Game Time Manager vs Thusfar

Game Time Manager is a free Windows PC app that tracks gaming time and play history, with the stated aim of helping users balance gaming with the rest of life. When it detects a full-screen game, it periodically displays how long the user has been playing. The default overlay stays visible for 10 seconds every 10 minutes, and its settings can be changed in config.toml without restarting the app. It records what was played and when. The maker describes it as compatible with most PC games. After installation it runs in the background and starts when the user logs in. Installation requires downloading a release, unzipping it, and running install.ps1 with PowerShell. The project is published under the Apache License 2.0. Listed releases are pre-release alpha versions, with v0.0.1-alpha.3 the newest shown. Play-over-time metrics and game-specific rules are TODO items rather than available features. Its free plan is free and lists Windows 10 and 11 as tested.

Thusfar is a free, open-source Windows tray app for remembering where you stopped in a game. It reads the local Steam library, detects installed Steam games across drives, and watches for sessions to end. After a session longer than 10 minutes, it offers a skip option, a one-line note, or three prompts about location, what comes next, and what to remember. Sessions shorter than 10 minutes are recorded without that prompt. The app provides a game library and per-game recaps containing notes, playtime, last-played information, and session history. Steam games are detected automatically; console, emulator, and non-Steam sessions can be logged manually, including games from Epic or GOG in the first version. Data is stored locally in SQLite. Optional IGDB cover art needs free Twitch developer credentials; without them, placeholder art is used. The portable release is a ZIP archive requiring Windows 10 or 11 x64 and Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime. It has no installer, and its unsigned release may trigger Windows SmartScreen.