Botnet of Ares is an incremental hacking game where you exploit millions of devices.

I first made a prototype of the core mechanic back in 2020. For a while I did not have too much time to dedicate to the project, but the idea had been in the back of my mind ever since.

After befriending Tobi, who now contributes to the game's development, and performing several playtests with very positive results, I've decided to commit to the development of Botnet of Ares.

Botnet of Ares is meant as a critique of security practices in some consumer electronics and IoT devices. It is also a response to the excitement & anxiety many of us feel regarding recent developments in generative AI & large language models. Real life botnets are very much a thing, and so is automatic exploitation of such devices. Botnet of Ares asks the question: what would happen if an AI Agent were trained to exploit and uncover vulnerabilities across the entire Internet?