MyDear.exe Brings a Digital Love Story to PC on November 2, 2026

MyDear.exe, the debut game from Bordeaux-based developer Falling Leaves Studio, will launch for PC on November 2, 2026. The game is confirmed for both Steam and the Epic Games Store, where it will invite players to explore an old computer system built around the memories of a lifelong relationship.

Described as an "Interactive Love Letter," MyDear.exe follows Ellie and Lucien, two people who loved each other unconditionally for 57 years. Rather than presenting that story through a conventional adventure-game world, Falling Leaves Studio has constructed its setting from the folders, files, photographs, notes, and programs found on a faux retro PC interface. The result is a compact narrative experience that uses the language of a desktop operating system as both its central setting and its core means of exploration.

The game's premise places players in the position of uncovering puzzles Lucien prepared for Ellie. As players navigate the computer, they will gather souvenirs and personal artifacts, engage with narrative-focused mini-games, and piece together the couple's shared history. It is a concept built around familiar digital clutter--directories, icons, saved files, and old media--but aimed at a personal story of memory, affection, and loss.

A "Foldervania" Built Inside an Old Computer

Falling Leaves Studio calls MyDear.exe a "Foldervania," a label that points to its use of nonlinear exploration inspired by the wider Metroidvania tradition. Instead of moving through caverns, haunted mansions, or interconnected alien worlds, players will move through the nested structure of an aging computer. Folders act as pathways, files can hold clues or memories, and progression is tied to solving the challenges that unlock new parts of the system.

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That approach gives the game a distinctly desktop-based interpretation of exploration. The familiar act of opening directories and looking through old files becomes part of the adventure rather than mere presentation. Players will be expected to inspect what has been left behind, determine how separate items connect, and use the information they uncover to continue through Lucien's carefully arranged digital trail.

The interface is designed to evoke the visual character of the Windows XP era, though it is a recreated fictional operating system rather than a literal copy. That retro-PC framing is important to the game's identity: the old desktop is not simply a nostalgic screen treatment, but the world itself. The folders and programs are intended to feel like places with secrets of their own, making the computer an extension of the story's central memories.

MyDear.exe is expected to be a short experience, with a stated runtime of roughly two hours. That scope suggests a focused trip through the couple's digital archive rather than a long-form open-ended puzzle game. The project emphasizes a curated emotional arc, using exploration and interaction to gradually reveal why each saved item matters.

For another perspective on this story, read MyDear.exe Brings Its 'Foldervania' Love Letter to Steam and Epic Games Store on November 2, 2026.

Photos, Notes, Souvenirs, and Puzzle Pieces

At the center of MyDear.exe are the artifacts that Ellie and Lucien left for one another. Players will encounter photographs, notes, souvenirs, and other collectible reminders of their life together. These objects are more than optional flavor: they help tell the story while also supporting the game's puzzle structure.

Lucien's preparations for Ellie create the game's through line. Each challenge is part of a larger route through the computer, asking players to interpret the material he saved and understand the personal context behind it. The game promises a variety of puzzle mechanics rather than a single repeated format, and its narrative mini-games are meant to add playful moments to an otherwise intimate premise.

The mix of sentimental items and sillier activities appears deliberate. MyDear.exe is positioned as cute and heartfelt, not solely mournful. A long relationship contains jokes, routines, hobbies, shared references, and little pieces of absurdity alongside its major milestones. By including lighthearted mini-games amid the photos and written notes, the game aims to portray the relationship as lived-in rather than reducing it to a simple sentimental summary.

The full release will also be fully voiced. Voice work can be especially important for a game rooted in personal correspondence and recollection, as it gives the people behind the files a stronger sense of presence. In a setting where players are navigating a machine that stores traces of a life, hearing the characters may help bridge the gap between impersonal computer folders and the human experiences contained inside them.

A Debut Project With an Intimate Scope

MyDear.exe is Falling Leaves Studio's first game. The team includes developers who previously worked on The Rogue Prince of Persia, bringing prior game-development experience to a project with a dramatically different scale and tone. Where a large action platformer can be driven by speed, traversal, and combat mastery, this debut is built around close inspection, narrative discovery, and puzzle-solving.

Its small scale is part of the appeal. Two hours is enough room for the game to establish the character of its fake operating system, deliver a collection of varied interactive moments, and tell the story at the heart of Ellie and Lucien's relationship without overstaying its premise. For players with limited time, the contained format may make it easier to approach as a single-sitting narrative game or a brief experience spread across a few sessions.

The game was featured during the InterfaceX26 showcase, placing it among projects that use interface design and unusual presentation as a major part of their identity. MyDear.exe's faux desktop is particularly suited to that kind of attention. Game interfaces are often designed to disappear into the background, but this project makes its interface the place players inhabit. Every window, icon, and folder can potentially function as part of the storytelling vocabulary.

MyDear.exe transforms a familiar old-PC desktop into a nonlinear world of locked folders, personal keepsakes, and puzzles created for someone special.

A Demo Is Available Now

Players curious about the game ahead of launch can already try a demo on Steam. The demo has received 100% positive user reviews at the time of the announcement, an encouraging early response for the studio's first release. As with any early review snapshot, that figure may change as more players spend time with the demo, but it indicates that its mix of retro-computer presentation and emotional puzzle adventure has connected with its initial audience.

A demo is especially useful for a game such as MyDear.exe because its central idea depends heavily on feel. Screenshots can communicate the Windows XP-inspired aesthetic, and a description can explain the folder-based structure, but playing the opening portion is the clearest way to understand how navigation, file inspection, puzzle-solving, and storytelling come together. It also gives prospective players a chance to see whether the game's deliberately nostalgic computer style resonates with them.

What to Expect at Launch

When MyDear.exe arrives on November 2, 2026, PC players can expect a fully voiced, approximately two-hour puzzle adventure focused on exploration inside a fictional retro operating system. Its progression is nonlinear in the spirit of a Metroidvania, but its tools are folders, files, memories, and interactive challenges rather than weapons or combat abilities.

The game's key features include:

• A story centered on Ellie and Lucien's 57-year relationship.
• A faux Windows XP-era computer interface built as an explorable game world.
• Nonlinear "Foldervania" progression through folders and digital spaces.
• Puzzles prepared by Lucien for Ellie.
• Collectible photos, notes, souvenirs, and other memory-filled items.
• Varied puzzle mechanics and playful narrative mini-games.
• Full voice acting across a short, focused campaign.

MyDear.exe will be available on Steam and the Epic Games Store. With its unusual desktop-world format and intimate focus on a relationship preserved in digital fragments, Falling Leaves Studio's debut is shaping up to be a concise PC adventure that treats an old computer not as obsolete technology, but as a place where a lifetime of memories can still be explored.