The Find The Needle demo save file backup takes about ten seconds, because the saves folder is easy to copy. The demo saves to %APPDATA%\Godot\app_userdata\Haystack Incremental\saves: save your progress, exit the game, paste that path into Run, and copy the whole saves folder somewhere else with a date on the copy.

The Find The Needle demo save file backup steps

  1. Save your progress in the game and exit the game completely.
  2. Press Win + R to open Run.
  3. Paste %APPDATA%\Godot\app_userdata\Haystack Incremental\saves and press Enter.
  4. Copy the whole saves folder somewhere else and put a date on the copy.
  5. Leave the original folder in place. The game keeps writing to it, and the copy is your fallback.

If Windows cannot find the path, check under the Windows account you actually played on — the userdata folder lives under the account, not under the drive. If you are not sure what the demo actually contains, the demo overview lists what you can finish in it.

Three things to check before you play

  1. Back the save up before you experiment. The folder is easy to copy and takes seconds, and the factory you are about to dismantle is worth more than the seconds.
  2. Do not trust prices, research levels or belt behaviour shown in a guide or an older video. The demo has been updated repeatedly — V8 arrived on September 11, 2026 and there have been changes since, with the demo last changed on October 28, 2026. Read the current in-game research cards instead.
  3. Follow the objectives and the locked research shown in your own build. The demo's unlock list differs from the full game, and the demo only exposes part of the tech tree. A reported 5-of-6 needle result does not mean the pile always holds six needles or that the game ends there, so treat the counters you see as specific to your run.

What changed in those updates is in the demo update log, and what the demo contains is in the demo overview.

Keep the backup for the full game

Treat the demo save as demo-only. Keep the copy, and do not count on carrying it into the release — nothing indicates that demo saves transfer into the full game, and Steam Cloud does not appear to move a demo save into the full game either. Plan to start the release from a fresh save and keep your backup.