Solve Cases While You Work: Desktop Detective Launches Today on Steam

Put a ghost detective to work in the corner of your screen while you get on with your day.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40bk0MYOHRs

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Developer Conradical Games and publisher Playsaurus today released Desktop Detective on Steam for Windows and Mac at $4.99, with 15% off during the first two weeks. The idle detective RPG lives quietly in the corner of the screen, where a ghost detective investigates crime scenes and gathers clues while players work, browse, or game.

Desktop Detective follows Desktop Defender, Conradical's corner tower defense game, whose demo climbed from 3 to over 1,548 concurrent players in a week at Steam Next Fest and finished among the five most played demos of the event. It launched in November 2025 to a Very Positive rating it still holds across more than 1,700 reviews. Desktop Detective's own free demo arrived in June and became one of the most played demos on Steam.

Conradical Games founder Conrad Grindheim describes Desktop Detective as "an idle game designed to sit comfortably in the corner of your screen, giving you strategies to mull over while you work and decisions to execute during your next break."

In the full game, players level up to earn permanent upgrades and new crime scenes, hunt rare gear with huge bonuses, and reset their runs through Ascension to unlock powerful cross-ascension upgrades, with more than 200 pieces of loot to discover. Always on but never in the way, the game can be resized and repositioned to fit any setup, and players choose whether to stay passive or play actively.

Every fifth case breaks for an interrogation, where ghost characters turn up with randomized appearances and dialogue. Conradical built the system as the detective answer to the boss fights in Desktop Defender.

"The ghost detective theme felt like a natural fit for the corner idle game format since it's cosy and unobtrusive, but still offers lots of potential for fun characters, locations, and deeper progression for players who want to optimise, improve their character, and work towards longer term goals," said Grindheim.

Desktop Detective ships in eight languages with Steam achievements and cloud saves, and progress from the free demo carries straight into the full game.

"An idle game has to earn the corner of the screen it takes up," said Austin Oblouk, CEO of Playsaurus. "Desktop Defender did that, and Desktop Detective goes further with loot, ascensions, and a full RPG underneath. We're excited to bring it to Steam."

ABOUT DESKTOP DETECTIVE

Desktop Detective is an idle detective RPG that sits in the corner of your screen while you do other things.

• Investigate crime scenes and gather clues while you go about your day
• Gain XP, level up, and earn rewards such as permanent upgrades or new crime scenes
• Hunt more than 200 pieces of rare loot with huge bonuses and create broken builds
• Ascend to earn Ascendium and unlock cross-ascension upgrades
• Face an interrogation every fifth case, with ghost characters who change every time

STEAM STORE PAGE

Buy Desktop Detective: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4225890/Desktop_Detective/

MEDIA ASSETS

Screenshots and key art: available on request from [email protected]

PRESS CONTACT

Playsaurus
19495192196
[email protected]
Free keys available to press on request

ABOUT CONRADICAL GAMES

Conradical Games is an independent studio in Switzerland developing the games that nobody else makes. It is the studio behind Desktop Defender and a growing family of corner games, small desktop games designed to run beside your other windows.

ABOUT PLAYSAURUS

Playsaurus is a California-based game studio and publisher. The company is best known for acclaimed titles such as Clicker Heroes, Poker Quest, and Mr. Mine. In addition to its own projects, Playsaurus has a publishing catalog that includes Cookie Clicker, Sixty Four, Tingus Goose, and Black Hole Fishing.

SOURCE Playsaurus Inc.