Terminal Descent
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| A browser-based cyberpunk text adventure where you play as a hacker navigating a corrupted digital infrastructure called The Lattice. | |
Terminal Descent is a cyberpunk text adventure and hacker RPG played entirely in the browser at terminaldescent.com. Players take the role of ZERO, a rogue hacker jacked into a battered Cyberdeck in a basement Safehouse. A message waits from Lyra, a runner who has gone dark after discovering something buried in the Grid's foundation that the corporations will kill to keep hidden.
Overview
Terminal Descent is a text-driven experience where every command typed is a hack, every room is a server, and every enemy is code trying to kill your connection. The game features two play modes:
- Classic Mode — A pure full-screen terminal experience with ANSI-colored output
- Modern Mode — A split-panel layout with a live Cyberdeck HUD showing real-time gauges, inventory tracking, skill hexagons, and combat readouts
The game is built around interconnected systems: combat, HEAT management, six skills, an economy, program loadouts, and a data-driven NPC dialogue system — all controlled through 27 player commands.
Story
You wake jacked into a battered cyberdeck in a basement safehouse. A message waits from Lyra, a runner who has gone dark. She has found a kill-switch capable of shutting down the entire Grid — and split it in two. Half is hidden in the ruins of a dead social media platform. The other half is locked inside a corporate fortress.
As you trace Lyra's path, you uncover something deeper: The Architect — a meta-intelligence woven into the Grid's foundation, older than the corporate security systems that patrol it. The corporations fear it. Lyra tried to understand it. Now it is trying to communicate.
The kill-switch is in your hands. What you do with it is up to you.
The story unfolds across three acts spanning 20 network nodes:
- Act I: The Descent — Learn the Lattice, find Lyra's trail (Nodes 1-6)
- Act II: The Deep Lattice — Infiltrate corporate networks, gather kill-switch fragments (Nodes 7-14)
- Act III: The Core — Confront the Hive, find Lyra, make your choice (Nodes 15-20)
Key Features
Knowledge System
Terminal Descent tracks what you examine, read, and discover. NPCs remember your conversations. Dialogue unlocks based on what you have witnessed. The player who pays attention is always rewarded.
Cyberdeck Customization
Manage processor levels, memory slots, and firewall ratings. Load offensive, defensive, stealth, and analysis programs into limited memory — every loadout is a tradeoff.
The HEAT System
Template:Main Every aggressive action raises your HEAT level. Stay Ghost and move unseen — or push into Meltdown territory and face the full wrath of the Hive, the Grid's adaptive security swarm. Five threat tiers change how the entire world responds to you.
Multiple Solutions
Every obstacle can be approached through combat, stealth, hacking, or social means. Brute-force a barrier IC, spoof it with a stolen password, or find another way around entirely.
Protocol Chains
Template:Main Chain specific combat commands in sequence to trigger powerful combo effects — from the devastating Ghost Protocol (2× damage, zero HEAT) to the secret Mercy Protocol that forces IC to surrender.
Rift Modules
Template:Main Three parallel dimension dungeons offer extended gameplay with unique mechanics, currencies, abilities, and bosses inspired by classic game design:
- The Buried Kingdom — Exploration-focused dungeon with 9 vaults
- The Abandoned Station — Ability-gated labyrinth with 6 sectors
- The Crimson Spire — Linear gauntlet with 18 stages
Technical
Built with React 19, xterm.js, WebSocket, and Node.js. The entire game runs in-browser with no downloads or installs. The terminal renders real ANSI-colored output while the Modern mode HUD displays live SVG gauges, hexagonal skill grids, and heat-reactive visual effects.
All game content — dialogue, items, locations, enemies — is data-driven via JSON, designed for extensibility and modding.
Quick Facts
- 27 player commands spanning navigation, combat, hacking, trading, and social interaction
- 5 HEAT tiers from Ghost to Meltdown, each changing how the world reacts
- 6 skills that influence combat, dialogue, stealth, and hacking
- 30+ programs across offensive, defensive, stealth, and analysis categories
- 6 endings ranging from destruction to transcendence
- 3 rift modules with unique mechanics and bosses
- 20+ locations across three network layers
- Relationship system with NPCs evolving from Stranger to Confidant
- Save/restore system with named slots and integrity verification