Hack ’95 Announced: A Card-Based Hacking RPG Set in the Windows 95 Era

Village Studios unveiled Hack ’95 today at the PC Gaming Show, a card-based hacking RPG set in the mid-1990s internet underground. A demo is live on Steam now.

The game drops players into a conspiracy that runs from underground hacker bulletin boards up to the halls of government. The core mechanic is a deck-builder inspired by 1990s trading card games, using scripts and hijacked machines as cards to defeat target systems. The interface replicates the look of Windows 95 with period-accurate pop-ups, chat clients, and desktop environments. The demo includes a radio station with licensed 90s tracks, interactive chat, and live action video segments.

Game director Will Luton, previously at SEGA and Rovio, described the design goal as making players feel like genuine hackers without any actual technical knowledge required. The script was written by Keith Stuart, games journalist and author of A Boy Made of Blocks, who cited the era’s mix of optimism and paranoia as the central appeal. The demo features licensed music from N-R-G and Nookie.

No release date has been announced beyond PC via Steam. For anyone who was online in the mid-90s, the aesthetic alone is going to hit hard.