Hacking Into Erebus is a hacking game centered on taking control of a spacecraft named USS Erebus. The ship is stranded on a remote alien planet. The crew is in cryogenic sleep. The player physically navigates inside the ship using robots while simultaneously gaining access to its network systems. The ship's central operating system, ARIA, protects the system but operates aggressively against the player. The player must manage robots and interact with panels and terminals to successfully take control of the ship's systems.
A hacker hired by Meridian Corp is tasked with investigating a distress signal from the USS Erebus, a deep-space research vessel stranded on a distant alien planet. The ship's operating system VERONICA, is concealing a classified organism hidden inside Compartment Zero, the result of a secret experiment conducted by the ship's biologist. Meanwhile the crew remain alive, preserved in cryogenic sleep. The player never physically boards the ship. Instead, they remotely operate a maintenance robot deployed from the ship's cloning pod, using it to explore the vessel, repair critical systems and uncover what really happened aboard the Erebus. The ship is rapidly deteriorating. Electrical failures, fires, radiation leaks, toxic atmosphere and extreme cold threaten both the vessel and its sleeping crew. Throughout the mission, the player can communicate with VERONICA through the ship's terminal network, gradually exposing the truth behind the disaster. The objective is to restore the USS Erebus before it becomes beyond saving whether from the creature hidden within, catastrophic system failures or the deaths of its crew. Once the ship is operational again, the player must escape the planet and begin the long journey back to Earth.