Character House demo: Free Download, Features, and Setup Guide

The Character House demo is a free interactive desktop companion and idle collection simulator developed by Yinengjie (ElfArtWorld). Available to download directly through Steam on Windows and macOS, the demo allows players to design custom anime-style avatars that inhabit the desktop screen, react to typing activity, unlock expressions, and interact with other characters while you work or browse.

Whether you are looking to create an animated desktop buddy or test the app's customization tools, here is everything you need to know about downloading, configuring, and playing the demo.

System Requirements and Platform Availability

The Character House demo is officially distributed on PC via Steam for both 64-bit Windows and macOS systems. Linux users running Steam Proton can launch the demo, though community testing on ProtonDB notes that running desktop overlay software through Proton currently produces rendering glitches, such as an opaque black background instead of transparent desktop overlay, unless custom display layer options are configured.

How to Download the Character House Demo on Steam

The demo is free to install, and developer announcements indicate that character customization data created in the demo is planned to carry over into the full 2026 release.

1. Open your Steam client or visit the official Character House -Desktop Companion- Demo store page on Steam.
2. Log into your Steam account.
3. Scroll to the "Play Character House -Desktop Companion- Demo" section and click the blue "Install Demo" button.
4. Select your preferred install drive and complete the download (download size is under 1 GB).
5. Launch the game from your Steam Library. An onboarding prompt will appear walking you through initial avatar creation and desktop permission settings.

Core Features Included in the Demo

The demo provides full access to the character creator, desktop screen modes, idle reward progression, and companion interactions.

In-Depth Character Studio

The character studio does not use a rigid step-by-step wizard, allowing you to freely jump between editing categories:

• Body & Face: Customize skin tones, hue saturation, facial shapes, eyebrows, and mouth expressions.
• Eyes & Details: The editor supports asymmetrical eye colors, customizable pupil shapes, distinct eyelash coloring, and facial markings such as blush, scars, or whiskers.
• Hair Styling: Hair is split into front bangs, back hair, sideburns, ponytails, buns, and ahoge (cowlicks). You can adjust base hair colors, add two-tone gradient layers, and toggle custom highlights.
• Clothing & Accessories: Outfit items include coats, tops, dresses, pants, boots, and layered accessories like hats, bows, scarves, glasses, and fantasy elements (cat ears, wings, horns, and tails).
• Color Tools: Players can save frequently used tones to a quick palette icon or manually type exact hex color values under the color card.
• ID Card Setup: Each companion features a settings card where you can define their nickname, likes, dislikes, and identity traits, which your companion references during dialogue.

Desktop Display Modes

Once placed on your screen, characters live as an overlay on top of active windows. You can switch between three primary display behaviors:

• Standing Mode: The companion wanders across your desktop wallpaper at leisure.
• Sit-in-a-Row (Typing / Office Mode): The companion settles in front of a miniature desk and types in sync with your real-world mouse clicks and keystrokes.
• Hiding in the Corner: Keeps the companion nestled against the edge of the monitor so they watch quietly without obstructing your work.

Progression, Petting, and Social Interactions

• Typing Productivity Loop: Clicks and key presses increment a counter on the screen. Accumulating input totals levels up your companion, granting Character Skill Points.
• Expression Unlocks: Skill points are spent in the character profile menu to unlock animations, such as smiling, wiggling, cheerleading, pouting, scowling, or acting shy.
• Petting: You can click and drag your cursor over your character to pet them. If the character has unlocked specific reactions (such as "Shy"), they will trigger dedicated petting animations.
• Gift Boxes & Accessories: A gift box periodically drops onto your desktop (roughly every 30 minutes during active use), granting items categorized under standard gacha rarities (N, R, S, and SS). Duplicate items can be combined in the crafting synthesis menu.
• Multiple Characters: The demo allows you to place multiple companions on the desktop. Dragging two characters next to each other triggers interaction prompts to let them bond, talk, or argue.

Privacy Settings and Technical Troubleshooting

Following early player feedback during the September launch, the developer pushed several updates to resolve community concerns regarding keystroke counting, taskbar controls, and uninstallation behavior.

Keystroke Counter and Privacy Clarification

Some players raised privacy questions regarding whether the app's keystroke tracking functioned as a keylogger. Developer Yinengjie addressed this directly in official Steam patch announcements:

• No Keystroke Logging: The counter functions solely as an offline numeric accumulator (counter + 1) to drive character XP. It does not record which keys are pressed, logs no typed text, and transmits no network data outside of official Steam and Unity SDKs.
• Opt-In and Disable Toggle: The developer added a dedicated "[Disable Counter]" setting. Players must explicitly opt in during onboarding, and the counter can be switched off at any time in the settings menu. When disabled, characters will no longer mirror keystrokes.

Desktop Positioning and Performance Settings

• Taskbar Quick Pin & Reset: If a character becomes stuck behind an application or falls off the edge of your screen, right-click the taskbar icon to trigger the one-click Character Reset. The taskbar menu also features an "Always on Top" toggle.
• Frame Rate Limiter: To prevent the desktop overlay from consuming excess GPU resources while running alongside heavy games or work software, you can set the frame rate in settings to 30 FPS, 60 FPS, or Unlimited.
• Multi-Monitor Handling: The companion window includes a monitor switch toggle in the setup menu to reposition companions across different screens.
• Uninstaller Bug Resolution: An issue where unchecking "launch on boot" caused residual Windows startup prompts after uninstalling was patched on September 22. If you uninstalled an older build and still see a prompt, disable the associated cmd.exe entry in Windows Task Manager under the Startup tab.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Character House demo completely free?

Yes. The demo is 100% free to download and play on Steam. The developer has not announced pricing or business models for the full release, which is planned for 2026.

Can I save and transfer my characters to the full game?

Yes. The developer has stated that they intend to carry over character customization data from the demo into the official release.

Does Character House support Mac and Linux?

The demo natively supports macOS (version 10.15 Catalina or later, optimized for macOS 12 Monterey and Apple M1 processors). Linux is not officially supported; running the game through Steam Proton currently experiences transparent overlay issues without custom launch parameters.

Can you turn off the keyboard counter?

Yes. Open the settings menu and select the disable counter option. Your companion will remain on the desktop without tracking input numbers or mirroring typing.