Hypnospace Outlaw is a puzzle game where you explore a simulation of the internet in the 1990s. Your role is to enforce good behaviour by finding misconduct on the pixelated pages. It's not only a unique piece of historical fiction but because its web of characters and stories are rich with political questions and challenges to over-simplistic morality.

Play involves reading your mail to receive orders for things to find like copyright infringement, internet bullying or abusive behaviour. As you click through the different bulletin, GeoCities and MySpace-style pages you identify ways that users are breaking the law and report them for money.

You explore the pages by double-clicking icons in the retro interface. Some areas are harder to get to as they have been hidden by users. As you progress you scour deeper into the variety of weird and wonderful websites to hunt down wrongdoers, while also keeping an eye on your inbox, avoiding viruses and adware, and downloading a plethora of apps that may or may not be useful.

It's presented as parody, but as the story develops it moves into more substantial territory. You get to know the different people through their online pages as mini-dramas about their various obsessions unfold.

"We experience these people through their sad," said Colin Campbell, "desperate webpages, complete with typographical horrors, ghastly animations, and execrable grammar. They present as a carnival parade of monomaniacs, loners, idealists, and criminals. Their woeful websites are a genuinely funny joke, featuring wild conspiracy theories, bad social games, and crass attempts at online villainy. But they are also human beings with their own failings and charms. Their tales coalesce to form a deeply engaging narrative."

The result is a ferocious recreation not only of a particular era of technology, but the games users of these things continue to play in their lives today. It's a tough game to solve but the real joy is paying attention to the detail along the way and allowing that to sit alongside what the internet is today.