Hardwar (1998)

[Lee]

Hi Ross, and hi everyone else! Newbie here. Follower of FM since ep1 and love the game dungeons.

 

Just wanted to point people in the direction of an underrated and overlooked game from 1998 called Hardwar that is now abandonware (and has been for many years since the bankruptcy of The Software Refinery)

 

The wiki is here:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardwar_(video_game)

 

It's one of the very first games I played when I got my 'own' first PC. Definitely got a soft spot for it. Especially since the publisher was from my own city and I hoped to work for them one day.

 

I always try to push this game to people when I can as I really think it's a hidden gem. It's a very 'elite' style game in a sense, you fly around and scavenge for scrap to sell and trade goods etc, get trade routes going, upgrade your ship and equipment /weapons.

 

The in game economy is excellent for its time. Supply and demand really changes as it should and if you hoard particular stock in a hangar, you can effectively create a shortage and drive up the price.

 

There's day and night cycles, the graphics are pretty decent enough, handling feels spot on and the sound is good too.

 

It's a real immersive experience when you get into it. There's also a story arc involving aliens alongside the actual gameplay which I find reason enough to play it on its own.

 

There's a lovely little community for it still going to this day and by far the best resource is Captain Zedo's Hardwar site here:

 

http://zedo.hardwar.info

 

There you will find everything your heart desires to do with the game including the isos, patches, launchers for higher resolutions, skins, music, trade routes, guides etc.

 

It's an amazingly thorough site and they even have the patches by Ian Martin who was a founder of the software Refinery and continued to patch the game in his own time long after they went bust.

 

Try it and let me know what you think. A joystick with throttle control would be my recommendation and I also find Airdrawndagger by dj Sasha to be an excellent album to use as a soundtrack.

 

Enjoy!