Be the guy in the chair and solve crimes in secret agent mystery The Operator, with a playable demo right now

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Using cutting-edge software - and your own brain - to analyze data and crack FDI cases

The Operator, a story-driven puzzle detective game, is the upcoming new game for Q3 2024 and a highlight of the Future Games Show - with a playable demo that players can test out right now!

The latest of a wave of ambitious mystery and detective games that have appeared on Steam across the last few years, The Operator puts players in the shoes of FDI agent Tanner - not a field agent, but the classic "guy in the chair". Armed with a range of high-tech software, your job is to filter, sift through, scrutinize and analyze the data that field agents are sending back to you, to solve murders, missing cases and find cyber criminals.

What you have at your disposal is a broad spectrum of technology via a fully interactive in-game computer console, but all that high-tech wizardry clearly won't mean anything without a sharp mind behind it. It's your job to take the raw data that those in the field are sending back, and run it through the right programs, compare with databases, and make connections - all to lead to a break in the case.

Of course, it may not be as simple or clean as all that. We keep seeing mentions of a notorious hacker known only as HAL, and FDI policy tells you that there are some work files that you definitely shouldn't be looking into... but I'm sure that's nothing to worry about, right?

If you choose to accept the mission, you can wishlist The Operator on Steam or play the demo right now, or follow developer Bureau 81 on Twitter, Facebook or YouTube for further updates.

If you’re looking for more excellent games from today's Future Games Show, have a look at our official Steam page.

Joel Franey
Joel Franey
Guides Editor, GamesRadar+

Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and Very Tired Man with a BA from Brunel University, a Masters from Sussex University and a decade working in games journalism, often focused on guides coverage but also in reviews, features and news. His love of games is strongest when it comes to groundbreaking narratives like Disco Elysium, UnderTale and Baldur's Gate 3, as well as innovative or refined gameplay experiences like XCOM, Sifu, Arkham Asylum or Slay the Spire. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at Eurogamer, Gfinity, USgamer, SFX Magazine, RPS, Dicebreaker, VG247, and more.