A free Tamagotchi-like that puts a little anime girl on your desktop is taking over Steam

VPet-Simulator, an idle game that places an anime girl on your desktop, is the latest hit on Steam.

If you've ever felt "my desktop background feels a little boring today," or, more specifically, "I'd like an anime girl on my desktop background," then VPet-Simulator has you covered. The game (of sorts) does literally that: it places an anime girl on your desktop background.

"Feeling like the computer desktop is too dull? Need something cute to heal oneself? Come and try this new completely free and open source V-Pet simulator," the Steam description for the game reads. "A cute and adorable pet that supports various feeding interactions to accompany you in game learning is definitely your best choice!"

The, erm, "pet" makes themselves at home on your desktop background, prattling about the place and climbing all over your screen. We're not really sure how much "learning" you'll get done with a small anime girl climbing all about the place, but you can certainly give it a go.

Somewhat worryingly, VPet-Simulator is an open-source game on GitHub, meaning anyone can delve into its code and modify the game, or the pet, however they see fit. Please, everyone, be normal about this. 

"10/10 I got perma banned from league of legends for thirdparty software while this was playing in the background," reads one review. Can one appeal a League of Legends ban on the grounds that "the anime girl currently on my desktop has no bearing on League of Legends whatsoever"?

VPet-Simulator currently boasts over 2,300 user reviews on Steam, and it's sitting pretty at an 'Overwhelmingly Positive' aggregate. It's also flying up the Steam charts, and at the time of writing its eighth on the 'Popular New Releases' category. People sure do love this anime girl.

Check out our upcoming indie games guide for a list of other smaller titles you can keep an eye out for.