MyDear.exe

What Is MyDear.exe?

MyDear.exe is a short cozy narrative puzzle game from Falling Leaves Studio, a two-person team in Bordeaux, France, publishing under Falling Leaves and SRY Interactive. It launches November 2, 2026 on Steam and the Epic Games Store, with a free demo already live. The premise: you are Ellie, sitting down at the family's old computer to open a gift from your husband Lucien. He built you a game, folder by folder, to celebrate 57 years of marriage. Solving it means rummaging through photographs, love notes, and the couple's shared history.

The studio calls the structure a "Foldervania": non-linear exploration through a retro desktop interface. You navigate directories, unlock protected files, and piece together the timeline of Ellie and Lucien's romance at your own pace. There is no combat and no fail state. Around two hours of gameplay break into light deduction puzzles and narrative minigames inspired by the couple's favorite games and pets, including their street cat Clochette and their dog Hoshisan.

The demo has been quietly building goodwill: 14 of 14 Steam user reviews are positive at the time of writing, with players calling it "a wonderful little treat of a demo, full of little surprises." One more selling point the studio leads with: no AI-generated assets anywhere in the game.

MyDear.exe Details

How to Play MyDear.exe

The full game unlocks in early November, but the demo and the store page describe the loop precisely, so you can walk in prepared.

Treat the desktop as a map. Folders are rooms. The game hands you a retro file explorer, and progress means opening the right sequence of folders, reading what is inside, and noticing what does not belong yet. Locked or "protected" files are the gates; clues scattered in other folders are the keys.

Read everything before you solve anything. The puzzles are deduction puzzles rooted in the couple's shared history: birthdays, trips, pets, private jokes. A puzzle that looks unsolvable usually means you have skipped a note or photo two folders back. The demo's reviews single out the "juicy UI" and the satisfaction of connecting two documents.

Minigames are desserts, not tests. Lucien built narrative minigames inspired by the couple's favorite games. Expect them to be short, warm, and tuned for skill levels well below typical puzzle-game difficulty. The store page promises "a quiet moment for everyone."

Names matter. Ellie, Lucien, Clochette the street cat, Hoshisan the dog. The puzzles reference the cast repeatedly, and reviewers of the demo flagged the animals as highlights.

Controls

MyDear.exe is a point-and-click game with full controller support, save-anywhere, and Steam Cloud:

The game saves anytime, which matters for a two-hour experience you may want to stretch across several evenings.

Getting Started: What to Know Before Release

Play the demo first. It is free on Steam, runs about 30 minutes, and covers the opening folder structure. The studio says demo feedback is shaping the final game, so the launch build will differ in the details but not the fundamentals.

The launch date is firm: November 2, 2026. Both Steam and Epic carry the same date, roughly four weeks out from this guide. Wishlisting on either store gets you the launch notification.

It is deliberately small. Two hours, one couple, one desktop. The studio, two developers plus freelance friends, describes its mission as "short, enjoyable experiences to savor with a hot drink in a rainy afternoon." Adjust expectations accordingly and the game over-delivers.

Specs are trivial. Minimum requirements are a 64-bit Windows 10 machine with 4 GB RAM, a GTX 960 / Radeon R9 280, DirectX 10, and 700 MB of storage. Anything that runs a modern browser handles this game.

Languages include Simplified and Traditional Chinese. The store lists English, French, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and more at launch, which is rare coverage for a game this size.

Tips and Tricks

Grounded in the demo and the studio's descriptions:

Open every file before advancing. This game does not punish exploration with difficulty spikes; it rewards it with story. Files you skip often contain the clue you will need ten minutes later, and the game lets you reopen old folders.

When stuck, re-read the oldest note. The deduction puzzles lean on details you read early: a date on a photo, a nickname in a letter, a pet's habit. If a puzzle blocks you, the answer is almost always in something you already saw rather than something you have not found.

Do the minigames slowly. They are tributes to the couple's life, not skill checks. Rushing them wastes the writing, and none are long enough to reward speed.

Play it in one or two sittings. The emotional arc is built for two hours of continuity. Splitting it into five 25-minute sessions across a week spreads the story too thin; two sittings with a drink is the intended shape.

Headphones on, notifications off. The game is quiet by design, and its charm lives in small audio cues and letter text. A two-hour game deserves an unbroken window.

Let the pets lead you. Clochette and Hoshisan recur in puzzles and minigames. If the game highlights an animal, that thread usually connects to the next unlock.

Advanced Tips

• Watch file metadata. Retro-desktop games love hiding hints in file names, modification dates, and folder structures. MyDear.exe's screenshots show a lived-in file system, and Lucien, an engineer by trade in the story, would absolutely timestamp things.
• Track the timeline explicitly. The story covers 57 years. If you keep a rough mental ordering of photos (young Ellie, the wedding, the pets, retirement), the deduction puzzles resolve faster because you know which era each clue belongs to.
• Revisit folders after major unlocks. Protected files that refused to open earlier become readable as the story advances. A sweep of old directories after each new unlock catches everything the game quietly released.
• Read the store page's "what you won't find" list as a design contract. No AI assets, no computer simulation, no demanding skill checks, no sprawling cast. When you sit down, that contract tells you the game will respect your two hours.
• Follow the studio's channels for post-launch support. Falling Leaves runs Bluesky, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, Bilibili, Douyin, and RedNote, an unusually broad social footprint, and the Steam community hub is active.

Final Tips

MyDear.exe is a love letter that happens to be a game, and the puzzles exist to make you earn the next page. Read everything, revisit old folders when new keys arrive, play it in a couple of long sittings, and let the minigames be the palate cleansers they are designed to be.

The demo is free and takes half an hour. If the premise sounds like your kind of evening, play it now and wishlist the full game for November 2. Two-person studios that make games this specific deserve the launch-day attention.

FAQ

When does MyDear.exe release? November 2, 2026, on Steam and the Epic Games Store. The Steam page says the game unlocks in about four weeks from early October.

Who makes MyDear.exe? Falling Leaves Studio, a two-person team based in Bordeaux, France, with a few freelance collaborators. ClemiSoft co-develops, and SRY Interactive co-publishes.

What kind of game is it? A cozy narrative puzzle game played inside a retro desktop interface. The studio brands it a "Foldervania": explore folders, unlock protected files, and solve light deduction puzzles built from the couple's memories.

How long is it? Around two hours for the full game. The free demo covers roughly 30 minutes.

Is there a demo? Yes, a free demo is live on Steam now (app 4564890). All 14 of its user reviews are positive at the time of writing.

How much will it cost? To be announced. Nothing on the store page indicates the price yet.

What are the PC system requirements? Minimum: 64-bit Windows 10 or newer, x64 CPU, 4 GB RAM, GTX 960 or Radeon R9 280, DirectX 10, 700 MB storage.

Does it have AI-generated content? No. The studio states plainly that no AI tools were used and there are no AI-generated assets.

Is it on Mac or Linux? Not listed. The store page covers Windows only.

Does it support controllers? Yes, full controller support, plus save-anytime and Steam Cloud.

What languages does it support? English and French have full audio; the interface and subtitles list covers Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and more.

Is it emotional or difficult? Emotional. The puzzles test gentle deduction, not skill, and the store page describes the experience as "a quiet moment for everyone."

---

Last reviewed by Game How To Editorial. We verify every guide against official sources and update when game mechanics change.