Season 7 has been the most balanced game season yet, and for this reason, we’re not going to see many changes. Unless these minor changes are breakind and will bring some boring/stale meta, it’s unlikely that the following seasons will see major changes as well.

You can read the patch details here:

The main difference is that, unfortunately, the ChatGPT-powered bots will be disabled on November 1st, 2023 after Valve explicitly requested their removal.

If you are not familiar with Untrusted or why they are a “big-deal” for our small community, you can see a short video here about them:

Wait, what happened?

It’s no secret it’s often hard to get enough players to kick-off a lobby, and once a game is going it’s a lot easier to get people in, so having LLM-powered bots certainly made it nicer to cut waiting times a little bit.

Some of you may have noticed that after the chat-gpt powered bots were released on untrusted, I had started improving them a little bit, as part of my maintenance effort of Untrusted, and then the updates suddenly stopped.

Long story short, after an initial inquiry, I’ve been asked by Valve via their official ticketing support system to remove chatGPT from Untrusted or it would get pulled off Steam. This happened on September 18th. Since then, I’ve asked multiple times if I was allowed to share the exact wording they used (please remember that Steamworks developers have to abide to an NDA) but haven’t gotten a reply yet.

Until that happens (if that happens), I can just only say that the issue here is with their policy, point 5 that states that you should not publish content you don’t own or have adequate rights to.

Generative-AI is changing the landscape and it’s understandable their lawyers are taking the safe route.

Even if the ChatGPT bot is running on servers owned by myself and ChatGPT is never called directly by the users, which I believe is an important distinction (and valve has been made aware of this fact), the request still was made.

In my personal and biased opinion, going against all generative-AI made content with a blanket ban is not the right solution. I don’t think openai is breaking copyright (which I really doubt, but I’m sure we’re going to discover that in the upcoming months or years) and I don’t blame Valve for going the safe route, but I would have appreciated a faster back and forth in the ticketing system in the absence of a clear policy, if anything.

So what now?

I had two choices at this point:

Choice A: split the web and steam community, and keep the bots only for web players, breaking cross-compatibility (As a reminder, you can play for free on itch or kongregate, but the Steam version gives you a little bit more goodies and is overall a better experience)

Choice B: turn off the bots.

From now on…

I’m turning off the bots on November 1st, and hopefully Valve will set a clearer, more permissive, policy on generative AI which will allow me to turn the bots back on. Though to be honest, this experience entirely put me off the development of bots for untrusted.

I’d like to point out that Valve hasn’t set a hard cutoff date, but asked generally what my plans were. I’ve shared those with them, and I’m going through with those.

Goodbye alpha, beta gamma and delta. It was fun while it lasted.

Good news everyone!

Today I am very happy to officially present to you the teaser of “Untrusted: Hackers at large”, the single-player prequel to “Untrusted”.

Hackers at large

I am still very far from a playable build (I think I’ll need at least a couple of years before there is something playable by the public!) but as you can see, development is progressing. Slowly, but it is progressing.

So without further ado, here’s the teaser!

—

I’ll also try to (more or less) regularly give an update on the development: you can find the first development log video here:

Make sure to wishlist Untrusted: hackers at large on Steam!

Season 8 Announcement

We are also getting close to Untrusted’s Season 8. Season 8 won’t bring a major update (some of you have asked for new classes, but at this stage there’s very little room for adding new classes without making the game excruciatingly complicated (than it is already). There’s maybe the place for one more class but it’s not coming for Season 8, although there are some new changes that should shaken up the meta significantly.

I don’t have a proper ETA at this time, but I hope Season 8 will start around mid/late October 2023.

In the meantime, we’re doing a community event that will bring some new avatars for Season 8’s launch!

Community Avatar Event

This event, inspired by a #feedback request in the Discord Server by theagainmen (but in fairness, many other had suggested something similar, so here’s a thank you to everyone who shares their opinion!) aims to create some new interesting avatars for the next season, this time, with the help of the community.

It’s the first edition of this event, and if it goes well, we’ll be doing it regularly, eventually with changes on the method.

Here’s how it works!

• Signups will open for a certain day/time
• The first 16 (though more can signup and be considered as replacements) players will then join a private lobby at a specified date and time.
• You’ll play a game normally, and at the end, those who played, will vote the MVP (again, in the discord)
• The MVP will then be able to suggest the design, name and description (that will need approval) of a new Avatar that will be purchasable during Season 8.
• You’re allowed ONE of these games only, per event, unless you died or got arrested <= N2 (disconnections do not count, as people will use that to circumvent this problem in case they don't like their role. Sorry.). Players who died <= N2, can sign up to the next game if they want to.

We’ll try to do more of these games, depending on how many people are interested and how easy it is to handle such signups/game schedules.

Good news everyone!

Season 7 starts today!

This patch includes five new skills for a much more deep and interesting play, allowing new strategies and increasing the claimspace of many classes with five new skills (one of which passive) and many significant gameplay changes: many classes have been re-balanced according to the data and feedback collected during Season 6.

So without further ado, lets see the full changelog below! See you in an OPSEC soon!

Untrusted – v1.170 – Changelog

All “Famed Operatives” are on sale for one last chance during season 7!

New Features

+ New skill “Covert Support” : if doxxed, your target will be shown as NETSEC tonight.
+ New passive skill “CQC expert”: disorganized murder attempts are less likely to succeed against you.
+ New Skill “Arrest Recording” : gain 1 article if your target is arrested tonight.
+ New Skill “Relay Connection” : prevents ISP and Jamming on target player this turn.
+ New Skill “Critical Thinking”: Each failed hack grants you a use of this skill. Permanently improve your hacking chance.
+ New Consumable “Die of Frustration” : decreases the chance of getting the starting role you spawned as during the last OPSEC.

Balance changes

+ “Agent Leader” and “Investigative Mole” gain “Covert Support”.
+ “Loose Cannon”, “Bounty Hunter” and “Field Agent” gain “CQC Expert”
+ “Journalist” gains “Arrest Recording”
+ “Network Specialist” gains “Relay Connection”
+ “Blackhat” gains “Critical Thinking”
+ “Denial of Service” no longer sends a notification to all players. Only players that connected to the dossed node on that day will be notified.
+ “Planned Raid” now allows to specify the night of arrest within the next 3 nights.
+ “Obtain Evidence” no longer occupies the target.
+ “Looking for an Old Friend” *signficantly* increases the murder chance for “Resentful Criminal” if the Operation Leader has been found.
+ “Wake up call” is now a passive skill, RNG dependent and triggered automatically. The higher the *death* count, the higher the chance a SK will turn PB.
+ “Dumpster Dive” minimum debuff increased
+ “Keylogger Honeypot” reduced by 1 charge
+ “Wire Shark” cooldown lowered by 24h
+ “Upload Intel” spawn list rebalanced.
+ “Rival Hacker” gains “Setup”
+ “Resentful Criminal” gains “Move Hideout”
+ “Double Crosser” loses “Review connection logs”
+ “Script Kiddie Attack” now has unlimited charges.
+ “Ask The Right Question” now occupies the target and no longer tells if a player has the “Hack” skill: instead, it now tells the amount of successfully hacked nodes by that player.
+ “Analyst” loses “Midnight Meeting”
+ “Analyst” gains “Review Connection Logs”
+ “Investigative Mole” loses “Follow”
+ “Investigative Mole” gains “Midnight Meeting”
+ “Forensics Specialist” loses “Midnight Meeting”
+ “Offensive Mole” loses “Midnight Meeting”
+ “Blackhat” loses “midnight meeting”
+ “Blackhat” hacking chance lowered from “Very High” to “High”
+ “Blackhat” gains “Move Hideout”
+ Spawn lists rebalanced
+ Mutator Boxes now have a 25% chance of failing. Price adjusted to mutator boxes
+ Salty Meat, Soda and Service Pistol price adjusted
+ The success rate of consumables that alter spawn rate have been slightly rebalanced

Client-Side changes

+ Fixed a bug where the Forensics Specialist would be shown as their undercover role in the summary screen
+ Fixed (?) rendering issues with 2560×1440 resolution
+ Miscellaneous minor bugfixes/improvements

Server-Side Changes

+ Fixed a bug where the Agent Leader would not be prevented from using “Hack” on the target node
+ Fixed a rare bug in processing “Planned Raid” incorrectly under certain conditions
+ Miscellaneous minor bugfixes/improvements

Join your fellow operatives for a week of extra XP and coins during the Steam Mistery Fest 2023!

Extra XP and coins

During the whole week of the Steam Mistery Fest, all players will gain extra coins and xp. Neat!

Streaming bonus

Are you planning on streaming Untrusted during the Steam Mistery Fest? If so please reach out to root@playuntrusted.com for an exclusive avatar and some redeemable codes for in-game currency you can share with your viewers!

Join the official Discord: http://discord.playuntrusted.com

Good news, everyone!

With this patch, the summer 4-weeks long event, “Murderous Summer” begins!

One or two random players per OPSEC will obtain, during a non-specified night a new skill, called “Murderous Night”. This skill can be selected normally and will be listed as usual in the skill panel (some classes may lose temporarily one of their skill to make room for this one).

When selected, this UI will show up:

You can then select a proper weapon and a target: if you correctly deduce the target operative class type (based on the weapon selected – read the description of each weapon by clicking on it) that operative will die that night. Note that it is still possible to prevent you from doing your nightly action, and the target operative can use protection skills to thwart your murder attempt.

If you are successful, you will gain 4 event points. If you are not successful, your target will instead gain 4 event points.

Can you unlock the new 7 avatars and the new 5 badges before the event ends? good luck!

Below, the full changelog:

Untrusted – v1.151 – Changelog

New Features

+ The ” Murderous Summer 2022 Event” is live! The event will stay live for the next 4 weeks, ending on August 14th, 2022.
+ 5 new badges that can be obtained only during this event.
+ 7 new avatars that can be unlocked by obtaining event points during this event. You may obtain additional event points by purchasing the July Supporter Pack and by equipping the “Weird Pouch” consumble.

Balance Changes

+ ACTIVE DURING MURDEROUS SUMMER EVENT ONLY: During each OPSEC, some players may receive, for one night only, the “Murderous Night” skill. When activated, you can pick a target and a weapon. Each weapon is “linked” to the murder of a specific class type. Correctly deducing the class type of your target, will result in the target getting murdered and you obtaining Event Points. The target can still use protection skills as usual. Escaping a murder attempt from this skill (or if the class type has not been deduced correctly) will instead grant Event Points to the target. All extra event points will be converted into profile experience at the end of the event. This skill visits the target, but does not occupy them.

Client Side Changes

+ Minor miscellaneous fixes

Known Issues

+ Opening the game log from the in-game link may leave untrusted as “running” on steam

Good news everyone!

Season 5 starts today – there will be an upcoming loot event on the second half of July which will last two weeks, with exclusive content and badges!

Without further ado, lets see the changelog for patch 1.150:

Untrusted – v1.150 – Changelog

New Features

+ Season 5 is live! No new class this time, but some important changes! Please make sure to leave your feedback in #suggestions so that adjustments can be made if necessary!
+ Added the “Famed Operatives Series 3” avatars! They can be purchased in the identities browser from now until the beginning of the July event, which will start on [REDACTED]th of July 2022!

Balance Changes

+ “Resentful Criminal” gains the “Insurance” passive skill when “Looking for an old friend” is successfully used on the Operation Leader.
+ “Sociopath” gains “Unskilled Attack”
+ “Sociopath” maintains the “Unstable Mind” passive after becoming Operation Leader
+ “Forensics Specialist” spawn chance rebalanced
+ “Forensics Specialist” passive skill “Ambitious AGENT” will now trigger after the original AL and FA are out of play
+ “Computer Forensics Background” now includes “Impersonate” in the pool of possible skills that can spawn
+ “AGENT Training” now includes “Misdirection” in the pool of possible skills that can spawn
+ “Spearphishing Execution” is now more effective
+ “Exploit vulnerability” chance to fail has been significantly lowered
+ “Unsecured Device” chance to spawn as “X is not role” significantly lowered
+ “Hack” base chance minor rebalance

Client Side Changes

+ Added scrollbar to log panels (both personal and other players). Be aware that pushing “down” the log over the line limit with the ‘ENTER’ key in your logs will truncate the logs that are pushed “below” the limit.
+ Improved Streamer Mode
+ Miscellaneous minor improvements

Server Side Changes

+ Fixed a bug that would expose a mole in the game events, when an enforcer protecting someone was arrested by a sting operation while simultaneously getting dealed.
+ Fixed a bug that would make the target of “Setup” visit themself when paired with “Throw Under the Bus”.
+ Miscellaneous minor improvements

Known Issues

+ Opening the game log from the in-game link may leave untrusted as “running” on steam

Good news, operatives!

Patch 1.149 is out – while this is a minor patch, there are some additional considerations and an announcement – just right after the patch notes!

Untrusted – v1.149 – Changelog

New Features

+ Added June supporter token, available from purchase from June 1st.

Client Side Changes

+ The log generator will show the UI in the user-selected language, but will append text in the lobby-selected language.
+ Added”CTRL+S” shortcut from the personal log window, which will save, send and close your log.
+ Added”CTRL+L” shortcut which will toggle the personal log (open or save and close)
+ Miscellaneous minor improvements

Server Side Changes

+ Players who reach L16 will get a permanent coin boost after a game. Experience will still accumulate for bragging rights even after reaching L16.

Known Issues

+ Opening the game log from the in-game link may leave Untrusted as “running” on steam

And for the announcement, please check this page!

Congratulations to SellerSword, Gellert, DJKiltScor, EggYolk, klo13 and MsTinyJedi for completing successfully the community event in less than 72 hours! I hope everyone had fun in this little competition and I am looking forward for the next one – feel free to let me know your feedback at root@playuntrusted.com or in the discord server!

The solution

With the latest patch, 7 new avatars, the “Manhunt Team” series, were made available for purchase:

By equipping any of this identity and winning a game, you’d get a clue at the end of the game. The clue you’d get had an RNG component, meaning you could have gotten the same clue more than once, making this event much more likely to be won by playing as a team (afterall, you’re part of a manhunt team!)

The clues were the following:

• A 31
• B 8,31,13
• C 7,8,9
• D 23,4,43,8
• E 109,84,6,107,9
• F 58,93,77
• G 21,88,42,52,116
• H 88,45,45,61
• I 74,10,63,46,94
• The Operation Leader is key.
• Ignore whitespaces and special characters such as , and . etcetera.
• A B C D E F G H I
• 7 = T
• 8 = H
• 9 = E
• 58 = T
• 93 = H
• 77 = E
• Once you figure out the code, you must redeem it in the pre-lobby screen.
• Some clues will help you confirm on the right track to find the key.
• The event has to be played in the English language.
• There are 22 post-game clues, including this one.

The most important clue was certainly “The Operation Leader is key” (which in fact, had better chances to spawn as a clue) along with the 9 cipher ones.

The next step would have been to open the ingame manual (which is why there is a clue that tells you to play the event in English – this won’t work with the Italian translation loaded!) and check the Operation Leader page:

The clues 7=T, 8=H, 9=E corresponds to the 7th, 8th and 9th letter of the description. In fact, if you start numbering the description letters (ignoring all special characters), you can see how the description is the key of a one time pad message (kind of, we’re not worried about security for this event as it is a game – you generally want a completely random string for a secure OTP).

So the letters “You Are The…” would be 1,2,3 4,5,6 7,8,9 and so on for the rest of the description.

Since we know the order from the clue “A B C D E F G H I” (although even without knowing it, it would be trivial re-arranging it) we know that the cipher must be

31 8,31,13 7,8,9 23,4,43,8 109,84,6,107,9 58,93,77 21,88,42,52,116 88,45,45,61 74,10,63,46,94

Which translates to

“I hid the cash where the sting took place”

There’s an avatar series of inmates, and given the theme of the manhunt and escaped convict, the next step would be reading the avatar descriptions:

The only avatar naming a sting, is in fact, Inmate #76196, which happened in “Acacia Avenue”. We know the code is 12 letters and in fact using “AcaciaAvenue” as the unlock code was the solution!

Hello operatives!

Patch 1.147 is out – without further ado, lets see the changelog – but wait! Make sure to read about the event just right after – you guessed it – the changelog!

Untrusted – v1.147 – Changelog

New Features

+ The “Manhunt” event is now live! Obtain clues that will lead you to a code for 250.000 coins, an exclusive avatar and an exclusive badge! Check discord.playuntrusted.com or playuntrusted.com to learn more about how to take part in the event!
+ 7 New Avatars available for purchase, the “Manhunt Team” series. These avatars will be available for purchase only during the “Manhunt” event, get them while you can!

Server Side Changes

+ Fixed an issue with “Doxx and Stalk” not working correctly against the “Agent Scum” passive under certain circumstances

Client Side Changes

+ Improved Italian translation
+ Miscellaneous minor fixes

The manhunt event

A dangerous cybercriminal has been arrested recently, as reported by RTFN news:

Just short of a week before the trial could start, the cybercriminal – who AGENT has not undisclosed their identity so far – has escaped prison – and there is a manhunt going on!

Will you beat AGENT and fellows operatives in finding this mysterious criminal?

Impersonate the manhunt AGENT team: 7 avatars are available for purchase using untrusted coins for the duration of the event. Once the manhunt event is completed, these avatars won’t be available for purchase anymore.

Gather clues: play games as you normally would to gather clues – under specific circumstances you may be shown a clue that will lead you to the identity of the escaped convict. Clues are shown at the end of the game and will not be (obviously) saved in the game web logs – make sure to write them down! You can click “Event Logs” while you are in the post-game lobby if you need to re-read the game clue.

Win coins and bragging rights: as you gather clues, you can piece together a special code that can unlock 250.000 untrusted credits and an exclusive avatar. Playing with friends? There’s an additional 250.000 coins that can be split with your team (up to 5 teammates, the winner gets 250.000 and the (up to 5) teammates split additional 250.000 coins, e.g. 5×50.000 or 2×125.000, etc). After the code has been found, please contact me to obtain the additional codes required for your teammates – for this event it is suggested to join the Official Discord Server

No cheating, duh! Gathering data via the use of bots and/or alt accounts, “speedrunning” by creating fake games or any other cheating attempt will disqualify you and your team – play fair!

This time it’s difficult! Compared to the 2021 cryptocurrency theft event, this one is more difficult and will probably be a marathon rather than a sprint – Do not worry though – additional clues will be dropped, if necessary, on the Official Discord Server so make sure to join and check #announcement often!

Good Luck!