It sounds like a fever dream from a Silicon Valley basement. Cisco—the massive, corporate giant that literally builds the pipes of the internet—making a medieval fantasy role-playing game? If you’ve spent any time in the IT world, you’ve probably heard whispers about it. It’s not a leaked project for the PlayStation 5, and you won’t find it on Steam next to Elden Ring.
Actually, it exists.
Cisco created a legitimate fantasy RPG called The Network (specifically, The Network: A Cisco Game). It’s weird. It’s nerdy. It’s surprisingly high-budget for what is essentially a glorified training manual. Most people assume it's just a bunch of boring slides with a dragon at the end, but they’re wrong. It’s a full-blown narrative experience designed to teach network engineering through the lens of a questing hero.
The Bizarre Logic Behind Cisco's Fantasy Medieval RPG
Why would a multi-billion dollar networking company do this? Well, training is usually soul-crushing. Sitting through a six-hour PowerPoint on BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) makes most engineers want to walk into the ocean. Cisco realized that if they wrapped technical concepts in a story about kingdoms and darkness, people might actually pay attention.
In Cisco's fantasy medieval RPG, you aren't just a guy fixing a router. You are a "Guardian" or a "Defender." The kingdom is literally the network. If the message doesn't get from the King’s castle to the outlying village, the kingdom falls.
It’s gamification taken to the absolute extreme.
Instead of a "firewall," you might be dealing with a literal gatekeeper or a magical barrier. The game uses these metaphors to explain how data packets travel across a complex environment. Honestly, it’s kinda brilliant because the logic of a medieval messenger system actually mirrors packet switching pretty well.
How the Gameplay Actually Works
You start by picking a character. No, there isn't a "Level 50 Mage" with a staff that shoots fireballs, but you do get to customize your avatar. The game is played in a browser environment, and it looks surprisingly like a late-90s or early-2000s CRPG. Think Baldur’s Gate but with more talk about subnets.
The core loop is simple:
- You receive a quest from an NPC.
- The quest involves a "communication breakdown" in the realm.
- You travel to different nodes on the map.
- To "defeat" a challenge, you solve a networking puzzle.
One of the coolest (and nerdiest) things about Cisco's fantasy medieval RPG is that it doesn't shy away from the math. You’ll be mid-conversation with a knight and suddenly have to calculate a CIDR block to move forward. If you get it wrong, the quest fails. It's punishing in a way that reminds me of old-school PC games where the manual was 100 pages long and you actually had to read it to win.
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Why the Graphics Are... Like That
The visual style is definitely "retro." It wasn't built to compete with The Witcher. It was built to run on the kind of work laptops that IT departments issue, which usually have the graphical processing power of a baked potato.
Even so, the art has a certain charm. It’s hand-drawn and atmospheric. There’s a distinct "90s edutainment" vibe that triggers a massive hit of nostalgia for anyone who grew up playing Oregon Trail or Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? but wanted something that felt more "adult" and technical.
The Reality of "The Network" vs. Marketing Hype
Let's be real for a second. Is it a "good" game by modern standards?
If you’re looking for 60 frames per second and ray-tracing, no. It’s clunky. The UI can be a bit of a nightmare. But if you view it as a learning tool, it’s probably the most innovative thing a major tech company has released in the training space in a decade.
There’s a lot of talk in the industry about "experiential learning." Most of the time, that's just corporate-speak for "we added a quiz at the end of the video." Cisco actually went out and hired writers and artists. They built a world. They created a lore.
Some engineers find it incredibly cringey. I’ve seen forum posts where guys with 20 years of experience complain that they just want the technical documentation without the "dragon nonsense." On the flip side, for younger people entering the field or folks who are visual learners, having a spatial map of a network helps things click.
Where Can You Play Cisco's Fantasy Medieval RPG?
This is where it gets tricky. You can't just go to a website and hit "Play Now" for free in most cases.
Historically, this game was part of the Cisco Networking Academy. It was used in classrooms and for certain certification tracks. It’s been updated over the years—sometimes it’s a web game, sometimes it’s a standalone app.
- Check your NetAcad login: If you're a student, it’s often buried in the "Resources" or "Games" section.
- Mind Wide Open: This was the old branding for a lot of these interactive projects.
- Binary Game: Cisco also has a "Binary Game" which is more of a puzzle-style arcade experience, but the RPG is the "Holy Grail" of their weird creative experiments.
Breaking Down the Metaphor: Network Security as Magic
In the game, security isn't just about passwords. It’s about "The Darkness."
When you encounter a threat in Cisco's fantasy medieval RPG, it’s represented as a literal corruption of the land. This is actually a great way to explain how malware spreads. It’s not just one broken computer; it’s a systemic infection that travels along the roads (the cables) and through the gates (the switches).
You have to "cleanse" the nodes.
This isn't just flavor text. To cleanse a node, you have to configure a virtualized version of a Cisco IOS (Internetwork Operating System) command line. You’re typing real commands. enable, configure terminal, interface fastethernet 0/1.
It’s a bizarre hybrid of fantasy role-play and high-level systems administration.
Does It Actually Help You Pass the CCNA?
The short answer is: maybe?
The long answer is that the game helps with the concepts, but you still need to hit the books for the actual exam. The CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) is a brutal test. A game about knights isn't going to save you if you don't know your packet headers inside and out.
However, the game is excellent for "contextualizing" the knowledge. It answers the "Why am I doing this?" question that haunts every student at 2 AM.
Misconceptions About Cisco's Gaming History
People often think this was a one-off joke. It wasn't. Cisco has a long history of trying to make technical concepts "fun." They’ve released mobile games, flash-based puzzles, and even AR experiences.
The Network RPG is simply the most ambitious version of that.
Another misconception is that it’s purely for kids. It’s not. Some of the puzzles in the later stages of the game are genuinely difficult even for seasoned pros. It’s built to scale.
What This Means for the Future of IT Training
Honestly, the "Cisco RPG" model is likely the future of how we’ll learn complex technical skills. With AI and automation taking over the "rote" parts of the job, the human element—the problem-solving, the "questing" for a solution—is what remains.
Companies like Trailhead (Salesforce) have already adopted this "badge and journey" style of learning. Cisco was just ahead of the curve with the fantasy theme.
If you’re an IT manager, you should look at this. Not because you want your team playing games on the clock, but because it shows that engagement matters. If your team is bored, they aren't learning.
Actionable Next Steps for Aspiring Network Guardians
If you want to experience the "gamified" side of Cisco or actually improve your networking skills without dying of boredom, here’s how to do it:
- Join the Cisco Networking Academy: Even if you aren't in college, there are many free courses available at NetAcad.com. This is the primary home for their interactive tools.
- Download Cisco Packet Tracer: It’s not a "game" with a story, but it’s a sandbox where you can build networks and watch packets move in real-time. It’s the engine that powers many of the RPG’s puzzles.
- Search for "The Network" on YouTube: There are several archival videos showing the gameplay and the story beats. It’s worth a watch just to see the weirdly high production value of the cutscenes.
- Look into the "Binary Game": If the full RPG is too much, Cisco’s Binary Game is a fast-paced way to learn the math behind IP addressing. It’s addictive and surprisingly stressful.
The era of dry, 500-page textbooks is ending. Whether it's through a medieval RPG or an interactive simulation, the goal remains the same: understanding the invisible threads that hold our world together. Cisco's foray into the world of swords and sorcery might seem silly at first glance, but it's a testament to how far we’ll go to make the "invisible" visible.