Hacking, Lockpicking and Immersive Sim Mechanics

Hacking computers is listed as a core immersion pillar on both the Steam store copy and the Neon Doctrine landing page: "hack into computers," and the PCGamesN preview gives an explicit example of hacking turrets to turn security systems against dinosaurs. The Steam copy also mentions a "detailed, highly interactive environment" where hacking is one route through encounters.

Use hacking for three things:

• Turn security against dinosaurs. Hacking a turret during a raptor pack encounter flips the room's balance without spending a single pistol round.
• Unlock terminals that gate progression. The same hacking verb that flips turrets also opens doors tied to the facility's computer network.
• Read internal logs and station data, where the same audio log lore surfaces alongside the cache of vital equipment.

A minigame interface, password system, or hacking skill tree has not been publicly described. Expect the verb itself to do the work, with whatever terminal interface the EA build ships.

The Steam store copy and the Neon Doctrine landing page both describe "jimmy open doors" as a core exploration verb alongside hacking and refueling machines. Doors that cannot be jimmied require a keycard (issued via exploration) or a refueled machine to open, which together forms the gate progression. A lockpicking minigame, lock tiers, or pick consumable types have not been publicly detailed.

Three rules hold for the door economy:

• Most standard doors can be jimmied. They are the bread and butter of the route, and the verb is what gives Athanasia its immersive sim cadence.
• Higher-tier doors take a keycard. Keycards are earned through exploration, typically from side rooms and caches that solve environmental puzzles.
• Some doors open only through refueling machines. When a door resists both jimmy and keycard, look for a generator or fuel line nearby.

Carry one improvised tool reserved for door work and burn it on the highest-tier door you can reach, not on a side room.

Refueling machines are mentioned in both the Steam copy ("refuel machines to open new paths") and the Neon Doctrine product page ("refuel machines") as a way to clear progress barriers alongside jimmied doors and hacked terminals. They function as another environmental solve that opens sealed sections of the SAIR facility. Specific fuel types, refill costs, or per-area machine counts have not been publicly listed.

Refuel when:

• A door or gate refuses to jimmy and there is no keycard nearby.
• A sealed section is reachable only through a generator or fuel line, which the same cache system supplies.
• A puzzle chain explicitly asks you to bring a fuel container, which the same scavenged equipment pipeline provides.

Pair refueling with the route plan: it usually opens shortcuts and side caches, not the main path.

Terminals surface in Athanasia as part of the "hack into computers" and "engage with a detailed, highly interactive environment" wording on the official channels. The PCGamesN preview connects them to environmental puzzles in the demo, including turret hacking and puzzle-solving that unlocks access. The exact terminal interface — text commands, node-graph minigame, fixed puzzle patterns — has not been described in public materials.

What is confirmed about terminals:

• They sit on the same immersive sim verb stack as hacking and jimmying.
• They unlock access, including the side rooms that hold keycards and supplies.
• They appear in environmental puzzle chains rather than as standalone minigames.

Plan around the verb, not the puzzle pattern. The terminal exists to be hacked; whatever interface the EA build ships will be how you do it.

The four verbs (hack, jimmy, refuel, solve terminal) are how the SAIR facility opens. They are not parallel systems; they interlock:

• A door can take any one of jimmy, keycard, or refueled machine. Pick the verb your current resources support.
• A turret can be hacked to clear a room before you ever load the pistol.
• A terminal gates progression that the cache system then rewards with keycards and ammo.

Treat each verb as a tool on your belt. The immersive sim loop is "find the cache, spend the verb, push the route," and the same four verbs repeat through every area of the SAIR facility.