When your virtual PC starts, you don't land on a Windows desktop — you land in the Game Catalog. That's a deliberate change. Click a game tile, the launcher opens, you sign in, you play. The plain desktop with a Start menu is hidden in this flow on purpose.
This article explains what changed, why, and what you can still do.
What you see on session start
A grid of game tiles with search, genre filters, and sort options. Currently around 446 titles, curated. The tiles cover both Loudplay's pre-installed catalog and games available through Steam and Epic Games.
The Catalog has two views:
- Home — personalised: a Hero Banner at the top with featured titles that auto-rotates, plus shelves like recommendations and (if you've linked Steam) "Your Steam Library".
- Browse — the full catalog with all filters and sort controls.
Common controls:
- Search. Real-time — type a few letters and matches narrow as you go.
- Genre filters. Action, RPG, Strategy, etc. Stack multiple genres if you want a narrower list.
- Sort. Trending, Rating, Release Date.
- Game Details modal. Click a tile → modal opens with screenshots, description, similar-game suggestions, and a "Did You Know?" trivia block. Click Play in the modal to actually launch.
Click a tile → the relevant launcher opens (Steam, Epic, sometimes Rockstar). You sign in to that launcher with your own account, then start the game from there. From the user's perspective the path is one click in the catalog, then one sign-in, then play.
The Windows desktop, the Start menu, and the file explorer are still running underneath, but they aren't presented as the entry point anymore. You don't navigate Windows to find your game — you pick the game and Windows opens to that game.
Loadings between Catalog views are quick — content streams in as you scroll, and skeleton placeholders appear while data loads. You don't usually wait on a loading spinner.
Why we did this
Most users never used the desktop. They opened the session, navigated through Windows, opened Steam, picked a game. Three steps where one was enough.
The Catalog is also a better surface for discovery. With 446+ games available, a grid with search and filters is more useful than "open Steam and look in your library".
And in practice, only games installed through Steam and Epic persist between sessions anyway (see "How long your installed games are kept"). The Windows desktop wasn't useful for installing arbitrary software you'd want to keep — it never persisted that. The Catalog flow simply makes the actual capability explicit.
"I want to get to the Windows desktop"
You can't, in the new flow — there's no exit-to-desktop button. This is by design.
What you can do instead:
- Want to launch a game that isn't a tile? Open Steam or Epic from inside the Catalog (they're available as launchers). Browse your library there, install what you need, play.
- Want to change in-game settings? Do it inside the game or its launcher. The same settings menus you'd use on a normal PC.
- Want to type a URL or open a webpage? The Catalog opens with a launcher; for general web browsing, open Steam's built-in browser, or — if a game launcher offers it — use that. Stand-alone browser sessions outside a game aren't part of the new flow.
If you genuinely have a use case that requires the Windows desktop, write to support and tell us what it is. Decisions about the flow are based on what people actually need.
On Android
Same flow. The Catalog is your entry point. There's no separate desktop; there never was a meaningful one on Android because keyboard-and-mouse Windows navigation on a touchscreen is awkward.
On Android, the floating Quick Menu button gives you access to streaming settings, session controls, and the close-session action. Long-press on the screen for context actions. The phone's system Back button works for closing overlays where applicable. There are no keyboard shortcuts on Android — it's a touch-first interface.
What hasn't changed
- Your Steam and Epic installations from previous sessions are still there. Click the game in the Catalog or open the launcher and they pick up where you left off.
- Cloud saves work the same. Steam Cloud and Epic Cloud Saves continue to sync your progress.
- Performance is the same — same hardware, same connection, same servers.
Reporting a problem with the Catalog
If a tile doesn't launch the right game, or a game is missing from the Catalog that you'd expect to see, write to help@loudplay.io. Include the game name and what you saw when you clicked the tile. We add titles based on user requests, so this is the way to get something added to the curated list.