Hardwar places the player in the role of a freelance "Moth" pilot in the city of Misplaced Optimism, a space colony located on Saturn's moon, Titan. The colony was once a profitable mining outpost, but the major corporations backed out, leaving the inhabitants without the capability of space travel. During two hundred years of isolation, neo-feudal systems took precedent on Titan, with a corrupt and inefficient police force maintaining little law and order.
It is at the discretion of the players as to how they will earn their living on Titan. They can trade honestly, having to be wary of pirates. They can choose to hunt Titan's outlaws, collecting bounties from the various police stations. Players may also be lowly scavengers like many AI moths, picking at the dropped cargo of panicked traders, or players can become pirates themselves.
Source: Wikipedia, "Hardwar (video game)", available under the CC-BY-SA License.