本人同样撰写了本指南的简体中文版，链接如下：
This guide is also available in Simplified Chinese, here's the link to the Chinese (Simplified) version:
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3295828518

Hackshot intentionally leaves some mechanics unexplained to encourage players to discover them for themselves. But some might need a little assistance doing that, and some might get confused and thought the rules are wrong or inconsistent (they are not).

Thus, in this guide, I will explain some mechanics that I think might be confusing in detail, and provide a few personal tips and tricks, including general optimization tips, and tips for specific situations. Let's get started!

The scoring system, while creative, might be the most complex mechanic the game has to offer. So I will be explaining just that.

The Prestige Score ("score" in short) of a hack (solution) is composed of four parts: Ball Score, Hack Score, Combo Bonus and Special. Here are how all of them work:



Ball Score is rewarded for saving cyberballs during the hack. The more Mod Points a cyberball have, the more score you will get if you ultimately don't use it.

What's worth noticing here is that, the score reward for saving a cyberball is only dependent on the level of this cyberball, not the specific Mod Points this cyberball has. As shown in the screenshot above, each cyberball is granted a level based on its Mod Points. This might be to simplify the score calculating process for the players.



Hack Score is rewarded for completing hacking objectives in a level, such as destroying viruses, collecting files, etc. Each objective in a level is granted a Hack Point, and you need to get a certain amount of them to finish a level. The formula for calculating Hack Score is:

Hack Score = 250 * The sum of Hack Points of the objectives you completed


Combo Bonus is rewarded for doing several objectives during one shot. What the game doesn't explain is the calculation method, and this is the most complicated part.

Let N be the total number of the objectives you completed during a shot, and P be the total Hack Points you get from doing these objectives, the Combo Bonus is calculated by:

Combo Bonus = (250 * P) * (N * 10%) = 25 * P * N

In other words, not only do you get more score for doing longer combos, but you also get more score if you include objectives with more Hack Points / Hack Score in a combo of the same length.

And here's my first tip: looking at the formula above, you can see that only P and N are variables, so when you try to compare the Combo Bonus of different combos, just comparing P*N is enough.


Let's practise with an example. The trajectory in the screenshot above should hit the green virus off the ground, then collect two files. The virus gives 3 Hack Points, and each file here gives 1 Hack Point. Try calculate yourself before looking at the explanation below:

First, we get N=3 (1 virus + 2 files), notice that N is the total number, not points, of the objectives. Second, we get P=5 (3+1+1) from adding up all Hack Points of the objectives. Finally, we use the formula above to get the combo score: 25 * 5 * 3 = 375.


Finally, Special score only exists in Critical Nodes (aka boss fights). It often rewards special actions like dropping shields and defeating the bosses.

It follows the same rule as Hack Score, only replacing "objective" for "special action". And the most important thing is, it also counts towards Combo Bonus. Sometimes you might want to try chaining them with other things to get huge score boosts that are impossible to achieve otherwise.

The game currently has two different gameplay modes: Original Tools (OT), and Full Arsenal (FA). The game explains the difference between these two well, but just for completion's sake, I'll rephrase the rules here:

Original Tools (OT): Player can only use limited types of mods specified by the level, usually it's just whatever mods you have when you first unlock this level.
Full Arsenal (FA): Player can use all the mods that they have unlocked throughout the game.


You can get different amounts of stars (or asterisks, whatever you want to call them) by fulfilling certain score requirements specified by the level. Due to limitations and player's capabilities being different in the two modes stated above, it is natural that the two modes have different score requirements for stars.

For the same amount of stars, the score requirement in FA is usually higher because player can use whatever they want instead of just a subset of mods in OT. A lot of the levels are designed to be re-visited later in order to get even higher score, which is why you may notice some level elements not being useful in optimizing OT score.

It is also because of this, that the game would hide score requirements for goals higher than 3* in FA mode until the player has reached a certain point in story. You can definitely still try to get higher score despite this, and the game would still reward you the correct amount of stars for reaching the hidden goals, but please keep in mind that it is usually impossible to get the highest goal (5*) in FA mode until you have gotten almost all the mods.


The highest optimization goals (5*) typically reflect the best known solutions, with the goals' requirements being the same as or just a bit lower (usually about 25 or 50) than the true best known score. That's part of the reason why in OT mode, not all levels have goals higher than 3*, it's because there are no known significantly better solutions.

After getting one of these solutions, you will get a win phrase: "Exception-A1", which is a wordplay on "Exceptional". That's why I'm calling these Exceptional hacks.

But, as an open-ended puzzle game, there is, of course, still room to find and perform better hacks. Introducing: Ascended hacks, which means solutions with significantly higher (at least 100 more) score than the highest goal in either modes, and usually not intended by the developer.

Ascended hacks are rare and often unorthodox, most of these hacks I came by were found purely by accident. But it is definitely possible for dedicated players to come across these hacks without too much extreme fine-tuning, and the sensation of 'beating the developer at their own game' can be really fulfilling. So I believe that's why the developer chose to reward these solutions with a flashy win phrase, without necessarily altering the established goals.

Here I will be listing some tips and facts that helped me on the optimization problems this game throws at me.



The game does provide some general tips to get higher score, as shown in the screenshot above. Here are some basic tips, some rephrased from the screenshot above:

1. Use the least number of cyberballs
2. Use lower level cyberballs
3. Hack as many files and viruses as possible
4. Try to do longer combos, including those that require setting up beforehand
5. Include more rewarding objectives in combos

These tips are pretty surface-level considering they are basically rephrasing the scoring rules. If you try to do fancy trickshots over doing the objectives one-by-one, you often end up doing one or more of these things, so not too much can be said about these.


But sometimes you need to try something unintuitive, as in, something not immediately and obviously better, to get an ultimately higher score, and it often requires some strategic decisions. This is the most 'puzzly' part of the game imo, and it's fun figuring out the tricks myself.

But if you are having trouble optimizing one level, here are some more general directions that I find useful pursuing:

1. Consider different groupings of the same set of objectives. For example, if you have a set of 4 objectives giving 1,1,3,3 Hack Points respectively, grouping them two-by-two is better than grouping the lowest three of them (1,1,3) together, then doing the last one alone. You can check the math: (1+1+3+3)*2=16>15=(1+1+3)*3. So remember to actually do the math before abandoning an idea prematurely.

2. Consider different kinds of tradeoffs. Tradeoffs can come in many forms in this game, basically, it means "giving up" something intentionally to gain more in return. For example, if the cost of using a cyberball is greater than what's in return, then it's not worth it. In other occasions, using an extra cyberball to destroy an obstacle beforehand may help you construct a beautiful combo later that gives more than the cost.

3. Consider creative interactions between level elements. A level can be very dynamic and filled with different objects. Not only can you make a cyberball interact with (hit) them directly, but you can also let them interact with each other: making barriers and viruses destroy each other, making one virus push another one, etc. By fully utilizing these interactions, you can make more things happen at the same time, without making cyberballs do all the work.


These facts are not necessarily tips, but rather things that show imperfection of this game, and could become obstacles in your way of optimization if you don't know or accept them. If I were to criticize this game, these would be the things I would like improved. But hey, no game is perfect, you can choose to accept these, or not, I can't decide for you.

1. Sometimes, to get something just right, performing some trial-and-error is inevitable, such as fine-tuning the firing angle. Most of the time there is a fair range of success, but there are still times when you cannot even miss by 0.01°. The Mass (M) and Bounciness (B) mods are often prone to trial-and-error, too, since you can't see precise trajectory prediction for dynamic collisions and often need to try all different combinations of these mods to get the perfect trajectory.

But, using the game's Quality of Life features (some of which I will be talking about later), the process of trial-and-error can become easier.

2. In some extreme circumstances, the game's physics engine can produce different results for a shot with the exact same parameters. Yes, this is true, the game's physics engine is, in fact, not deterministic at the moment. I discovered this when I want to watch a replay of a solution, and it somehow doesn't work any more. Most of the time the difference is invisible to naked eye, but sometimes it shows.

I don't think I ever needed to use "ambiguous" shots to achieve higher score, but sometimes it feels too close to being the case. Luckily, the developer is working towards a solution to this problem.


These facts are only relevant in specific situations, but I still find them worth reminding myself of.

1. You can stop a shot at any moment after firing. You may think that stopping a shot is only a "Quality of Life" type option, only useful in saving time by stopping a shot that has run its course but won't disappear because it is still moving slightly. Maybe originally that is the only reason, but apparently that's not true now. Sometimes, stopping a shot in the middle of its trajectory can be useful in a bigger plan.

2. Some special actions in Critical Nodes (boss fights) count towards Combo Bonus. Although this part of score shows at "Combo Bonus and Special" category in the game's GUI, you might want to keep in mind that special actions also count as "objectives", like what I said in the "Scoring System" part of this guide.

3. Cyberballs can actually go offscreen (at least more so in vertical directions) and not disappear. While the edges of the screen kill viruses, they do not have the same effect on cyberballs. A cyberball can go beyond the screen and come back unharmed if it doesn't get too far way from the screen. Sometimes if you are stuck, trying thinking outside the box, while the "box" here being the screen you are looking at.

The Mods are pretty well-documented in-game, so I won't repeat them here. However, some physical properties may be difficult to understand for players without certain academic backgrounds, so I will still talk about some facts that I think are important to understand.

1. Mass (M) only affects collisions between dynamic objects, while Bounciness (B) affects all collisions.

The game correctly stated that mass only affects collisions between dynamic objects. With the same velocity, the more mass an object has, the easier it is to transfer momentum to other objects (hitting them afar), and the harder it is to gain backward momentum from collision (difficult to bounce back).

But bounciness, on the other hand, affects all collisions, including those between dynamic objects, and those between one dynamic object and one static object, such as a wall. Bounciness (elasticity) in physics describes an object's ability to retain kinetic energy after collision, in the game's case, you can just view it as retaining velocity, that's the way the game describes it too. The more bounciness an object has, the easier it will bounce back in all kinds of collisions, not just hitting a wall.

2. Collision only affects velocity component that's perpendicular to the collision surface.

This is easier to understand in a simple example: If a cyberball with "no bounciness" property hit a floor with no slope diagonally, then the vertical component would disappear, so it would not bounce up. However, it will not stop entirely, and will continue moving left or right.

This seems obvious in the example above, but it's not so obvious in more complex situations, so I feel it's better to write it down.

The game provides various Quality of Life designs to make the player's life easier, especially for those inevitable trial-and-error process I talked about in the "Optimization Tips" part of the guide. The game does prompt you to use some of them, such as the Undo functionality, but there are also things that I find useful but the game doesn't directly tell you they exist. For better visualization, let's bring one of the previous screenshots back again:


1. Saving complete or partial solutions for later reference. This is on the right side of the in-level GUI. The game saves your best attempts (plural for different modes) and last attempts automatically, but you can save your own as well, and it doesn't even need to be a complete solution, you can just save what you've done in it and reference it later. This is a better storage option than what's on the left side of the in-level GUI, because that place seems to reset after quitting the level, this won't.

2. Click and drag the shots for faster application. You can do this in the left side of the in-level GUI, and also the saved solutions in the right side. By clicking and dragging shots from these places, you can apply some aspects of the selected shot to the current shot. You can choose from the following options: Apply angle, apply mods, or apply both. This means that you definitely don't need to re-input the parameters if you just bothered to save them somewhere.

3. Taking notes regarding specific objects (files and viruses). This is on the bottom of the in-level GUI. The game provides notes for several early object types, but the information given will become less and less over time, until it does not give any information altogether. You can use the notes to write down what you thought are the rules behind these objects, and keep track of them over time, because through further exploration, your hypotheses may change.

To me, the behaviors of most level elements are relatively straightforward, so I will not be talking about those. But some mechanics, especially those involving a concept I call "object types", might get a little confusing, and can almost seem inconsistent. The game does touch on the inner working of some mechanics I'm going to talk about in the collected files, but they are almost never explained directly. Also, the files can easily be missed if you do not get higher than 2 stars in these levels, and can be hidden after a late-game event, so I think it's necessary to talk about these.

But these are all my theories on these mechanics. I might get something wrong, like all human beings do, so if you are still noticing inconsistencies, feel free to give me your feedback.


The objects in this game can be separated into four "types": Unbreakable, Security, Virus, and External. Here are some example objects for each of these types:

Unbreakable: All of the white walls and objects.
Security: Barriers (breakable walls) and firewalls.
Virus: Well, viruses, of course.
External: Cyberballs.

Unbreakable type is obvious: they are unbreakable no matter what, and they are unable to deal damage whatsoever.

For the next two types, some of these objects are unbreakable as well, such as firewalls, but they are able to deal damage to other objects and follow the rules I'm about to tell you: Objects of the same type do not deal damage to each other, even if they have differing power levels and/or spikes indicating ability to deal damage. This is why viruses can't destroy each other, the same goes for barriers.

But this rule doesn't apply to External type. They are "external" to the computer system we are hacking, so they are different from all of the objects above, and can deal damage to or be dealt damage by all types of objects, including External type, as long as the two colliding objects have different power levels, and the one that has higher power level has the ability to deal damage.

Having learned the concept of object types, explaining the behaviors of some objects will become much easier.


But wait, now's time for a spoiler warning. The information below will detail some mid-game mechanics (Chapter 3 and 4 in particular), and may rid you of the fun of discovering them yourself, so I would only recommend reading these if you feel truly stuck or think the game's rules aren't consistent. You have been warned!




First appeared in Chapter 3, these enemies disguise as files to trick security, as described in the game's setting. So in terms of game mechanics, they are originally seen as Security type, until it is touched by a cyberball (maybe something of External type as well, I haven't tested it yet), then it would reveal its true form, and appear as Virus type. Before the type change, the barriers and firewalls would not be able to hurt them, but they will after the change.

There's also an interesting yet natural consequence coming out of these mechanics: while trojans can't be hurt by barriers in Security mode, they are instead vulnerable to other viruses now. So, should you try destroying them before or after the type change, this is another interesting question to ask yourself.




First appeared in Chapter 4, these barriers seems to not abide by the normal rules, because viruses can perfectly sit on them and not get destroyed. Upon closer inspection, their veiny appearance indicates that they are different from normal barriers. They actually belong to Virus type, that's why they can't hurt viruses and you can't destroy it with viruses either. Instead, they are vulnerable to Security type objects, such as dynamic firewall objects.




First appeared in Chapter 4 as well, these little helpers look like other viruses, but they don't provide hack points, and actually belong to External type, as they can destroy and be destroyed by barriers AND viruses, as long as they have different power level.

What's a little counterintuitive about them is their visuals. As you can see in the screenshot above, there are two types of these viruses, their behaviors correspond to two types of Cyberarmor mod that we would later receive: Ricochet and Bull. The left one in the screenshot is the Ricochet variant, and the right one is the Bull variant. The Bull variant don't have spikes, but they can still deal damage.




Now this is finally an element that has nothing to do with object types shenanigans. They will take certain file(s) hostage, indicated by some link(s) between them and the hostage(s). A hostage file can not be collected, unless the link between it and the virus is deactivated. If the virus die while the link is activated, the files would not be available for collecting ever again.

The link is activated when the hostage is within a certain range around the virus, AND the link doesn't go through any firewall. So the way to deactivate the link is to break this condition, either by getting the hostage out of range, which is indicated by a purple circle that's a little hard to see, or by cutting it off with firewalls.

All of the ways described above are only "temporary". This means that, if the condition for activating the link is fulfilled again, the link will be re-activated. The only way to get rid of the link permanently is destroying the virus while the link is deactivated.

Congrats on scrolling to the end! I hope you find this guide helpful to your understanding of the game.