Games Like The Operator

Desk-bound investigation games for players who enjoyed solving cases through databases, files and analysis tools in The Operator.

By Murder Book Editorial TeamPublished 16 September 2026Updated 16 September 2026

If you enjoyed The Operator, the games that feel closest are ones where you investigate from a screen: searching databases, reading private messages and assembling a picture of what happened from files. Good next picks are:

Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You: profile suspects by searching web pages, chats and private files.
Her Story and Telling Lies: search databases of recorded video to uncover the truth.
SIMULACRA: dig through a missing woman's phone.
Do Not Feed the Monkeys: watch strangers on camera and research them on an in-game PC.
Chinatown Detective Agency: solve cases that sometimes need real-world research.
Papers, Please: check documents for discrepancies at a border checkpoint.

For a different kind of desk work, upcoming Murder Book moves the investigation into the interrogation room.

Key takeaways

The Operator's appeal is investigating through tools on a computer desktop rather than walking around a crime scene.
Orwell is the closest match in theme: an analyst deciding what information to pass on.
Her Story and Telling Lies use search-driven databases of video.
SIMULACRA and Do Not Feed the Monkeys offer the same "screen as investigation space" feeling with a darker edge.
Murder Book is an upcoming interrogation game, planned for the end of Q2 2027.

What makes The Operator appealing?

The Operator (Bureau 81, 2024) casts you as an operator at a fictional agency, the FDI. You never go into the field. Instead, you use in-game desktop tools such as databases and photo, video and chemical analysers to help field agents solve crimes.

A game like The Operator usually has several of these qualities:

The screen is the world. You investigate through interfaces, files and search tools.
Information is the evidence. Progress comes from connecting records, not from action.
You support or judge from a distance. Other people act on what you find.
No combat. The challenge is attention and reasoning.

Games like The Operator at a glance

Game	Developer	How you investigate	Format	Platforms (examples)
Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You	Osmotic Studios	Search web pages, social media, chats, emails and private files to profile suspects	Desktop surveillance	PC, Mac, Linux, iOS
Her Story	Sam Barlow	Search a 1990s police database of interview clips	Full-motion video	PC, Mac, iOS, Android
Telling Lies	Sam Barlow, Half Mermaid	Search a stolen database of recorded video conversations	Full-motion video	PC, Mac, consoles, iOS
SIMULACRA	Kaigan Games	Go through a missing woman's messages, emails, gallery and apps	Phone interface	PC, Mac, iOS, Android
Do Not Feed the Monkeys	Fictiorama Studios	Watch strangers on surveillance cameras and research them on an in-game PC	Surveillance simulator	PC, Mac, Linux, consoles, iOS, Android
Chinatown Detective Agency	General Interactive Co.	Take on cases, some needing research outside the game	Point-and-click	PC, Mac
Papers, Please	Lucas Pope	Check travellers' documents for discrepancies	Document inspection	PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android

Platforms were checked against Steam, official sites or official store pages. Availability changes, so check the store before buying.

Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You

Orwell (Osmotic Studios, published by Daedalic Entertainment, 2016) puts you in the role of a government surveillance researcher after a series of terror attacks. You search web pages, social media, chats, emails and private files to profile suspects, and you decide which information goes to the security forces.

Like The Operator, you are the person behind the screen whose findings shape what others do. The difference is tone: Orwell is about the ethics of surveillance as much as solving a case.

Best for: players who want desk-bound investigation with moral weight.

Her Story

Her Story (Sam Barlow, 2015) gives you a 1990s police computer. You type search terms into a database and watch video clips from seven interviews with a British woman about her missing husband. There is only one tool, but using it well is the whole game. See our full list of games like Her Story.

Best for: players who enjoyed The Operator's database searches most.

Telling Lies

Telling Lies (Sam Barlow, Half Mermaid, published by Annapurna Interactive, 2019) expands the Her Story idea. You search a stolen NSA database of secretly recorded video conversations by typing words, then watch the clips where those words are spoken. More on this style is in Games Like Telling Lies.

Best for: players who want a larger, more tangled database to explore.

SIMULACRA

SIMULACRA (Kaigan Games, 2017) starts when you find a missing woman's phone. You go through her messages, emails, gallery and apps, recover corrupted data and solve image and text decryption puzzles to learn what happened. Steam describes it as "an interactive horror experience", with 5 possible endings.

Best for: players who like investigating through a device and don't mind horror.

Do Not Feed the Monkeys

Do Not Feed the Monkeys (Fictiorama Studios, published by Alawar, 2018) calls itself a "digital voyeur simulator". You watch strangers through surveillance cameras, research what you see on an in-game PC and choose whether to interfere.

Best for: players who enjoyed piecing together people's lives from observation.

Chinatown Detective Agency

Chinatown Detective Agency (General Interactive Co., 2022) follows ex-cop Amira Darma, who chooses clients and travels the world solving cases. Steam notes that some puzzles require real-world research outside the game, such as looking up an airport code.

Best for: players who want research to feel like real detective work, and who like taking notes. See Mystery Games That Make You Take Notes.

Papers, Please

Papers, Please (Lucas Pope, 2013) is not a crime investigation, but it shares The Operator's desk-bound focus. As a border-checkpoint immigration inspector, you check travellers' documents for discrepancies and decide whom to let in.

Best for: players who enjoy spotting a detail that does not match the record.

Which one should you try first?

Want the same "analyst at a desk" role? Orwell.
Enjoyed searching the databases? Her Story, then Telling Lies.
Want something tense or unsettling? SIMULACRA or Do Not Feed the Monkeys.
Like checking records against each other? Papers, Please.

Is there an upcoming investigation game built around people, not tools?

Murder Book: The Art of Interrogation is an upcoming narrative interrogation game from Gungrounds, an independent studio in Zagreb, Croatia. The Operator asks you to analyse files and footage. Murder Book asks you to analyse a person: their story, the changes in their behaviour and the gaps in what they say.

It still has a desk-work side. Development screenshots show an in-game casebook of behaviours, including Stonewalling, Avoidance, Fabrication and Emotional Fading, and an evidence board that links statements, such as "I NEVER met her!" and "I had no idea", to a fabricated description of a gun. Development materials also show a technique menu with options such as Build Trust, Bluffing and Confrontation. Cases are designed for focused 5–10-minute sessions.

Murder Book is in development for PC (Steam) and mobile, with release currently planned for the end of Q2 2027. See How Murder Book Turns Interrogation Into Gameplay.