Esports26 Jun 2026Steam Summer Sale is here!Hi everyone, We're joining the Steam Summer Sale once again this year! After this sale, we're gearing up to announce some big news 🕵️♀️ We can't share any details just yet, but we're already excited to tell you more very soon. So if you need a companion for your summer vacation: from June 25 to July 9 , The Darkest Files is available at 35% off . And if you'd like to take the investigation wi…
We have some incredible news to announce! The Darkest Files has been nominated for THE German Video Game Award (DCP) in no less than five categories! 🥳 ⚖️ Best Serious Game 🎲 Best Game Design 🎨 Best Graphic Design ✍️ Best Story 🎮 Best German Game Thank you to the jury and congratulations to the other nominees. We're really grateful to be alongside so many great names 🧡 And if you'd like to…
Dear fellow investigators🕵️♀️ Something curious is happening on Steam… From March 11–18 , we’re part of the Curious Odyssey Steam Event! With 30% off on The Darkest Files. So... If you'd like to take a break, lose yourself in great stories, and forget the burning world outside for a moment, then check out the great titles featured in the Curious Odyssey Sale. ✨ All the best, The Paintbuckets
Hi everyone, We're part of the Fun, Dark & Cozy Steam event! Check out the amazing games that are fun, dark, or cozy (or all three?) - where would you put us? Also, did you see the version update of The Darkest Files? We fixed achievement issues and brought back some missing VFX! Best, The Paintbuckets
Hi folks, We just updated The Darkest Files to fix the issue where some of you weren't getting the "Silver Tongue" achievement. We really appreciate your patience with this one 🧡 Also, the VFX that disappeared in the last version are back! Thank you to everyone who reported the bug and helped us to find the issue! If you still encounter any bugs, we’re definitely interested in knowing about th…
Surprise! Just in time for the Steam Detective Fest , we updated our The Darkest Files demo. This is a brand-new demo released in January 2026, and it replaces the very dated one from 2023. 🕵️ That makes now the perfect time to try out The Darkest Files! And if you decide to buy it: it is currently 30% off - our biggest discount yet! 🥳 Do you enjoy searching for clues, collecting evidence, an…
We still can’t believe it! Last night was the DEP, and we are so happy and grateful to have won in the two categories “Best Game Design” and “Best Game Beyond Entertainment” 🥳 Especially because the other contenders had such amazing projects as well! Shoutout to "Deine Stimme", "Rascal's Escape" , "Herdling" , and our friends "Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders" . Thank you to the jury and the whol…
Surprise! We’re proud to share that The Darkest Files was part of a very special Gamescom moment: The Opening Night Live show . Jörg Friedrich, one of our CEO’s, was invited to speak on stage about The Darkest Files and the important role games can play in strengthening our democracy. At this year’s Gamescom, The Darkest Files is part of a collaboration with other awesome indie titles: the “Gam…
We’re back at Gamescom in Cologne - Find us in the Indie-Arena! 🕵️🔍 This year, The Darkest Files is part of a very special collaboration alongside other awesome indie titles: the “Games for Democracy” booth by the German Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb). 📍 Meet us here in Hall 10.02 and play games about past and current politics, democracy, its challenges, and its importance. Check…
Dear prosecutors! We’ve been made aware by some of you that it wasn’t possible to load a savegame in the epilogue-chapter since our last patch. This was a result of a bugfix related to the Notebook. So, today we’re pushing a hotfix that lets you load epilogue-savegames again. Thank you very much for the bug reports about this! If you still encounter any bugs, we’re definitely interested in know…
Hey dear prosecutors, It is patch time again! This is a relatively small update that fixes a couple of minor issues and a couple of spelling errors. Something bigger is in the making, read the end of the note for more info on what we are cooking. Changes & Fixes · Updated the “Report a bug” menu with additional (optional) input fields for email and discord user names. You can fill these out whe…
Hi everyone, We’re part of the Steam Summer Sale! If you've been waiting for the right moment to jump into the investigation, this is it ☀️ The Darkest Files is 20% off from June 26th to July 10th - our greatest discount so far! And if you want to enjoy the warm weather outside, The Darkest Files also runs on Steam Deck 🕵️♀️ Also, we would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has alrea…
Hello, dear prosecutors! We once again have a new patch for you to make some improvements, fix bugs, typos and grammar issues reported by you all. Thank you very much for all the reports when you find bugs. They really help us a lot to make The Darkest Files the best it can be as we continue supporting the game. If you encounter a bug or any inconvenience while playing the game, don’t hesitate…
Remembrance and Reflection: May 8th - The Anniversary of Nazi Germany's Defeat Today marks the anniversary of May 8th, 1945 - the day that Nazi Germany unconditionally surrendered, ending the Second World War in Europe. This pivotal moment in history not only liberated Europe from fascism but continues to shape our society and our collective responsibilities today. For us at Paintbucket Games,…
Hello, dear prosecutors! Today, we've got a new patch for you. This patch contains improvements to the notebook and adds a certain detail in a document to make things a little more consistent. We’ve also fixed all the most urgent and some more minor bugs and issues that you all have reported to us on the forums, our discord server, or the in-game bug report tool which can be opened via F5. Than…
Hey folks, 📢 Thank you so much for all your support and reviews, this means a lot to us! We also heard your valid critique and are excited to announce this big balancing patch of The Darkest Files. But before I tell you more about the update, we also want to share that we now have Trading Cards! You can now collect and trade the whole team of Mr. Bauer, plus the cat Marlene. 😻 🔍 Patch 1.0.5…
This is a major balance patch which adds a lot of possible solutions for conclusions and interruptions, making the game less strict and more open to different ways of thinking. We also added a new difficulty mode in between the easy and hard difficulty for a more balanced experience. Dear prosecutors, After watching a lot of you play and make reviews and community posts regarding the game’s dif…
Thank you for your continued support! We're excited to bring you this new update with several improvements and bug fixes: Changes · Changed the unlock requirements of the "Fledgeling" and "Respectable Result" so they can be unlocked when having more of the required steps to unlock. Bugfixes · Fixed an issue where the achievements "Silver Tongue" & "Argumentative" would not unlock · Fixed an iss…
Thank you for your continued support! After our larger update on Thursday, we're releasing this small patch to address the most troublesome bugs: Bug Fixes · Fixed a rare issue where the court would abruptly end when selecting any answer other than "No one planted the loot" · Resolved a bug where certain paragraphs in Investigator mode weren't being counted as correct answers despite being vali…
Thank you for all the amazing support and many positive reviews. We’re extremely grateful to have such a lovely community of players enjoying our game. Since our launch on Tuesday, a lot of people have played the game for the first time and of course found and reported various issues and bugs. We aim to make sure that every bug and most inaccuracies in the game will be ironed out so that The Da…
You can play The Darkest Files on your Steam Deck and enjoy the full experience! Sitting on the couch while investigating case files, interrogating witnesses at your own pace, or just relaxing on the bed while you review evidence and build your case. Bring Fritz Bauer's quest for justice with you wherever you go and experience this powerful historical story in a comfortable setting. Check it ou…
Today is the day!! The Darkest Files IS OUT NOW! 🥳 After three years of work, we’re happy to announce that our game is finally released for all of you to play, explore, deduce and immerse yourselves in. We’re incredibly excited and can’t wait to read your thoughts as you uncover the truth and seek justice in The Darkest Files. Thank you for your amazing support during this journey, we are so h…
🎉 Only 3 Weeks Until Release! 🎉 The wait is almost over, we will release The Darkest Files in just three weeks! For this occasion, we’ve prepared a brand-new trailer that makes our game look as suspenseful as it is. 🕵️♀️ Watch the new trailer HERE ! We can’t wait for you to experience the full game, and we’re incredibly grateful for all your support along the way. Let us know what you think…
Hi everyone! Only 6 weeks left until the release of The Darkes Files! We’re deep in the final stages of development, making sure everything is as polished as possible before release. Right now, we are focusing on QA Testing, eliminating all existing bugs, and making sure everything runs smoothly. 🕵️♀️ But there is also still some visual improvement happening! We overhauled the Flashback Scene…
Hi everyone! We hope you had a great start to the new year - we did and went straight back to working on The Darkest Files! 🕵️♀️💫 Currently, we are working a lot on the Epilogue and Esther’s past , and we do not want to spoil anything there yet, but we still have some stuff to show you: Our narrative designers have completed writing the Kitchen Talks , which have been sent to our voice actor…
The cat is out of the bag! 😻 The Darkest Files will release on the 25th of March 2025 🎉 To celebrate, we’ve also released a new trailer showing gameplay from the second case. You can watch the trailer HERE We also pushed an update to the Closed Beta update already! It includes many bug fixes, various saving and loading improvements, and overall polishing. This wouldn’t have been possible with…
Dear Investigators, Today we're excited to release a significant update to our Closed Beta, bringing you the complete second case (though not yet the game's finale) along with major improvements to the first one! 🎁 If your Kickstarter reward does not include the Closed Beta access, you can still get excited about the following enhancements: 🎄What's New: · The entire second case · Meet Marlene…
Follow Lini how she plays through the demo of The Darkest Files.
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Announcements are the developer’s own posts to the game’s Steam news feed: updates and their patch notes, in-game events, releases and sales. The important ones are marked on the players chart.