GamingGaiden vs Thusfar

GamingGaiden is a Windows tray application for tracking play time and session history across PC and emulated games. It can automatically track games and new ROMs after an emulator is registered, and supports RetroArch cores. Games launched directly from an emulator’s graphical interface are not tracked; the manual recommends a frontend or command-line shortcuts. The app detects idle time and removes it from session records. Its statistics include lifetime summaries, session counts and lengths, daily, monthly, and yearly play time, most-played games, and games grouped by emulator. A backlog lets users mark games Playing, Finished, On Hold, or Dropped. The project also lists HWiNFO64 integration and Google image search for game icons or box art. GamingGaiden is described as portable and offline, with data stored locally and automatic backups after each session. It can be installed on multiple gaming PCs and share a database while tracking each PC separately. The free project is licensed under AGPL-3.0. Downloads are offered only through its GitHub repository; Windows SmartScreen may show an Unknown Publisher warning because the application lacks a public CA signature.

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.