A gaming journal should make it easier to remember your games, not give you another task list. The useful version is small: record what you are playing, leave a note when you have something to say, and keep a place for the games you still want to try.
That sounds obvious. It is also easy to lose. A backlog turns into a queue. A rating turns into a verdict. A feed turns into something you check instead of something that helps you remember. The fix is to treat the journal as a record first and a planning tool second.
Start with the games that are already part of your life
Do not begin by trying to catalogue every game you have ever heard of. Start with the games you are playing now, finished recently, or still think about. Those are the entries you will actually return to.
Perthro lets you track games you are playing, have played, plan to play, or shelved. That last category matters. Shelving a game is useful information, not a failure state. Sometimes the timing is wrong. Sometimes the game is not for you. Either way, the note can stay honest.
Keep reviews short when short is enough
A review does not need to become an essay. One sentence can be enough:
- What stayed with you? - What made you stop?
Perthro accepts reviews of any length, so you can write the sentence now and come back when you have more to say. A five-star rating can sit beside the words, but the words are usually the part you will want later.
Use the backlog as a set of doors, not a deadline
A backlog is most helpful when it answers one question: what sounds good next? Reorder it around curiosity, mood, or the small window of time you actually have. Perthro includes reordering and a next up view for exactly that kind of choice.
Keep the wishlist separate from the backlog. A wishlist is a list of possibilities. A backlog is a list of games you have made room for. Mixing them makes both lists feel heavier than they are.
Make lists that reflect how you play
Custom lists are a good place for the categories that do not belong in a store filter. Games for a rainy weekend. Games you want to revisit. Games a friend pressed into your hands. Games that surprised you.
The point is not to build the perfect taxonomy. It is to give your memories somewhere to go. If a list helps you find the right game later, it has done its job.
Let friends add context, not pressure
The social side of a gaming journal works best when it stays close to the games. Follow friends, see what they are rating and reviewing, and react or reply when you have something to add. That can be enough to remember why a game ended up on your list in the first place.
You do not need to turn every activity into a conversation. A quiet record is still a useful one.
Import the history you already have
If your library is spread across services, rebuilding it by hand is a good way to abandon the project. Perthro can import libraries from Steam, PlayStation Network, and Xbox Live, with achievements or trophies where supported. That gives you a starting point without asking you to remember every title from scratch.
From there, edit the record as you go. Mark what you are playing. Rate what you finished. Write down the games that deserve a sentence. The journal gets better through small corrections, not one heroic setup session.
The habit is remembering
The best gaming journal is not the one with the most entries. It is the one that helps you recognise your own pattern: the games you return to, the ones you keep postponing, and the recommendations that actually landed.
Perthro is available free on the App Store for iPhone running iOS 17.0 or later. If you want to see how other players use their libraries, visit [/community](/community). For questions, visit [/support](/support).