I really hope this will be the long awaited step away from "hacking-themed puzzle game" to a "open-world hacking sim"!
Great decision, Robert! Cant await it!

I showed how to do open world using a custom server configuration a long time ago.

This and some level of scripting would make an awesome game. I hear such a game is coming out very soon. I started doing scripting in the evolution source code once, but figured it wouldn't catch on.

The game will have a "theme/mission system" ... but how you get there, is really up to you.
The complexity is also going to be highly increased.
The AI controlled hackers will influence the game a lot.