Video Game Journal


One of my main hobbies is gaming. Initially started as just a fun way to pass the time growing up, but it has evolved into my favorite type of media. There's so many different ways to experience games, either that be through a tailored story with fleshed out characters and world, an open-ended experience where you create your own experience, or just a interactive way to spend time with others, the possibilities are truly endless.

While games provide that similar realm of entertainment as other forms of media, the concepts behind creating games and mechanics that make a game good have become all that more interesting. Whenever I find a game I enjoy, I try to reflect on what aspects of it stand out to me. Is it the story? The gameplay loop? The soundtrack? What aspects fall flat? There's so much to learn from each experience that keeping track of it all is difficult.

That brings us to here. Recently I watched this video by Daryl Talks Games about his experience of working through his backlog of games within a year. It resonated with me since I have my own backlog that I want to work through, but once I finish one game, it's difficult to figure out what to play next. He used a spreadsheet to organize his games to help him determine what to play next and it helped him a lot, so I wanted to do something similar. Below are a couple of lists of games that have been categorized into Completed, In-Progress, or The Backlog. Each game will have it's own page about the game with varying amount of detail. Games yet to play will just have a brief synopsis of the game and why it interests me, where completed games will be my complete thoughts on it.

This will help me organize my own thoughts into which games to play next and allow me to reflect on completed games as to what I liked or disliked. Not necessary formal reviews, but just thoughts on what I thought about it. Who knows, maybe some of this will convince you to try some new games too!

Completed Games
Name Date Completed (MM/DD/YYYY)
Animal Well May 12th, 2024
Cult of the Lamb September 11th, 2024
Fall Guys Live Service
Garden Story March 16th, 2024
A Hat in Time July 11th, 2024
Helldivers II Live Service
Hi-Fi RUSH March 8th, 2024
In Stars and Time April 25th, 2024
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom October 8th, 2024
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes August 24th, 2024
Minecraft Continuous
Modded Cobblemon Continuous
Outer Wilds August 2nd, 2024
Palworld February 20th, 2024
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Remaster July 14th, 2024
Pikuniku May 13th, 2024
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky Multiple Times
Pokemon Violet December 14th, 2023
Stardew Valley Continuous
Super Mario RPG November 25th, 2023
Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition February 23rd, 2024
In-Progress Games
Name Date Started (MM/DD/YYYY)
Baldur's Gate 3 May 13th, 2024
Sea of Stars September 7th, 2024
Supraland September 23rd, 2024
The Backlog
Name Reason to Play
Axiom Verge Interesting
Bioshock Highly Praised
Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling Want to Replay
Control Want to Replay
CrossCode Want to Replay
Dwarf Fortress Interesting
The Elders Scrolls IV: Oblivion Never Played
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Want to Replay
God of War: Ragnarok Fan of Series
Hades Never Finished
Horizon: Forbidden West Fan of Series
Mario & Luigi: Brothership New Game!
Mass Effect Trilogy Highly Praised
Metro 2033 Redux Interesting
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Fan of Series
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond New Game!
Minecraft Dungeons Want to Replay
Minecraft Legends Interesting
NieR: Automata Never did later endings
Psychonauts 2 Interesting
Octopath Traveler Interesting
Omori Never Finished
Satisfactory Factorio but 3D!
Secrets of Grindea Never Finished
Shovel Knight Highly Praised
The Stanley Parable Want to Replay
Sunset Overdrive Never Finished
Tales of Symphonia Never Finished
Tales of Arise Want to Replay
Tunic Never Finished
Zoo Strikers Fun Party Game