Game Log

This page is dedicated to my gaming journey and to keep track of my backlog. The games listed below may not be comprehensive, and please note that even if I put the game in the table, I may have played it previously! It's just for fun. Click the little arrow below each game for a brief opinion.

Glossary (Click Me)
Game The game I played. I'm excluding games I only watched a Let's Play or someone else play for the purposes of this. (Though that is a valid way to experience a game, in most cases).
Total Hours The amount of time I put into the game as of the date of entry. Sometimes I won't have this metric.
When The rough time that I played the game. Usually, I'll just write the month.
Genre The genre of the game. I may simplify this for some games as not all games fit into a clean category.
Feeling A little heart emoji to describe how I feel about the game. I chose this method of rating each game because it reflects the reality that these are just my overall feelings after having played the game.
Scale (Hover each heart for more info) Most ❤️ 🧡 💛 💚 💙 🖤 Least

2024

Game Total Hours When? Genre Feeling?
Baldurs Gate 3 (2023)
I haven't quite finished the game YET! I'm about mid-way through Act 3, but I am taking a break. BG3 earned every ounce of praise and more. Games like this don't come around often.
97.2 January CRPG ❤️
Enchanted Folk and the School of Wizardry (2009)
I decided to pick up this game I played obsessively growing up to grab screenshots for a shrine I'm working on. It is amazingly underrated and holds up well.
LOTS January Life Simulation ❤️
Gamedev Tycoon (2012)
I originally played this game for school in 2022 but returned to it just now to play through to the end. It's a love letter to the game industry and a genuinely fun time. It's a challenging game, and I wish there were some QOL improvements that could make it better.
? February Business Simulation 💛
Cult of the Lamb (Sins of the Flesh Update)
"I can tolerate cannibalism, but I draw the line at incest." — Something I said out loud while playing the update
81.1 March Rogue-lite/Base Management ❤️❤️❤️
Genshin Impact
Crawling back to Genshin once again for its best features — the amazing open world exploration, fun & satisfying combat, and my pixel wives/husbands. And as always, it's a mixed bag. Genshin Impact doesn't respect the players' time (resin system, stingy drop rates, etc.) & gacha is not a consumer friendly or arguably ethical business model. The characters are fun but the storytelling is overall ineffective and drags on.

It can be argued that many of my gripes with the game are intentional design choices to keep players coming back every day or to squeeze value out of players through sheer impatience and/or frustration. I love Genshin Impact, but I cannot overlook the way the game suffers from its monetization system.
100+ April Open World Action RPG 💛
Offline Games
Mobile games should be counted as "real" games LOL! No gatekeeping! Anyway, they added a new game to this app. It's a color mixing puzzle game that looks like a scam ad, but shockingly, it's moderately challenging and chill fun. They also added battleship which you can play with another person!
? May Puzzle 💛
Princess Debut (2008)

Most DS games I play nowadays are games that I grew up with. However, I didn't grow up with Princess Debut. I had never even heard of it until I specifically went looking to see what kinds of visual novels were released (in English) for the DS. I was pleasantly surprised by how charming and fun it was as an adult player. It's like baby's first otome.

I finished the story and got both endings of the pixel husband of my choice, but there is a ton of replayability. There are 14 endings and there is a character that only appears on subsequent playthroughs. The cast is pretty one-dimensional and the story is simple, but I think that there is room for games like this. My favorite character was Cesar, if anyone is curious. He is just so over the top, and I think it's hilarious that the MC doesn't give a single shit about him flirting with other women—even after they get married!

I definitely think this game would have been more fun to play on its original hardware, a Nintendo DS, because of its heavy use of the touch screen. I played it on Delta emulator on my phone, and I think if I were to pick it back up, I would play on my 3DS.

I also found an awesome fanzine featuring both fan art and fic! The art is so gorgeous and captures the game well. I'm happy to see that even a niche game like this has a little fandom.
6.5 May Otome/Rhythm 🧡

2023
Game Total Hours When? Genre Feeling?
Disney Dreamlight Valley (2022*)
Animal Crossing and Enchanted Folk are the only game series where I tolerate real-time clock mechanics. While it was novel in 2002, this mechanic is not a good way to spread out game content. I played Dreamlight Valley on PC, so time travel is significantly more difficult. — Also, it's still in early access yet charging microtransactions. Seriously? I'm not a fan of Disney, so this has nothing to offer to me, even if some parts of it were cute.
10.1 January Life Sim 💙
Hokko Life (2021)
This game lacks basic controls and quality of life that I have come to expect from the genre. The character designs aren't cute, and the gameplay felt slow and bland. In a saturated genre, Hokko Life was a disappointment.
0.33 January Life Sim 🖤
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time (2007)
It's one of my favorite games of all time, to be honest. I picked it up in the middle of my last save and played until I got bored. This game is a great baby's first rogue-lite and the story is beautiful. I have mostly outgrown my interest in Pokémon, but the Mystery dungeon games are too good to ignore.
LOTS January Life Sim ❤️
Animal Crossing New Leaf (2012)
This might be my favorite game of all time. I wrote an essay about it for school and revisited the game for a couple of weeks in January. I hope to write a longer piece about it someday + maybe share that essay.
1000+ January Life Sim ❤️❤️❤️
Potion Craft (2022)
This game was so addictive that I played for 6+ hours straight, easy. I love the medieval-inspired art style, and the unique mechanics. It's a fun idea, and I would have given it an orange heart if the late-game wasn't so repetitive.
18.2 February Simulation 💛
Persona 3 Portable (2009)
It's hard to put into words how much I love this game. I played through it in about a week, sometimes playing 10+ hours a day LOL. This WAS my senior spring break. P3P makes the other Persona games feel mid. Minako >>>
80 April JRPG/LifeSim ❤️❤️❤️
Needy Streamer Overload (2022)
I am so glad this game was not out when I was a teenager. The gameplay was a fun spin on the visual novel format, and the story hits home. It makes me happy that I was able to get therapy young, otherwise I might have turned out like Ame.
9.6 April ADV VN 💛
Cult of the Lamb (2022)
Praise Be the Lamb
41.2 April Rogue-lite/Base Management ❤️
Baldurs Gate Dark Alliance (2001)
I played this game with my partner. We picked up the game in the middle of our campaign that we started last year. I'm going to be so FR I didn't like the game that much. I found it to be too challenging and repetitive. HOWEVER, by 2001 standards, it was still a fun experience. (In small doses).
9.3 June Action RPG 💚
Monster Prom (2018)
I was on tumblr in the 2010s, and it is very obvious that the devs were too. My favorite was the Eridan guy.
14.2 August Dating Sim 💛
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (2023)
Despite its issues, there is no way I can rate this less than ❤️. I loved the beautiful story and gameplay improvements. (And I tolerated gameplay regressions). This was a worthy sequel of BOTW.
95 September Open World
Action-Adventure		 ❤️
Animal Crossing New Horizons (2020)
I'm such a hater for making ACNH 🧡 despite having 100s of hours, BUT HEAR ME OUT. I am a die-hard AC fan, and I've played all of the games. New Leaf is in my top three favorite games of all time. While the QOL, graphics, and decoration mechanics improved in ACNH cannot be understated, I felt that the gameplay was overall lacking and hollow compared to previous entries in the series. That said, I am happy that Animal Crossing gained mainstream appeal, and I am looking forward to the next game!
520 September Life Sim & Decoration 🧡
Peggle Blast (2014)
In my depressive stupor, I watched DougDoug vods pretty much constantly. Naturally, this compelled me to play Peggle. This version of Peggle is super mid and pretty much abandonware though.
? September Physics Puzzle 💚
Cult of the Lamb (again)
"Okay, buddy, you can be named Sparkles III, but just so you know, we ate Sparkles I and II. And when you die, we will probably eat you too." — Something I said out loud to myself while I played
59 October Rogue-lite/Base Management ❤️
Hamtaro Ham-Ham Heartbreak (2002)
I'm biased because it's Hamtaro. I didn't quite finish the game, but that's mostly because I was playing on a less than stellar emulator on my phone. If I can find a copy (bootleg or not) or a better emulating situash, I will revisit the game!
~6 October Adventure 🧡
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2006)
One of my favorite games of all time. I was playing with my partner who has never played. We didn't quite finish, so this will pop up later!
15* November Action-Adventure ❤️
Genshin Impact (again)(2020)
Returning for the first time since January for the Fontaine update. My biggest gripe with this game outside of being a gacha is that the storytelling is SO goddamn boring. They talk so much, yet say so little. The story and lore itself could be interesting if delivered in a more effective way. I love the characters, though. Genshin is a mixed bag, but it has my favorite open world exploration of any game.
100+ November Gacha Action RPG 💛
Milk Inside a Bag of Milk Inside a Bag of Milk (2020)
It's an interesting concept to play as the voices in someone's head. I look forward to playing the sequel.
0.25 November Visual Novel 💛
Offline Games (Fruit Merge)(2020)
*Gets on my soapbox* We should include mobile games on our gamelogs to validate them as types of games and people who play them as 'gamers.'

Seriously though, I really enjoy this simple and cute little app. It's a collection of classic games like Mancala, 4-in-a-Row, and lots more. My favorite is the Fruit Merge game. I was so obsessed with it that I played from 12AM to 4AM one night without a thought. I got my entire family addicted to it. I still have not managed to make two watermelons though. One day I will achieve my dreams.
? December Puzzle 💛
Harvest Moon: Animal Parade (2009)
Returning to one of my favorites of all time, and it's certainly my favorite farming game. I hope to write a longer piece about this game in the future because it was a primary inspiration for *my* gamedev project. The biggest strength of HM: AP is the strong cast of characters and how the town grows as you play. The children and families in this game are developed and charming. The new wave of farming games including and since the success of Stardew Valley leave much to be desired as far as the life-sim aspects of the games compared to Animal Parade."
~25* December Farming 🧡
Slay the Princess (2023)
One of my Steam Winter Sale grabs. It's really cool what developers are doing to make VNs more immersive. I really enjoyed the story and game structure, though I only did one full playthrough. I will probably return at some point!
3.5 December Visual Novel 💛
Baldurs Gate 3 (2023)
I've been waiting to play this game since release and clocked in about 50 hours in a single week alone. I've lived more in Faerûn lately than in real life lol. It's absolutely everything I hoped it would be and more so far. I'm still playing through as I write this (in January 2024), so I'll give more thoughts in 2024!
66 December CRPG ❤️

my sona clover exuberantly playing a video game