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The Ratline on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
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A murdered priest. A secret list. Hunt Nazi fugitives across the globe in this gritty 1971 detective thriller. Analyze evidence, follow leads, and make sharp deductions before the trail goes cold. From the creators of Family, Rivals, Conspiracy, Echo Beach and Riley & Rochelle.
The Ratline is a adventure, detective and investigation game
developed and published by Owlskip Games.
Released on March 17th 2026 is available on Windows and MacOS
in 2 languages: English and Simplified Chinese.
It has received 303 reviews of which 259 were positive and 44 were negative resulting in a rating of 7.9 out of 10. 😊
The game is currently priced at 13.99€ on Steam.
The Steam community has classified The Ratline into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
Get an in-depth look at The Ratline through various videos and screenshots.
System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- OS *: Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, or Windows 10 (64-bit)
- Processor: Intel Core i3-2100 / AMD FX-6300 Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti / AMD Radeon HD 7850
- DirectX: Version 11
- Storage: 2 GB available space
- Sound Card: DirectX compatible sound card
MacOS
- OS: macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) or later
- Processor: 1.8 GHz Intel Core i5 or Apple Silicon (M1/M2 supported via Rosetta)
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4000 or equivalent
- Storage: 7 GB available space
Steam Price & Best Deals
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
I consider myself pretty up to date on these archive-searching narrative deduction games. The Ratline is a love-letter to the recent boom in the genre. It’s brimming with references to giants in the field and puts its own spin on many of their investigative mechanics. If this is your jam, I give it an unqualified recommendation. HOWEVER if you’re not already familiar with the genre, the recommendation is qualified. I suspect players may struggle to make progress past the first couple of cases if they don’t understand at a glance what they’re being asked to do and what sort of inquiries are likely to be productive. If you haven’t played at least 3 of the following, I would say go try them first: [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/653530/Return_of_the_Obra_Dinn/] Return of the Obra Dinn , [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2754380/The_Roottrees_are_Dead/] The Roottrees are Dead , [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1677770/The_Case_of_the_Golden_Idol/] The Case of the Golden Idol (and/or its [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/2716400/The_Rise_of_the_Golden_Idol/] sequel ), [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/368370/Her_Story/] Her Story , and [url=https://william-rous.itch.io/type-help] Type Help (or its forthcoming remake [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/3641000/The_Incident_at_Galley_House/] The Incident at Galley House ).
Strong detective-puzzle game in the vein of The Return of the Obra Dinn, the Golden Idol games and (especially) The Roottrees Are Dead, with an interesting narrative hook based on an infamous chapter of post-WW2 history. I'd definitely recommend it to fans of this micro-genre. The puzzling and deduction are very strong. Narratively I don't think it quite lives up to its premise - the narratives of the individual cases are interesting enough, but the overarching narrative is relatively simple and doesn't really come into play until the end of the game - but I still preferred the narrative here to what you get in Roottrees and the Golden Idol games, and it was definitely interesting enough to make me want to keep playing. However, if you've never played this type of game before, I would recommend you start with one of those other games rather than this one, for reasons I'll explain in the remainder of this review. For one thing, I would say this game is more challenging than its inspirations. Your mileage may vary since different people find different things intuitive/difficult, but certainly I would say that Roottrees and the Golden Idol games are a better entry point for new players. I think this game's difficulty is a strength if you see it as primarily aimed at fans of this genre, but it could well be a weakness if you're looking at it as an introductory experience. Also, there facets of this game's design that I think make it a bit more frustrating than the most famous examples of the genre. Like Roottrees, a lot of the game revolves around searching for evidence. In this game that primarily takes the form of making phone calls and searching library archives. Unlike Roottrees, though, this game's structure is pretty linear: each case has you searching for a few (usually 2-4) individuals, and you can't move on to the next one until you've discovered their identities. This means that you're without recourse if you end up stuck, apart from making use of the game's admittedly very well-implemented hint system. In Roottrees, by contrast, you're searching for the entire family tree essentially from the start, so if one line of inquiry dries up you can just pursue another one and potentially come back later with fresh eyes. The same thing is true of Obra Dinn. The Golden Idol games have a more linear structure, but all the information for a given case is available as soon as the case starts, so there's no frustration involved in the information-gathering phase. I never felt compelled to use the hint function or look stuff up in any of those games, whereas here the temptation to do so came up more than once.
This is a charming little document-based deduction game (think The Roottrees Are Dead ) where your task is to identify Nazis living under alternate identities, smuggled out of Europe after the war on false documents. You use photos, text transcripts, phone calls, and library searches to track down the given name, surname, photo, and location of your targets. The game takes place over 9 chapters, each of which is maybe 30-45 minutes for a veteran of the genre. The hint system is quite generous and can help you with both missing documents and incorrect assumptions. The best part of the game, to my mind, was the necessity of using clues from previous cases to solve current ones; this recalled the best parts of Case of the Golden Idol and Scene Investigators . If you've never played a game like this, start with Obra Dinn , Roottrees , Immortality , Case of the Golden Idol , Chants of Senaar , and other all-time greats. If you've played those and loved them and are fiending for more, this is a great choice. In my estimation Ratline is good, but a tier below these, which maybe puts me in the awkward position of using a review for a game I thought was quite good to mostly complain. I'm sorry in advance. I am also mindful that this is a solo developer and I want that developer to succeed. But, in brief: there's two issues. The first is basically technical: there's a fair amount of UI clunk (especially around dialing the phone); no Steam Deck or controller support; none of the visual assets are resolution independent so on my laptop stuff felt small even at the highest level of zoom and things were unplayable on my TV from 10 feet away. The developer is responsive to issues so I would expect the UI flow issues to be fixed but the resolution independence stuff is a limitation of the assets and the core engine design. The second issue is basically writing-related: the writing is stiff line-to-line. This is exacerbated in conversations where characters talk very indirectly in order to obscure information (important for building a good puzzle, but not riveting to read). The writing also occasionally scans as non-idiomatic (non-spoiler example: the in-game tutorial section is called a "Glossary" even though it doesn't really define words -- not exactly incorrect but also not smooth). I think this is typical of a solo developed game when the developer is not primarily a writer by trade. The art, music, and design of the game are pretty great, so I'd definitely recommend if the developer finds success to set aside just a little money to hire a copy editor for the writing and a Unity freelancer to shore up the engine issues. The case-to-case writing and plotting is stronger, but the title is a little misleading. The historical Ratline is mentioned in the frame story, and returned to in the final case, but ultimately this is a game that's more about powerful families and corporate politics than it is about the characters as Nazis or the operation of the actual Ratline. Of course there's nothing wrong with using history and politics as a sprinkling of theme and colour for the world rather than foundationally. Not everything has to be so deep. A movie that takes this approach just won the Best Picture Oscar. But that's the difference between a four-star and a five-star experience for me. Mechanically I think the puzzles are great, but I'd have probably done another draft of the post-case recaps. When you solve a case, you're given a one page recap of the case, but with words removed like a Mad Lib. Of all things, it reminds me of Mario's Time Machine , an educational game from the early 1990s. It's unclear to me if this feature is designed to tell you what happened in the case (in case you finished it without actually putting things together and need it explained) or if it's designed to test you on what happened. The thing is that the "puzzle" is not a free-form text entry, and the prompts are trivial. Think: "Jack was a good ___" What should I fill in? My choices are "boy", "climbed", or "astronomy". Hmm. So if the recap is meant to tell you what happened, it adds busywork, and if it's meant to test you, it doesn't. For what it's worth, I had in fact missed a major detail in Chapter 8 that I was glad to find out, so I'd keep the recaps but re-think or remove the "puzzle" built into them. I'll be sure to check out the developer's previous games, and more importantly I'm eager to see what they do next. I think there's a very good foundation here with the potential of one day being great.
Very addictive game! All cases are incredibly fun and interesting to solve. I just wanted to drop a small 'fun fact' regarding historical accuracy for one of the cases involving Chile (I’m Chilean, by the way!). Spoiler alert There’s a slight chronological mix-up in the narrative: in 1971, Chile was actually under the socialist government of Salvador Allende. The military government, the rise of Augusto Pinochet, and the systematic use of secret police didn't start until after the coup in 1973. So, historically speaking, a socialist journalist wouldn't have been targeted by that specific secret police in '71. Just a minor historical clarification for the curious players out there! Regardless, the game is fantastic and I highly recommend it
From a high concept, what's more fun then hunting down nazis who are trying to hide from their atrocicites and get away with it? This is a really challenging deduction puzzle that respects the player. It asks a lot of you, but in a refreshing way that a lot of puzzle games don't typically do. If you're one of the so-called "puzzle sickos" (you know who you are!) pick this one up, and you'll have a blast.
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Frequently Asked Questions
The Ratline is currently priced at 13.99€ on Steam.
No, The Ratline is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 13.99€ on Steam.
Yes, The Ratline received 259 positive votes out of a total of 303 achieving a rating of 7.91.
😊
The Ratline was developed and published by Owlskip Games.
Yes, The Ratline is playable and fully supported on Windows.
Yes, The Ratline is playable and fully supported on MacOS.
No, The Ratline is not playable on Linux.
The Ratline is a single-player game.
No, The Ratline does not currently offer any DLC.
No, The Ratline does not support mods via Steam Workshop.
No, The Ratline does not support Steam Remote Play.
Yes, The Ratline is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for The Ratline.
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Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.
Last Updates| Steam data | 09 July 2026 08:27 UTC |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 10 July 2026 18:02 UTC |
| Steam price | 14 July 2026 03:00 UTC |
| Steam reviews | 13 July 2026 06:07 UTC |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about The Ratline, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about The Ratline
- SteamCharts - Analysis of The Ratline concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck The Ratline compatibility
Game modes
Features
Online players
13
Developer
Owlskip Games
Publisher
Owlskip Games
Release
17 Mar 2026
Platforms