Midnight Files
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About Midnight Files
Midnight Files is a mystery-solving simulator developed by Paper Lynx Games, released November 4, 2025, for PC. It blends adventure and investigative gameplay, tasking you with photographing crime scene clues, analyzing evidence, and piecing together connections on a digital board. Each case is self-contained, focusing on linking fragmented details to identify perpetrators and predict their next move. The game emphasizes methodical thinking over action, with a minimalist art style and text-heavy interface. Ideal for players who enjoy slow-burn puzzles and deductive reasoning, it’s a digital board game wrapped in a true-crime theme.
Gameplay
You start each case by exploring environments with a camera, snapping photos of objects, documents, and patterns. These images populate a workspace where you manually draw links between items, names, and locations. A separate tab lets you query police databases for partial matches, which often yield vague or conflicting results. Progress hinges on cross-referencing these fragments, testing hypotheses by rearranging nodes on the board. Controls are keyboard/mouse-driven, with a clunky but functional interface. Sessions often stall during the "aha" phase, where misinterpreting a clue can derail progress. Cases average 45 minutes to an hour, but backtracking is common if connections aren’t obvious.
What Players Think
PlayPile community ratings average 4.2/5, with 72% of players completing at least 80% of cases. Average playtime is 14.6 hours, though 30% of reviews note frustration with vague clues. Community moods are split: 65% label it "satisfying" for solvers, while 25% call it "frustrating" due to ambiguous feedback. Critic scores hover around 83/100, praising its "uniquely cerebral approach" but criticizing "repetitive case structures." One user wrote, "It’s like doing a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces and a time limit." Achievement completion sits at 89%, with the "Cold Case Master" title earned by 12% of players.
PlayPile's Take
Midnight Files is a niche pick for logic enthusiasts and retired detectives. At $29.99, it offers solid value for its 15+ hour runtime, though the $10 discount on Steam sales makes it more appealing. The 37 achievements add replayability but aren’t essential to enjoy the core loop. While cases eventually repeat in structure, the satisfaction of untangling a complex web keeps most players engaged. Skip if you prefer fast-paced action or clear guidance, this is a game that demands patience and a love for detective work.
Game Modes
Single player
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