About the archive

The Open Files is a collection of case records — children who went missing, and the paperwork that was left behind. Each file has been reopened and handed to Investigators like you to read, cross-reference, and judge.

Files are released one at a time. When a new one opens, it appears on your Case Board; nothing you have done in an earlier file is affected. Files are never taken away once released.

What you'll actually do

You dispatch a Runner to a location. They take real time — a lunch break, a commute — and return with whatever was there. You read it, listen to it, and decide whether it matters. Some files also let you reach out to people who were there, through the Runner. They may or may not answer.

Nothing in the archive is timed against other Investigators. There is no leaderboard. The only thing you can lose is a report you never came back for.

Working together

Every Investigator's file is private — nobody can spoil your find. But some of what you recover only makes sense next to what someone else recovered, and comparing notes is encouraged.

Your account

You can stay anonymous. A badge only needs a passphrase. If you do add a recovery email, you can get back in if you forget the passphrase; if you don't, nobody can recover the badge for you — the archive keeps no other record of who you are.