UNWIPED
A short detective game played by reading a stranger's late-90s computer, two days before the year 2000.
Official site argos-studios.itch.io, verified Nov 3, 2026. The developer's own itch.io page (Argos Studios), listed on the Argos Studios itch.io profile.
Where to play
Every platform this game is on. Links are checked against official sources; we never host or mirror games.
- Play free — itch.ioitch.ioReleasedFree
Plays in the browser on itch.io. No download.
Browser (no download) · Mobile · Official link verified Nov 3, 2026.
About UNWIPED
A short detective game set on 30 December 1999. Twelve days earlier you bought a used computer at a moving sale, sold as wiped; when you finally plug it in, the Halloran family's emails, chat logs, diaries and saved web pages are still on it, their dial-up account still works, and someone is still writing to it. You investigate through a late-90s desktop: a mail client, a web browser with its own search engine, chat logs, a recycle bin, a password-protected zip file and even the family's high scores in a Minesweeper-style game. Clicking words in what you read adds them to your Case Notes, and you then fill in five pages of what really happened; the notes tell you when you are close, so guessing does not work, and each page offers two hints and then a button that fills in one answer. Some pages are only reachable after dialling up, with a synthesized modem sound. The case takes about an hour and has three endings, decided by whom you trust before midnight on New Year's Eve. Argos Studios, which also made TALKDOWN, says one human played, tested and published the game and that the code, the story and the pixel art, drawn by code without image generators, were written by Claude. Free in the browser on computers, with phone and tablet support; progress saves automatically. The page carries a content note.
Content note: The developer's content note mentions a cult, a family in danger and fraud; there is no gore and there are no jump scares. (itch.io)
How it was built
Partially verifiedThe itch.io page says the game was made by “a two-person team”: one human played, tested and published it, and everything else (the code, the story and the pixel art, which is drawn by code with no image generators) was written by Claude, an AI model. No Claude product or model is named. The itch.io AI disclosure ticks Code, Graphics, Sounds and Text; the page says the modem sound is synthesized.
Claude wrote the code, the story text and the pixel art, which is drawn in code rather than made with an image generator; the one human on the project played, tested and published it. The game recreates a late-90s desktop in the browser with mail, a browser and search engine, chat logs, a recycle bin and a locked zip file, and a Case Notes system in which clicked words become clues for five deduction pages, with two hints per page and an option to fill in an answer.
- Engine / framework
- Not disclosed (HTML5)
- Languages
- Not disclosed
- Team size
- 1 (solo)Developer Reporteditch.io
- Development time
- Not disclosed
- Development cost
- Not disclosed
- AI-written code
- Not disclosed
“Everything else, the code, the story and the pixel art (drawn by code, no image generators), was written by Claude, an AI model. We think you should know that before you play.”Verification notes: AI use from the developer's own statement on the itch.io page; the launch devlog does not mention AI, and no independent source was found. The developer names Claude without a product or model, so the tool is recorded as Claude. Team size is recorded as one human, as for the studio's other game, TALKDOWN: the page describes a two-person team in which the second member is Claude (a developer reply in the comments also calls it a two-person studio). Whether Argos Studios has other members is not stated. Release date from the launch devlog (24 Sep 2026, 16:48 UTC). Features, length (about an hour) and the three endings from the itch.io page and the devlog. The itch.io page has no Languages field; the page and the game file are in English (lang=en). No calls to AI services were found in the game file. Location is not stated.
Development history
Released on itch.io with a launch devlog.
DeveloperArgos Studios (itch.io devlog)
Game performance
Each figure measures something different — concurrent players, owners, downloads and sales are never interchangeable and are never added together. Labels show where each number comes from.
itch.io
Free; plays in the browser on a computer and, per the developer, also works on phones and tablets. Progress saves automatically.
Not publicly available: Gross revenue.
Sales & revenue (all platforms)
Browser game — there are no downloads to count.
Reviews & rankings
Not yet reviewed by our editors.
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No player reviews yet.
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Sources
| Source | Type | Published | Accessed |
|---|---|---|---|
| UNWIPED by Argos Studios itch.io | Store page | Not confirmed | Nov 3, 2026 |
| UNWIPED is out: a mystery on a stranger's computer Argos Studios (itch.io devlog) | Devlog | Sep 24, 2026 | Nov 3, 2026 |
| Official game page (language check) Argos Studios | Official site | Not confirmed | Nov 3, 2026 |
