Find The Needle for PC: Download, Mods & Requirements

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Find The Needle on PC. Click to open it full size.

Find The Needle is a first-person factory game for PC from Needless Games, available on Steam. You are locked in a warehouse with a haystack of about six million strands, and somewhere inside are 24 needles. You dig by hand, sell the hay, and spend the money on machines that do the digging for you.

The joke premise turns into a real automation game. You go from a shovel and a metal detector to conveyor belts, robot arms and scanners that search the hay on their own. Along the way the hay becomes bales, bricks, paper and even carbon fiber.

It entered Early Access on November 6, 2026, and you can already play it from the first handful of hay to the ending. It runs on Windows 10 and 11 with mouse and keyboard. Its free demo peaked at 21,633 players at once in October 2026, according to Needless Games.

Already digging? Tell us how long your first needle took. Got questions before buying? Reach out to us directly.

What You Need to Know

It is sold on Steam only. It is not on the Epic Games Store or GOG.
It is in Early Access, but playable all the way to the ending.
There is a free demo on the same Steam page.
It needs a dedicated graphics card. The studio says integrated graphics are not supported.
It is single-player, built for mouse and keyboard.

Table of Contents

Quick Facts

A huge mound of hay in the middle of a walled wooden warehouse yard, seen from above, with a few small machines along one wall

Get the Game:

Buy It on Steam Check on Boosteroid

Price	$14.99 (US)
Released	November 6, 2026 (Early Access)
Developer	Needless Games
Publisher	Needless Games
Genre	Factory and automation sim
Players	Single-player
Store	Steam
Platform	Windows 10/11, 64-bit
Controls	Mouse and keyboard
Demo	Free on Steam
Languages	English and 16 more

How to Download Find The Needle on Windows

Find The Needle is sold on Steam only. Want to try it first? The free demo sits on the same store page.

Step 1. Install Steam. Get Steam and sign in.
Step 2. Open the store page. Go to Find The Needle on Steam.
Step 3. Buy the game or grab the demo. Add it to your cart, or click Download Demo.
Step 4. Install it. Click Install in your Steam library. It needs 3 GB.
Step 5. Launch it and pick your pile size.

Find The Needle Price and Demo

There is one paid version and a free demo. There is no deluxe edition or paid DLC, so $14.99 gets you the whole game and every Early Access update.

Free Demo

Free on Steam

Dig into the haystack by hand
Try the first tools and machines
No payment needed

Demo on Steam

Find The Needle (Early Access)

$14.99 in the US

The full game, from first hay to all 24 needles
Five production stages and 300+ upgrades
Every Early Access update as it lands

Game on Steam

Prices differ by region, and Steam runs sales, so check the store page for the price where you live.

💡 Your PC is too weak? Cloud gaming is an option. Check on Boosteroid.

What Is Find The Needle?

You wake up in a strange warehouse, sure you used to be a farmer. The doors will not open, and the only instruction is to find the needles. In front of you is a haystack so big it pokes out of the roof.

The start is pure hand work: a shovel, a bucket and a counter for every strand.

The first hour is hand work. You scoop hay with a shovel, carry it in buckets and wheelbarrows, and sweep a metal detector over it. Every strand you pull out can be sold, and that money buys better tools. Pitchforks and vacuums come next, then the first conveyor belt.

From there it becomes a factory game. You place machines, run power to them and feed them by belt. Scanners look for needles in the hay as it moves, so you stop searching by hand. Hay turns into products worth more than loose hay, such as compressed bales, eco bricks, hay paper, bioplastic and carbon fiber.

Later on, belts and robot arms do the digging while you plan the next production line.

Each time you clear enough, you get a bigger pile. The run ends when all 24 needles are found, and the game keeps quiet about what happens then. You can pick a Standard pile for a shorter game or the Mountain for a long one.

Official Trailer

Watch the official demo trailer for Find The Needle to see the giant haystack, the hand tools you start with and the machines that take over the digging.

Key Features

Start with your hands

Dig with shovels, buckets, wheelbarrows, pitchforks and a metal detector before any machine helps you.

Automate the search

Build conveyor belts, robot arms, drones and scanners that dig, move and search the hay without you.

Turn hay into products

Five production stages take hay from bales and bricks up to paper, bioplastic and carbon fiber.

A big tech tree

More than 300 upgrades unlock new machines, faster production and new ways to process hay.

Power and logistics

Wire up generators, run pipes and belts, fill delivery orders and use blueprints.

Pick your pile

Choose a Standard pile for a shorter run or the Mountain if you want a long factory game.

Is This Game for You?

✓

Our Take

🎮 Our Take

Find The Needle sounds like a one-joke game, and the joke is what gets you in the door. What keeps you there is that it is a real factory game underneath. Digging by hand is slow on purpose, so the first conveyor belt feels like a big win, and every machine after it makes the pile visibly shrink. The five production stages and the large tech tree give it more depth than the premise suggests. The catch is that it is Early Access from a small studio: expect bugs and balance changes, and very large factories lean hard on the CPU late in the game. It also refuses to run well on integrated graphics, which rules out a lot of budget laptops.

If you like automation games and want one that is easier to get into than the big names, buy it: $14.99 for a Standard run of 7 to 10 hours, or 30+ on the Mountain, is fair. If you are not sure the premise holds up for you, play the free demo first. If you only like finished games, wait for the full release.

System Requirements

Find The Needle looks simple, but it asks for more than you might expect. You need a dedicated graphics card that supports Vulkan 1.3 (a modern graphics standard), because Needless Games says integrated graphics are not supported and may crash. The CPU matters most late in the game, when a big factory has hundreds of moving parts.

Find The Needle PC Requirements

As published by Needless Games on Steam

Component	Minimum	Recommended
OS	Windows 10 64-bit	Windows 11 64-bit
Processor	4 cores / 8 threads: Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 5 2600	6+ cores: AMD Ryzen 5 5600 or Intel Core i5-12400
Memory	8 GB RAM	16 GB RAM
Graphics	Dedicated GPU with 4 GB and Vulkan 1.3: GTX 1050 Ti or RX 570	GTX 1660 Super or RTX 2060 with 6 GB
DirectX	Version 12	Version 12
Storage	3 GB available space	3 GB available space

Not sure your PC is up to it? See our Best Gaming Desktops guide.

Tips for Beginners

Start on a Standard pile

The Mountain is a much longer run. Learn the machines on a Standard pile first, then go big.

Sell hay early and often

Loose hay is your first income. Sell what you dig instead of hoarding it, so you can buy better tools sooner.

Automate as soon as you can

Hand digging is meant to be slow. Your first conveyor belt and machines speed things up more than any tool upgrade.

Keep scanners on your lines

Needles travel inside the hay as it moves, so scanners on your belts catch them without you digging.

Report bugs on Discord

It is Early Access. The game sends crash reports on its own, and the studio reads the Discord bug channel daily.

Best Find The Needle Mods to Start With

Find The Needle has no Steam Workshop. Mods come from Nexus Mods, and most install by copying a mods folder next to FindTheNeedle.exe and adding one line to a settings file called override.cfg. These five are a good place to start.

Rail Crane and Hay Silos

Late game

By BadHippo

Adds an overhead rail crane and up to two powered hay silos for very large piles. Each silo stores up to a million hay and feeds five belts. Needles stay inside the hay, so you still need your scanners.

View it on Nexus Mods

Smart Sorter Quotas

Logistics

By BadHippo

Lets you set a quantity limit on each of the smart splitter’s three outputs, with a live count of what is left. Handy for filling a delivery order exactly.

View it on Nexus Mods

Remaining Time

Interface

By BadHippo

Shows an estimate of how long it will take to clear your pile at your current speed. It changes nothing about the game itself, and you can switch it off in the options.

View it on Nexus Mods

Furniture and Decorations

Decor

By BadHippo

Adds 20 buildable pieces of furniture and decor, such as tables, sofas, shelves, plants and books, in a new build category. Purely for looks.

View it on Nexus Mods

Barn Cat

Just for fun

By BadHippo

Adds a cat that wanders the barn, naps, stretches and plays with loose hay. It never gets in the way of your belts or cargo.

View it on Nexus Mods

💡 These are fan-made mods, not official ones. The game is single-player with no anti-cheat, so there is no ban risk, but back up your saves first. Game updates replace override.cfg, so you need to add the mod lines again after each patch, and an Early Access update can break a mod until its author catches up.

Find The Needle Screenshots

The Sell Hay stand at the end of a conveyor, the view from the top of the pile, the Yard Research tech tree and the haystack towering over the barn. Click any image to open it full size.

: Find the needle sell hay conveyor from

: Find the needle pitchfork on haystack from

: Find the needle yard research tech tree from

: Find the needle giant haystack looking up from

Find The Needle FAQ

Is there a free demo of Find The Needle?

Yes. The free demo is on the same Steam page as the full game. It lets you dig into the haystack and try the first tools and machines before you buy.

How long does it take to beat Find The Needle?

Needless Games says a Standard pile takes around 7 to 10 hours to clear, and the Mountain pile takes 30 hours or more. The game ends when you find all 24 needles.

Is Find The Needle multiplayer?

No. The game is single-player. A fan-made co-op mod exists, but it was built for the free demo, not the full game, so do not count on it working.

Does Find The Needle have controller support?

Steam lists no controller support. It is a first-person game built for mouse and keyboard, which also suits placing belts and machines.

Is Find The Needle OK for kids?

Mostly. There is no blood or violence. The game has optional rude emotes, such as the middle finger and a peeing emote, but they are off by default and only appear if you turn on Rude Emotes in the You tab.

How long will Find The Needle stay in Early Access?

Needless Games plans roughly 6 to 12 months in Early Access. The game is already playable from start to ending, and the studio plans to add new machines, more diggers and bigger late-game projects before the full release.

Is Find The Needle on Mac, Linux, Epic or GOG?

No. It is a Windows game sold on Steam only. There is no Mac or Linux version, and it is not on the Epic Games Store or GOG.

What are the Find The Needle system requirements?

The minimum is Windows 10 64-bit, an Intel Core i5-8400 or AMD Ryzen 5 2600, 8 GB of RAM and a dedicated graphics card with 4 GB of video memory and Vulkan 1.3 support, such as a GTX 1050 Ti or RX 570. Integrated graphics are not supported. The recommended spec is Windows 11, a Ryzen 5 5600 or Core i5-12400, 16 GB of RAM and a GTX 1660 Super or RTX 2060. It needs 3 GB of storage.