As a PC gamer, I often have to deal with multiple 'launchers', which is one of the reasons why many gamers wait for games to be released on Steam. Epic Game Store, GoG, Ubisoft Connect, EA App, Amazon Games, Itch.io... not to mention all those games that have a dedicated launcher, Escape from Tarkov is one of them.

If we superimpose on this scenario all the games that are 'given away', first and foremost the EGS but also Amazon Games with the monthly games given away thanks to the Prime subscription or the giveaway games of GoG, you understand well the problem of library and backlog management. It can happen, I am not joking, to buy a game on Steam only to realise that you have already got it as a gift from Epic or to find it in one of itch.io's gigantic bundles.

The release of GoG Galaxy 2.0, roughly mid-2019, was seen as a godsend for its ability to centralise and import the list of games owned in other libraries. Unfortunately, the client has not been properly supported and in these almost four years has not made great strides in terms of development.

To cut a long story short, surfing on reddit (maybe, I don't remember) I stumbled upon another software to manage my game library called Playnite

Carousel Bootstrap First — The default theme.

Yes I know there are other software that do the same thing but not as well as Playnite.

A quick overview of what Playnite is and what it can do. First of all, it is Open Source and we love Open Source here. it is highly customisable, in every way. It has a bunch of user-made themes. There are lots of addons available that do everything. The integration and synchronisation of libraries with third-party stores works great, with no glitches or errors whatsoever.

You can of course use it vanilla, without adding a single addon. The experience will still be complete and satisfying. But the highlight is also the expandability and customisation. Personally, I installed a theme and then changed it a bit, trying to adapt the interface and the data displayed to my liking. I've added plugins to better manage metadata, to show data from HLTB, to have a customised home, to add a music theme to each game, to change the background images, to show unlocked and yet-to-be-unlocked achievements, and more.

Of course we can use filters (there are an infinite number of them), create groups of games according to certain filters (e.g. "turn-based RGP that I bought in the last 2 months and haven't started yet", "games I have played less than 2 hours" etc...) and apply further filters to these groups: among the games played less than 2 hours show me only those from the Epic Games Store.
For fans of statistics, there are several addons that display graphs of all kinds and types.
Do you have an endless library of retro games? Great! Easy peasy management of these too.

And mind you, I mentioned PC gaming at the beginning of the article, but Playnite also supports PlayStation, Xbox, Oculus and Nintendo game libraries (of course, the latter cannot be launched directly from Playnite as with PC games, ça va sans dire).

I could go on about Playnite for pages and pages but this is a news letter and not a wiki so if you have any questions or want to know more, write to me or leave a comment.

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Now some indiegames!

Definitely Not Fried Chicken (18 Jan.) is a business management sim but with a twist. Grow your drugs trade through legitimate fronts by managing both sides of the business.

You can check the game here on Steam.

A Space for the Unbound (19 Jan.) is an adventure game with beautiful pixelart set in the late 90s rural Indonesia that tells a story about overcoming anxiety, depression, and the relationship between a boy and a girl with supernatural powers.

Check it here.

Estencel (19 Jan.) is a Dark Fantasy action game. I like the design of some of the monsters you can see in the trailers. Look for yourself.

RoneVine @RoneVine

gone... 01.19.2023, Add To Wishlist! - https://t.co/WxvT8LPDwc #unrealengine #indiegame #indiedev #gamedev #Estencel

You can wishlist it here.

The Pioneers: Surviving Desolation (20 Jan.). Guess what, it's a survival game! Build your station, manage your crew and explore the harsh environment of Io, the innermost moon of Jupiter.

Steam page here.

And that's it folks. For the next issue I already have a pretty good idea in mind but it will be a surprise so I'll leave you with this cliffhanger and.... until next time!

Lukather's Trove 🕹

Manage your games and new indies