Desktop Explorer

Among us reference in 2026 But yeah I completed the game, the initial puzzles are fun but it doesn't stay in this format for very long. It turns from desktop explorer into boring chat room explorer quite quickly. The puzzles range in difficulty from "figure it out before you finish reading the clue" to "seemingly impossible to parse". I didn't care for the story.

此游戏拯救了我的解谜游戏荒

peak that worth your time and effort go play it

뭔가 퍼즐의 연속인데 풀면서 딱히 지적 쾌감이 없음. 재미없는 구몬 숙제 푸는 느낌. 스토리도 중반부까지 본거같은데 몰입될만한 미스터리도 안되고 공포도 아닌 이도저도 아닌 스토리.

Very stylish and at times very heartfelt

A great puzzle game with an impeccable aesthetic and well written story. The investigation element is more of a narrative framing device rather than an actual game-play mechanic, so if you're looking for an experience like Roottrees or Hypnospace Outlaw, this is not it. The game also desperately needs some accessibility options, with few puzzles in the second act being near impossible to solve for colourblind individuals or those who struggle with fine motor control. Still, I'd highly recommend Desktop Explorer to anyone who enjoys well-crafted puzzles and a little bit of mystery.

Well that was certainly a game of all time. I had issues on my Steam Deck, the story wasn't interesting but it did not actively offend me, developers stuck the landing on the ending, the puzzles are intriguing for at least half the game, and they went an interesting direction with narrative framing. For this reason, I award Desktop Explorer a passable 9/10. This game absolutely cannot be completed on a Steam Deck. The last "level" involves a terminal and the on-screen keyboard pops up at every opportunity, whether you're typing or clicking or sneezing or breathing or being conscious. I got no response on the discussion boards when I complained so I assume either everyone is smarter than me and figured this out, or no one played this on a Deck. None of the puzzles ever resulted in an incredible "aha" moment, but for the first half of the game they were just clever enough to get me across the finish line because I kept believing they'd get better. They did not. In what seems to be a recurring problem for clever mystery games, developers ran out of actual puzzles and just started throwing HOMEWORK [spoiler]nonograms, mazes, code breaking, chess(ish)[/spoiler] and whatever else at you after the game's midway point. Big let down. I can't say the story was mind-blowing. It was exceedingly Standard Issue Horror Game and never really committed to anything. Despite very much embodying the spirit of Great Value horror centrism, I *was* impressed with how much Desktop Explorer bucked narrative framing stereotypes typical of spooky in-game computer (IDK what the kids call it now) games. Stereotypes bucked: (1) jump scares is plot (2) violence against women is plot (3) everyone is white (4) main character is either not gendered or is male (5) the internet works (6) the only mental illnesses are schizophrenia and depression This also kept me intrigued enough to get to the ending because I expected a payoff. Desktop Explorer didn't let me down there and I was happy with how things ended, so kudos to developers for sticking the landing.