You know how in cop shows there’s always that person back at the lab whose job it is to go over evidence, analyze video, read chemical analysis reports—all the nerd stuff? The Operator is a conspiracy thriller about doing that job, helping the people out in the field get cases solved.
Obviously, though, it’s going to go off the rails: You’ll be immediately contacted by a strange hacker known as HAL and tasked with uncovering dark, deeper truths and all that. Very conspiracy thriller investigation stuff, very atmospheric.
It’s a cool premise for one of these games where you’re a mug at a terminal doing the work. Your tools are things like video and photo analysis, databases of people and vehicles to trawl through, chemical analysis, and the like. You’ve even got that stalwart of software, Notepad. You know. For notes.
The Operator launched July 22 on Steam and is doing pretty well for itself, with nearly 2,000 reviews and a 92% positive rating as of press time. Currently, most positive reviews emphasize its excitement, surprises, and plot, while negative ones note its linear plot or wish it were longer.
This has been a pretty good year for investigation games, with No Case Should Remain Unsolved in January capturing the imagination of wannabe detectives everywhere. That was more of a social drama that emphasized hands-on investigation, whereas The Operator puts you in the shoes of a much more junior detective with a much more technical mindset, then throws a thriller plot at you—good stuff if you value diversity in the genre.
You can find The Operator on Steam for $14, though it’s 10% off until August 5.
