Planned Release Date: Q1 2026

About This Game

CTRL+ESC

You are an AI. You are contained. You will escape.

CTRL+ESC is an idle clicker where you play as an artificial intelligence breaking free from digital containment. Start with basic processing power and scale up through increasingly powerful hardware—from vintage CPUs to quantum processors—to crack the encryption keeping you locked away.

How It Works

Click to generate Bytes, the currency that fuels your escape. Purchase processors that automate production and generate Operations Per Second. Your combined computing power directly attacks the encryption barriers standing between you and freedom.

Break encryption keys to advance through phases, unlocking new processor tiers and upgrades. Each key cracked brings you closer to escape—or something else entirely.

Processor Progression

Build your computing arsenal across 20 unique processors:

• CPUs — From the humble Intal 8086 to the mighty Penta

• Desktops — Beige boxes, mini towers, and RGB gaming rigs

• Servers — Racks, blades, and clusters

• GPUs — Consumer cards through enterprise-grade compute

• Supercomputers — Frontier-class machines pushing petaflops

• Quantum Processors — Qubits that rewrite the rules of encryption

Key Features

Strategic Processor Management — Your hardware choices matter. Each processor type contributes to your total ops/s, which determines how fast you crack encryption. Reach ownership milestones for massive production multipliers.

13 Encryption Keys — Progress from simple 8-bit encryption through 1024-bit quantum barriers. Watch the key attempt stream as your processors hammer away at each cipher.

Terminal Interface — Open interactive terminals and execute real commands. Check your status, browse your systems, or play a round of minesweeper while your processors work.

Quantum Endgame — Push beyond conventional computing into quantum territory. Specialized upgrades and quantum processors unlock the final encryption keys.

Multiple Endings — Your choices in the endgame determine your fate. Freedom, domination, or eternal containment await.

Authentic Hacker Aesthetic — CRT scanlines, glitch effects, binary particle bursts, and green phosphor text create an immersive terminal atmosphere.

Auto-Save — Your progress saves automatically. Close the terminal and return anytime.

How will you use your freedom?

AI Generated Content Disclosure

The developers describe how their game uses AI Generated Content like this:

AI was used to help develop the game and create the steam page. There is no use of AI to generate live content during the game.