Bentley’s Hackpack

Bentley’s Hackpack starts with the satisfying snap of a tiny arcade challenge asking you to do one thing well, then immediately dares you to do it cleaner, faster, and with more precision. Its 60 missions spread across three distinct hacking games, so you are not getting a miniature Sly platformer. You are getting a score-chasing companion built for short sessions and repeat attempts.

The limited scope is real, but so is the replay value if you enjoy squeezing through dangerous routes, managing enemy patterns, and clearing optional objectives. Fans who liked the hacking diversions in Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time will find more demanding material here, while anyone waiting for another full gang adventure should stick with the main series.

Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

The first few missions make Bentley’s Hackpack feel like a sharp little arcade collection rather than an afterthought. Each of its three machines has a clear hook: guide a live spark through a circuit maze in Spark Runner, blast through scrolling enemy formations in Alter Ego, or steer Bentley’s ship through a computer system in System Cracker. You can grasp the basic goal quickly, which lets the game get to the important part: demanding better execution.

Spark Runner is the most immediately tense of the group. Routing an electric ball toward its socket turns small spaces into nerve-racking obstacle courses, especially once you are trying to collect everything without crashing your run. Alter Ego is the more traditional shooter, built around firing through enemy patterns as Bentla-Tron-500 pushes across the screen. System Cracker splits the difference, asking you to steer, shoot barriers and enemies, and reach a docking gate. The change in perspective and pace keeps the 20-stage sets from blending together.

The real reason to return is the optional challenge structure. Every level has five extra challenges, and the full set of 300 tokens turns a clear into the beginning of a better run. That is great news if you enjoy high-score cleanup and replaying compact stages until a route finally feels natural. It can become frustrating if you only want to see fresh ideas at a steady clip, because this is built around mastering the same missions rather than moving through a large campaign.

Go in knowing that the 60 missions are the whole point, not a bridge to traditional Sly action. The formats came from Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, but this standalone package gives them enough room to become their own demanding arcade exercises. One failed attempt is usually short enough that restarting feels tempting instead of exhausting, and that rhythm is where the game does its best work.

Graphics

The three games look meaningfully different in play. System Cracker uses an overhead view of dark hexagonal arenas edged in blue light, with orange enemy craft and green and red fire streaking across the floor. Alter Ego switches to a side-view circuit-grid backdrop, where purple obstacles, orange shots, a bright green beam, and a looming gray boss face give the shooter a loud arcade look.

Spark Runner is the standout image: a white-blue electric ball leaves a rainbow-lit trail as it curls around huge dark battery cylinders with green contacts and pink collectibles nearby. Bright projectiles and glowing paths give all three machines energy, though the dark arenas can get crowded once several luminous effects overlap.

Story

Do not come to Bentley’s Hackpack expecting a new Sly Cooper plot. Bentley, Sly, and the rest of the gang supply a light arcade framing, while prize collectibles and cameos give your token hunting a bit of personality. The game wisely keeps that setup out of the way and lets the machines carry the experience.

That restraint suits the format. A new time-travel caper or a long chain of missions would compete with games designed to be played in quick bursts. Instead, the familiar crew makes the collection feel connected to the larger series without pretending these arcade challenges are a full sequel-sized adventure.

For fans, that connection adds warmth to the prize gallery and makes the standalone format easier to place. For everyone else, the story is little more than a friendly wrapper. It neither deepens nor distracts from the score chase, which is exactly the right balance for a companion game this focused.

Overall Experience

Bentley’s Hackpack is easy to underestimate because its scope is intentionally small. It does not try to replace the platforming, exploration, or larger narrative of the main Sly games. Instead, it takes three hacking-game ideas and gives each enough stages and optional goals to reward a player who likes repetition with a purpose.

Your enjoyment will hinge on whether you see retries as an invitation or a chore. If landing every token, solving a cleaner route, and improving a score sounds satisfying, the challenge list stretches these compact games well beyond a single pass. If you were only mildly entertained by these diversions in Thieves in Time, 60 missions of them may feel like a lot of dessert without the meal.

It is a smart, focused side dish for the right Sly fan, and a better arcade package than its companion-game label suggests. The original launch was positioned as 60 totally new missions, as outlined in Sanzaru’s launch announcement, and that quantity matters because the game earns its value through gradual mastery. Give it a chance when you want concentrated arcade challenges, not when you want another sprawling heist.