pitches you as an intrepid pilot struggling to eke a living on the inhospitable moon of Titan, having been abandoned (along with the rest of the population) by the merciless mining corporations a hundred years ago. So far, so Elite meets Total Recall.
However, what sets Hardwar apart from its generic space-trading brethren is the execution. The game world, in contrast to the vast algorithm-generated voids of Elite or the X trilogy, is compact, hand-crafted, and - most importantly - teeming with life. Where other trading games revolve around markets and numbers, being essentially glorified stock-market simulators, Hardwar throws you into a living, breathing world. Not an in-game day goes by without you being targeted by pirates, swooping in to plunder the spoils of someone else’s space battle, or spotting a hapless trader carrying goods that just demand special attention.
Hardwar’s optional storyline is the icing on the cake. Those who decide to take a break from hardcore trading to respond to the cryptic in-game emails stumble upon that staple of video-game plot devices, the global conspiracy. The true nature of the grimy, corrupt custodians of Titan is gradually revealed to the player through a combination of in-game missions and delightfully offbeat FMV sequences. The live action footage is undeniably made on a shoestring, but man, it’s great.
Hardwar may hold the dubious honour of being by far the most obscure game on my list, but I’d like to think that poor sales were no reflection on its quality. It was simply released at the wrong time, and - like games from Psychonauts to Grim Fandango which shared its fate - was impossible to market in a single sentence.
