Last updated on October 18th, 2025 at 03:50 pm
Hack RUN 2 – Hack ZERO – Strategy Game Review
Hack RUN 2 – Hack ZERO is a Strategy/Puzzle/Entertainment game from i273, LLC, first launched in 28th June 2011.
It’s rated 12+ and currently has 40+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Hack RUN 2 – Hack ZERO Stand Out
It’s time for a SECOND Hack RUN!
Note: ‘Hack RUN 2 – Hack ZERO’ is a prequel to the app ‘Hack RUN’. You should play ‘Hack RUN’ before starting this game.
>>> "…I promise you that today’s hacking game for the iPhone is worth the look. It’s called Hack Run ZERO, and here’s why you need to check it out…" – AppChronicles.com
Test your skills again as you hack your way through strange and secretive organizations to discover their hidden agendas! Hack ZERO uses old school prompts (like dos and unix) to help you navigate from system to system. As you access users’ accounts, you’ll discover more and more about the organizations and the people that work there.
Your adventure begins when you receive a disturbing ransom note about a loved one. Your only way to set them free is to follow the kidnapper’s shady demands. Once again your mission is to penetrate the maze of computer accounts through the use of your hacking skills. The stakes run high as you uncover more and more of the enemy’s diabolical plan; and with over 70 levels there’s no guessing how it will all end!
Stuck on a level? Just use the ‘hint’ or ‘answer’ commands to help you along.
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Make sure to play the THIRD, FOURTH and FIFTH games in the series called ‘Hack Time’, ‘Hack NET’ and ‘Hack WATCH’ after you complete this game!
‘Hack RUN 2 – Hack ZERO’ is a game. It is not a tool or aid for learning how to hack into real computer systems. i273, LLC does not endorse hacking.
This Strategy game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Hack RUN 2 – Hack ZERO is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 18th October 2021
Recent improvements include:
> Updated to current version
Download & Availability
Hack RUN 2 – Hack ZERO is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Get Hack RUN 2 – Hack ZERO on App Store
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
We had just as much fun playing this as the original hack run, but encountered a big issue. While loading the web, or anything that navigates you away from the main interface, it’s basically impossible to type anything. This makes it impossible to do things such as search websites, etc. This was fine fir awhile because thankfully we could just find what we needed on a walkthrough and bada bing bada boom next level. However, on level 55, you are required to edit the network stuff on a different page which is impossible because of the aforementioned glitch. Luckily, you have about a half second to change things before you are kicked out, so it was a painful process of deleting until we couldn’t anymore, then saving, then deleting more etc until the communication was shut down. Crisis averted right? Wrong. A bit later, you are required to change the address of the same comm to 773.23.001 while keeping everything intact. This isn’t really possible due to not having enough time to select and delete the old one before getting kicked out, let alone typing in the new one. This is where we stand until now because the only way we could think of to do this is to painstakingly delete everything up to the address, then, even more painstakingly typing everything back in exactly. It seems this is the only option so wish us luck.
We love text-based games, and these are some of the best!! There is a glitch in the web browser that makes it so you cant type into the address bar, so we are unable to progress any further. Please fix this so we can continue to play beyond level 27! The glitch also appears in the notes area. You cant type into the notepad.
As of one week ago there was a new update to fix the web browser. The web browser is now completely unusable. Very disappointed in this sequel game, would definitely continue playing if this MASSIVE GLITCH was fixed.
So at the very beginning when we got this game we didnt really think it was going to be anything fun, just another game that we would play for a few days then just delete. Boy was we wrong! This game is so fun even though it takes a while to get into. You really have to pay attention when playing or you might not get all of the pieces that you need to complete all the levels. We seriously recommend this game because it actually has a great storyline even though, again, it takes a while to get into. The thing is it doesnt really have any visuals which we dont mind. It makes you think of your own characters and voices except for the occasional voicemail that is actually someone talking. We really recommend this game to people in their teens or older because that is the point where we got interested. We had it when we were littler but dont really understand. If youre looking for a fun game that requires brain power, get it and if you get stuck you can always google the walkthrough.
More great fun!!! And now updated for our iPhone. Great fun.
It keeps glitching. Once on Alices password, and on Erics and again on the class hack. Really annoying! After the third restart we deleted.
The website required for level 32 is down.
There are a lot of places where you can get trapped and have to reset the game to progress. We’ve had to do it twice now.
We played the first three games a while ago and loved them! And when we heard about Hack Net, we played them all over again!!! This series is by far our favorite game.
As "simple" as these games are, they’re highly enjoyable. The story is great, and it can get just as tense at a command prompt as it can in a shootout in other games, believe us. Try it out, you’ll enjoy it.
We liked it even more than the first Hack Run game. Fun and challenging.
It is a total bomb why would we type answer to get a answer and it won’t give us one. We hate to give it one star.
First app we’ve given 5 stars!!! The story is hilarious and really fun to go through. Makes us wish text based games were still popular. We love the characters in these stories too, very fun and we couldn’t stop laughing at several points. Well worth the money.
Best hacking simulation ever! Replay value too.
We love this game so freaking much. Great idea.
Not as good as the first one but awesome game best game in our phone yet Only problem is that gameplay is like a couple hours to a day.
Without question, one of the best apps there is. If you have any experience with programming or related, this game is for you. Very realistic, and true to code. Worth every penny, and we’re not a paid reviewer haha.
Awesome game and we love it. This is the first game that we can keep playing without getting frustrated! We need a part 2 to this game.
We can recommend this for anyone, just don’t put it down for over a week.
Finished the game.. It’s awesome!!! Zombiesssss.
We’ve never even been into this kind of stuff but we couldn’t stop playing it.
Well done, keeps you thinking, and definitely doesn’t go where you think it will.
We’ve never written a review for anything but we had to for this. We loved it, we haven’t played the others but we’re dying to now. Our only problem was finishing it too quickly (couple hours). If you play- use the notepad, woulda made our life so much easier.
Had an awesome time with this, thanks.
Great fun! Nothing like real hacking, but a wonderfully enjoyable simulation nonetheless. Fun storyline with hints or answers available for those who require them.
Really captures the spirit of hacking into ordinary email accounts.
So good that we bothered writing a review.
Love this game soo much! The story is awesome.
Loved the game kept us inertained for along time. Very good story line and very interactive. This beats angry birds hands down.
Be sure to use the notepad; you have to remember a TON of passwords.
Got the juices flowing simply loved the game.
We absolutely love this game and the entire Hack series games from i273 they are all so good! Right when we got done playing them all we started them all over again and still play them all the time.
We have an obsession with this game, very challenging and fun… Though some of the challenges make us think of how in the world would we know this or how would we have even been able to figure this one out? Also the story line is OK, not bad but not great. Also we’re a bit confused on the ending of this game and the start of the first game; it sounds like hack run zero is the prequel to hack run? Anyway it was fun to play this game and figure out how to hack into peoples systems and find passcodes etc, very enjoyable.
We think that Hack Run is a cool, original idea put into form as a passive but overall immersive story. No doubt we will get the last one. This time, we didnt like the story very much though. The first one was interesting, and complex but understandable. This time around, it just wasnt as good. Despite this, Hack Time will be on our iPad soon.
We love this series. This one was definitely harder than Hack RUN. Pretty good storyline. We hope y’all keep making these games. :-).
The game starts off claiming to have kidnapped your "loved one", but then claims to have your cousin. Fix this strange flow issue, and you’ve got 5 stars.
First off, we liked Hack RUN a lot. Hack Zero… Did we play it to the end? Yes. Did we enjoy it? Eh. The story itself isn’t horrible, but the details were immature and lacked effort. A few of the puzzles were ridiculous, if the devs thought that someone could figure it out without looking at at least the hints, they’re nuts. And not because they’re challenging, they’re just nonsensical. We can’t believe we’re about to say this, but this game could have some focus grouping. It just came across like they didn’t really take themselves out of the process, which we can forgive, but the attempts at humor were in the wrong places and just took away from what little suspension of disbelief we had. The idea is great. The interface is innovative and smart. To sum up: we found our self rolling our eyes a lot, but we did just buy the third in the hopes that they learned from this one.
Great concept but the storyline was bad and predictable… We were bored the whole time. Finish the game in 3 hours or less… We mean… Would be SO MUCH BETTER if the game actually use real linux console commands not this fake ones like (ls) to list the emails… REALLY?!? Its a awesome concept, with a lot of potential be one of the best hacking games ever! Looking forward to new edition of the game with real life scenario and real console comands! Keep up the good work.
The original hack time had an intricate, rather well-written story to go along with its innovative commands. ZERO completely ruins all of that immersion with some of he most unbelievably bad writing from start to finish; it genuinely feels like a middle school student who saw one too many bad spy movies wrote it. The introductory messages are hilariously bad! Wallbangers abound, starting with a ticket system that doesn’t include usernames and a ditzy woman wanting to take an unknown, unseen new coworker out for drinks in exchange for resetting a password. The controls are similar but more streamlined here – simpler, but less believable, with every system using the same commands this time. Loses one more star for not being universal, like the original.
We love this game! It’s just a fun game to play when you want to be a hacker for a day. Obvi it’s oversimplified but regardless we’re addicted.
This is a perfect prequel to the series but we love the storyline in all of these until it just randomly introduces aliens or zombies. Work on the storyline a little and this is the perfect series.
A perfect game for the iPad. If you need a good workout for your brain then this is for you……. N.
Was pretty fun actually, love the last part, " there’s a zombie behind you." Ahhh click lol.
Thanks for the hint section now we might be able to complete the game.
Pretty awesome ——- game. Only thing we didnt like was having to get used to the new set of commands. But its to be expected and was interesting. Awesome game.
This felt a bit more tedious than the original after about level 60, but still a great game.
We loved it!!! Had us completely hooked! We loved it, it’s awesome and cool and we really liked the fact that this game has its own Internet browser. Between HACK run and this one,we can’t wait for the next one!!!! TotAlly freggin epic.
This game was a lot of fun. It is impressive how thorough the devs are. There are a variety of interactions and the story is well developed. It kept our interest over time. We really liked the tips and hints being available when needed to keep us going. Highly recommend.
There is a zombie behind you! Aaaaaah!(click).
ZERO delivers the same atmosphere of the first game and leaves you excited for the next in the series. It offers a longer storyline and gameplay with harder puzzles to solve.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 4.0.0
- Size: 12.34 MB
- iOS: 12.0 or later
- Languages: EN
- Content Advisory: Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive Themes, Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence, Infrequent/Mild Horror/Fear Themes, Infrequent/Mild Profanity or Crude Humor, Infrequent/Mild Sexual Content and Nudity
- Developer: i273, LLC
Last updated: 18th October 2021 | Genre: Strategy, Puzzle | Developer: i273, LLC