We Love It's Guide to…
In a 1999 desktop sim, classify faces, automate biometric harvesting, and balance a growing data center’s power, cooling, and costs.
Released 27 Feb 2025
Classify Faces Manually
Automate Face Scanning
Balance Power and Cooling
Build a biometric data harvesting empire from scratch in FACEMINER, the hardcore thriller clicker set in 1999. Classify data, upgrade mining infrastructure, and scale up your A.I. surveillance empire to obscene ends in this creepy narrative-driven incremental management sim with a dystopian twist.
Developed by Wristwork · Published by Wristwork Ltd
You begin as a new FACEMINER employee in 1999, sorting face images for a company whose software processes biometric data. The game unfolds inside a vintage computer desktop, where workplace messages gradually reveal more about the company and its operations.
Start by identifying faces manually, then buy upgrades that automate the work and increase processing capacity. You can also expand your operation with face-scanning cameras and software improvements.
Growth means juggling connected costs and limits: computer resources, electricity, cooling, water, and emissions. Keep the operation profitable as you climb the company ranks; after the story campaign, an endless mode offers continued play.
Players who enjoy FACEMINER often praise its vintage desktop atmosphere, soundtrack, and dystopian premise, with some finding the story and its themes thought-provoking. Reactions to the incremental gameplay are mixed: some like optimizing upgrades and balancing resources, while others find the loop repetitive or shallow, especially later in a run.
Click. Click. Click.
Welcome to FACEMINER, where Every Face Has Value. Your job? Harvest biometric data, upgrade infrastructure, and expand your data processing empire as hard as Planet Earth can take it.
Set entirely within the confines of a vintage operating system, FACEMINER is a narrative-driven incremental management 'click-em-up' that tasks the player with building a planetary-scale biometric processing empire from scratch.
Harvest data, manage software upgrades, and expand your hardware as you rapidly scale your plant’s infrastructure. Ensure profits remain high and avoid bankruptcy (or worse) as you navigate oppressive electricity bills, high-maintenance cooling systems, and crooked politically-enforced carbon offsetting schemes.
Mining alone is no fun! Learn more about your fellow miners and keep up to date with the office gossip through the internal corporate messaging system. Sift through messages to unravel the mysteries – and ultimate plans – of the shadowy creators of the FACEMINER software suite.
Climb the corporate ladder and gradually rise through the ranks as you are promoted from manual data-filtering rookie through to the ultimate harvesting automator as you classify and sell facial data at ever-increasing speeds. The world of data brokering is ruthless, and poor prioritisation can lead to costly mistakes down the line. Do you have what it takes to climb the ranks and become the ultimate FACEMINER?
Featuring a tour-de-force of original 90s-infused tracks by Madwreck . From house to jungle to ambient, the built-in audio player will keep you locked in the zone while you click your way into A.I. history.
Completed the main game? Spend more times in the mines with 'Endless Mode', 'VR Mode' (for full 360 degree immersion), 'Infinite Money Glitch' mode and more.
Remember: Every Face Has Value.
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux |
|---|---|
| Achievements | 56 |
| Age ratings |
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| Controller required | No |
| DLC / extras | 1 listed on Steam |
| AI disclosure | FACEMINER is a concept-driven game that directly engages with the ethics of AI. For thematic purposes, the game features faces which have been generated by a GAN (Generative Adversarial Network) trained on the FFHQ dataset, a research dataset released by NVIDIA that is the backbone of many real-world facial recognition applications. Per NVIDIA, only images under permissive licenses were collected.The 'AI training' in this game is fictional and has been simulated for entertainment purposes. The game can be interpreted as a critique of AI specifically relating to the ecological impact of mass data hoarding, surveillance concerns, and way it is used to compound corporate power. |
| AI disclosure categories |
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| Website | Official website |
