Why Early Access?

“Zero Trust is a systems-driven hacking simulation built around a persistent
simulated world with hundreds of companies, banks and service providers running
their own economy, and an investigation system that hunts you through the
evidence you leave behind rather than a simple "wanted level".

A game like this lives or dies by balance, pacing and the countless ways
players find to outsmart its systems. As a solo developer I can build the
simulation deep, but I cannot playtest it at the scale it deserves. Early
Access gives me real players probing the world in ways I never anticipated,
and lets me tune the economy, difficulty and detection systems and
prioritize the remaining features based on how people actually play.

The core experience is complete and stable today. What I need now is player
feedback to shape the rest of it.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“I expect Zero Trust to stay in Early Access for approximately 6 months.
This may be extended if player feedback shows the remaining features need
more time to reach the quality I am aiming for I would rather extend
Early Access than release an unfinished 1.0.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“The Early Access version already contains the complete core experience:
contracts, infiltration, malware, the economy, and the investigation systems
that react to everything you do. For the full version, the main areas I plan
to develop are:

- A complete whitehat career path -- the legal counterpart to the criminal
one: bug-bounty hunting and responsible disclosure, security-assessment
contracts, and cooperation with law enforcement.
- Living rival NPC hackers - the goal is to bring them fully to life so they run their own
operations, compete with you, and leave their own traces in the world.
- New malware capabilities - additional payload types beyond the current
remote-access tools, keyloggers, cryptominers and ransomware.
- More content and variety across the board - additional contract types,
target types, complete TOR system, world events and economic systems, plus continuous balance,
quality-of-life and polish work driven by player feedback.

These plans may evolve based on Early Access feedback, and I deliberately
don't want to promise dates or the exact shape of any individual feature.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The game is playable from start to long-term progression. The current
build includes:

- A persistent simulated world: hundreds of companies across five tiers,
banks, internet and VPN providers, software and hardware vendors — each
with its own network, servers, employees, files and secrets, all running
a live, continuously simulated economy.
- The complete attacker loop: take contracts from the mission board,
research targets in the in-game browser, route your connection to cover
your tracks, breach public gateways, and pivot through internal networks
via terminal, remote desktop and file shares.
- Malware crafting from modules: remote-access tools, keyloggers,
cryptominers, and a full ransomware lifecycle where victims actually
decide whether to pay based on the damage you did. Plus botnets, DDoS
campaigns and web attacks.
- Evidence-based consequences: there are no "wanted stars" — police and
agencies open cases from actual evidence, correlate your habits across
incidents, and can eventually catch you.
- A full economy: credits and the NEX cryptocurrency, in-game banks,
hardware wallets, and hardware shopping —
build and upgrade multiple rigs and whole networks of your own.
- A guided tutorial with a practice CTF target, three separate progression
axes (reputation, demonstrated skill rating, career milestones), Steam
achievements, and full English and Czech localization.

The foundations are done and stable; Early Access development focuses on
adding the remaining career paths and content, and on balance tuning.”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“The price will moderately increase when the game leaves Early Access,
reflecting the content added during development. Buying in Early Access is
the way to get the full game at a lower price while supporting its
development early. I do not plan sudden or repeated price changes during
Early Access itself.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“Player feedback is the whole reason for Early Access. Concretely:

- I will be reading and responding on the Steam discussion forums
- I plan to ship regular updates with clear changelogs and openly share
what I am working on next.
- Community feedback will directly drive priorities between the planned
features, especially balance and difficulty, where real player data
matters far more than my own testing.”