Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Now there’s a ‘Mr. Robot’ mobile game — and it’s told through text messages

Mr. Robot eps1.51exfiltrati0n - Behind The Scenes
It’s rare to find media of any kind that faithfully covers the clandestine world of hacking, but Mr. Robot has done a great job. It’s now looking to make the jump from TV show to game, though, with Oxenfree-maker NightSchool Studios turning it into a narrative-driven mobile game, and with Telltale Games as publisher.

Although NightSchool might not be your first choice for a game based around hacking, making a story-driven title is its cup of tea. Oxenfree has shown its strength at storytelling, and with company founder Adam Hines coming from Telltale, you know there’s plenty of experience with conversational games, where you find your way through the story by minutely controlling the dialogues your characters have with one another.

Hines also penned the story for this game, after having previously written for Season 1 of Telltale’s Walking Dead game, as well as Wolf Among Us and Tales from the Borderlands.

Related: ‘Batman: The Telltale Series’ Episode 1 review

This will be quite a different tale than Telltale fans are used to. In the Mr Robot 1.51exfiltratiOn game, players will interact purely through text messages. You’ll control your replies, but they will all be SMS messages between you and another party.

'Mr. Robot:1.51exfiltrati0n' Launch Trailer

Those messages will have far-reaching consequences and will drive the story forward, whilst relaying elements to you in various forms as well. As the creators discuss in the video above, they wanted the game to feel natural, as though you are really just interacting with your phone as you do every day — except now in connection with a fictional story.

To enhance that aspect of the game, it plays out in real time. Don’t expect to sit down and blow through 1.51exfiltratiOn in a few hours. There will be down time where nothing much is going on. Telltale says that the game takes place over the course of a week, so make sure you don’t have too many plans.

Telltale fans can expect the same level of heavy decision making that is common in its games, though the language will be a little different with this one considering its setting.

Mr Robot 1.51exfiltratiOn is available now on iOS and Android, priced at $3.

Download for iOS Download for Android

Jon Martindale
Jon Martindale is the Evergreen Coordinator for Computing, overseeing a team of writers addressing all the latest how to…
Mecha Break’s robot customization shakes up the battle royale formula
Mecha Break robot head with glowing blue eyes

Mecha Break isn't the kind of multiplayer game you can master right away.

You might equip a lance that you barely know how to use because it seemed like a good idea, and spend the rest of a round attempting to bash yourself into enemies to help your teammates. It incorporates action that's more similar to that of Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon than it is to the shooter-focused gameplay in Gundam Evolution, Bandai Namco's multiplayer mecha shooter that shut down last year. Overwatch does come to mind, but in a way where mechs are still the focus rather than the pilots within them.

Read more
Visions of Mana paints a promising picture of the RPG series’ return
Red-haired girl with horns and dragon wing in Visions of Mana

The vibrant settings and character designs in Visions of Mana instantly alerted me that I'd be knee-deep into fantasy, riding on the back of a giant black wolf into the grassy plains of Fallow Steppe. A lush landscape welcomed me as I chatted with my teammates on top of my mount and tussled with little woodland monsters.

I had this experience at this year's PAX East, where I went hands-on with a demo of the upcoming RPG. I never played previous Mana games, but I have enough experience with RPGs and real-time combat to name it one of the most gorgeous, action-packed games I played at the show. The shiny open-world and slick combat I experienced point to a strong comeback for the Mana series coming later this summer.

Read more
Sega lays off 240 workers and sells Company of Heroes 3 studio
sega lets relic entertainment go independent company of heroes 3 girl

Sega Europe is going through some major restructuring, and as a result, it is laying off about 240 developers and letting Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War and Company of Heroes developer Relic Entertainment spin off as an independent company.

Although Sega's Japanese developers are known for their platformers, action games, and RPGs, its European output is more strategy game-focused. A key component of that was Relic Entertainment, which has made games like Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III, Age of Empires IV, and Company of Heroes 3 over the past decade. With the help of investment company Emona Capital, Relic is buying itself back from Sega and going independent for an undisclosed amount. Relic addressed going independent on X (formerly Twitter) with a message.

Read more