Get your case files ready, Steam Detective Fest is going on now. There are quite a few games I want to showcase, so kick your legs up, grab some coffee, and let's dive in.
Desktop Explorer
Sometimes when I see a game, I just know I have to play it. Desktop Explorer is that game.
Rummage through the abandoned profiles of an old PC to unravel an inherited mystery. What secrets hide in this eerie adventure of cryptic games and outdated software? Who was using this computer? And what happened to them?
Your uncle has given you his old PC as living inheritance. To your surprise, it still turns on! Inside, a letter tasks you with investigating a missing person’s case along with a mysterious puzzle game named Desktop Explorer. You’ll learn that your uncle wasn’t the only one who used this computer before, and that the program inside it has a deeper role in this 90s atmospheric digital mystery.
Features:
- Explore a 90’s operating system where every window hides a clue.
- Solve puzzles using classic OS tools like: file explorers, chat logs, and corrupted applications.
- Dig through abandoned software and forgotten files to uncover the truth.
- Experience a psychological horror mystery told through eerie interfaces and fragmented memories.
- Navigate immersive 3D environments rendered in retro-digital aesthetics.
- Listen to an original evocative soundtrack and nostalgic computer sounds
- Play classic pre-installed computer games
Dinocop
I feel like I have to play this one. I feel it in my bones.
When dinosaurs were brought back to life, none wanted to be a cop, so humans made you: Dinocop. Investigate the guests of the Cretaceous hotel to crack a meaty case that will confront you with your most profound existential dilemma. Who brought human meat to the dinosaur rights convention?
Humans had the silly idea of bringing dinosaurs back to life, and ever since, relationships between the two species have been strained. No dinosaurs wanted to become a cop, so you were created in a laboratory to become the only dinosaur cop. Every day, you ask yourself: are you making the world better for your dino peers, or are you just a tool of human propaganda?
Features:
- A rich and funny story starring a dozen anthropomorphic dinosaurs, and other silly characters, entangled in personal drama and sociopolitical issues about the realities of dino life in a human world ;
- Sniff out crimes thanks to your magnifying glass, your literal nose and other tools that will let you interact with your environment in clever ways ;
- Keep track of your investigation using an detailed node system and a timetable ;
- About 10 hours of gameplay
The Roottrees are Dead
A classic mystery game with great writing.
A genealogical mystery straight out of 1998. Scour the early Internet for clues, uncover hidden connections, and piece together the family tree behind the secretive Roottree Corporation.
The year is 1998. A private jet belonging to the Roottree Corporation has crashed. On it were the Roottree Sisters and their parents. Combined, they were worth over a billion dollars.
Now, due to the eccentricities of their great-great-grandfather Elias, their money must be redistributed to the rest of the family. But who's actually a BLOOD RELATIVE? That's where you come in.
Armed only with the power of your mighty dial-up modem, you'll scour for photos, books, articles and other evidence. Then, you'll make connections and deductions based on the family relationships you uncover. With every spot on the tree you fill in correctly, the names and photos left in your possession will have fewer and fewer places to go — but the evidence will also be harder and more obscure to find.
Can you put together the final pieces of the puzzle?
The Acclaimed Armchair Detective Game, Re-imagined on Steam
The Roottrees are Dead was originally created for the Global Game Jam 2023 and released as a free browser game. It was beloved by many for its clever puzzles, retro computing interface and novel world-building. The Steam version is the same great game, but enhanced in many ways:
- Hand-drawn illustrations from acclaimed board game artist Henning Ludvigsen.
- A 3D living-room perspective that ties together all the unique puzzle systems
- An enhanced user interface with many quality of life improvements to make your mystery solving easier to use and more intuitive
- Remastered music and sound effects, with fully voiced cinematics.
- A handful of Easter eggs and little touches for those who can't get enough of the late ‘90s charm
Includes "Roottreemania", a brand new mystery
- Find out what happens to the Roottree family following the events of the base game.
- A whole new family tree to complete!
- Discover the scandals, lies, and infidelities that took place behind the scenes of America's largest maple candy empire.
Disco Elysium - The Final Cut
One of the best of its kind.
Disco Elysium - The Final Cut is a groundbreaking role playing game. You’re a detective with a unique skill system at your disposal and a whole city to carve your path across. Interrogate unforgettable characters, crack murders or take bribes. Become a hero or an absolute disaster of a human being.
Disco Elysium - The Final Cut is the definitive edition of the groundbreaking role playing game. You’re a detective with a unique skill system at your disposal and a whole city block to carve your path across. Interrogate unforgettable characters, crack murders, or take bribes. Become a hero or an absolute disaster of a human being.
Features:
Full voice acting. All of the city's beautiful people are brought to life with full English voiceover. Play characters against each other, try to help them, or fall hopelessly in love as each word is spoken to you with the appropriate accent and emotion.
New political vision quests. Face the reality of your worldview as your political compass leads you down new paths. Discover more citizens, a whole extra area, and monumental sights as you leave an even bigger mark on the world by chasing your dreams.
Unprecedented freedom of choice. Intimidate, sweet-talk, resort to violence, write poetry, sing karaoke, dance like a beast, or solve the meaning of life. Disco Elysium - The Final Cut is the most faithful representation of desktop role playing ever attempted in video games.
Countless tools for role playing. Mix and match from 24 wildly different skills. Develop a personal style with over 80 clothing items. Wield 14 tools from guns to flashlights to a boombox, or pour yourself a cocktail of 6 different psychoactive substances. Develop your character even further with 60 wild thoughts to think – with the detective's Thought Cabinet.
A revolutionary dialogue system with unforgettable characters. The world is alive with real people, not extras. Ask probing questions, make insightful observations, or express your wildest desires as you play cop or something completely different. Disco Elysium's revolutionary dialogue system lets you do almost anything.
Carve your unique path across the city. Explore, manipulate, collect tare, or become a millionaire in an open world unlike anything you've seen before. The city of Revachol is yours for the taking, one small piece at a time. From the streets to the beaches – and beyond.
Hard boiled, hard core. Death, sex, taxes, and disco – nothing is off the table. Revachol is a real place with real challenges. Solve a massive murder investigation, or relax and kick back with sprawling side-cases. The detective decides, the citizens abide.
Call of Cthulhu®
One of my favorite games of all time and the inspiration behind all of the fiction I write.
1924. Private Investigator Pierce is sent to look into the tragic death of the Hawkins family. Plunge into a world of creeping madness and cosmic horror. Cryptic clues, shadowy figures, and pure terror bar your way as you fight to retain your sanity and solve an otherworldly mystery.
Demos
The Enigma Cases
The Enigma Cases invites you to test your skills as a detective and solve the most complex cases. Join your friends in this immersive and mysterious world. Do you have what it takes to uncover the truth?
The Occultist
The Occultist is a first-person narrative thriller. You play as Alan Rebels, a paranormal investigator who travels to an abandoned British island after his father's disappearance. Explore GodStone island, face supernatural entities, and uncover long-buried occult rituals.
Steam Deck
Detroit: Become Human
Detroit: Become Human puts the destiny of both mankind and androids in your hands, taking you to a near future where machines have become more intelligent than humans. Every choice you make affects the outcome of the game, with one of the most intricately branching narratives ever created.
L.A. Noire
In his fight to climb the ranks and do what's right, LAPD detective Cole Phelps must unravel the truth behind a string of arson attacks, conspiracies, and brutal murders, battling the L.A. underworld and even members of his own department.
