Desktop Explorer

I think this game is fantastic. I have my strengths and weaknesses when it comes to specific puzzles, so it has been very fun for me to steamroll a puzzle and feel so smart only to be hit with my worst nightmare and take over 30 minutes to figure it out. I love that there is a high variety of puzzles that will still call back to solutions or functions you had to use in order to solve another. Genuinely just a great game from the vibes to the gameplay etc. Highly recommend.

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.

What an incredibly fun game. I've been supporting this game since early development, including an ARG they had in their discord. Throughout all of that, it built my expectations for this game fairly high, and I'm glad to say that they really met them. I enjoyed all acts of the game, and while some of the puzzles were a little confusing, they were still solvable. Some of the puzzles were very enjoyable to solve, and the music and visuals to follow them were incredible. The story was easy to follow and interesting, with an ending I truly enjoyed even though I know a few other people don't enjoy it. I highly recommend you play it, or at least try out the demo. Support the amazing dev team as well.

I really enjoyed the demo, but the full game disappointed me. I enjoyed the visuals and music of the whole game, the puzzles were fun in the first section, but the characters and their stories just were not satisfying. I wish they focused on puzzles similar to the demo, some puzzles took me and my partner too long to figure out and when we did finally solve them they didn't make either of us feel satisfied.

Muy buen juego, muy buena historia. Admirable su trabajo, muchas gracias!

Haven't finished yet but there is a LOT more to this game than I was expecting. Puzzles range in difficulty and get harder as it goes on, some of them were quite tricky but satisfying when I finally figured them out. I'm honestly surprised by the variety of puzzles in this game and just how much is packed into the game. Love the story so far and the creepy atmosphere. For fellow fans of games like Hypnospace Outlaw, I'll say that this game is even better.

Desktop Explorer is a quite fun concept, and I think that the execution is quite strong on the puzzle front. It is difficult to judge a game based upon the puzzles, because their difficulty is dependent on the person doing them! (For my money, only two or three puzzles here were quite hard. Other than that, its coasting.) Where this game shines for me is the vibes. And the vibes are truly *[u]Chefs kiss[/u]* If this had a mode where I could just put one of the desktops on and chill out with the music, chunky ui, notetaking app, that would be very rad. Moving past the presentation, the structure of the game is pretty straightforward. Each pc user profile is a different chapter, and they tell a story of a family all together. Milage will vary, but I found one quite good, and one quite whatever. I think that the story the game is telling goes to some interesting places, but [spoiler] the story is fundamentally a difficult thing to tell, and the game doesn't land it.[/spoiler] [spoiler] The thrust of the story is a family that has fallen apart i guess? But the actual text of the game doesn't really make this clear, and in fact the characters relationships are a bit murky. [/spoiler] Anyhow, the game runs well and only had one issue with the actual performance of the game. In the arcade, I had a wonky camera trigger. Still, it was absolutely playable and was no hinderance whatsoever. In conclusion, great vibes, fun puzzles, interesting story that doesnt nail its landing. Very much a good game to hammer through over the weekend.

If you love puzzle games, then this is the game fore you. Everything about this game is good: - the music: good. - the story: hella good. - the puzzles: challenging but extremely rewarding. i highly recommend this game.