File://maniac Is a Game That Requires You to Edit Files on Your Actual Computer to Solve Puzzles

During the 2019 Global Game Jam, Italian indie developers Born Frustrated presented a very unique take on the detective adventure genre by introducing an interesting little cyber-noir detective game called file://maniac.

Thoughout the game, you’ll be promted to interact with folders and files on your computer.

In file://maniac you play a detective in a cyberpunk-looking city who is attempting to solve a murder mystery. It differentiates itself a bit from other games like this in that it requires you to edit and manipulate files on your actual computer. Your real life computer, not the one in the game.

Yep. In order to solve certain puzzles in the game, you must do things like edit and delete files on your PC’s folders. This creates a level of immersion that you don’t often get from lo-fi pixel-style games like this and it’s quite an interesting idea.

At certain points in the game you’ll even receive messages from the killer in your computer’s files.

The studio has stated that the plan is for this to be episodic and to release more chapters at some point in the future. For now you can get the compelling first chapter of this game on itch.io by naming your own price. It’s available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Have you played file://maniac yet? Comment below and let us know what you thought about it.

[Via Kotaku]