Why This Blog Exists: Too Many Good Games Are Being Buried

The Game That Started It

I still remember the game that started this whole thing.

It was a small indie puzzle game I found on Steam in 2019. I don't even remember how I found it. Probably through a festival demo. Probably through a thread on some forum I can't name anymore.

The premise was simple. You moved objects around a grid. You solved spatial logic puzzles. The art was minimal. The music was understated. It had no marketing budget and about 300 reviews.

And it was brilliant.

I played through the whole game in a weekend. I told my friends about it. Most of them had never heard of it. A few bought it. They loved it too.

A year later, I checked the reviews. They had increased—but only to about 500. The game had been out for over a year. It had glowing reviews. Everyone who played it loved it. Almost nobody had played it.

That game still haunts me.

Not because it was the best game I've ever played. It wasn't. But because it was genuinely good, genuinely interesting, and genuinely overlooked. It deserved more attention than it got. And it never got it.

Why This Happens

The gaming industry has a discovery problem.

Every year, thousands of games are released on Steam alone. Thousands more on itch.io. Thousands more on consoles. The sheer volume is overwhelming.

Most are ignored. Some are bad. Some are average. Some are decent but forgettable.

And some are genuinely good—interesting, smart, well-crafted—and they still get ignored.

They launch into the wrong week. They get buried under a bigger release. They don't have a marketing budget. They don't have a publisher. They just... disappear.

I've been thinking about this for years. I've been making lists of overlooked games for years. I've been recommending them to friends for years.

This blog is me doing that at scale.

What I'm Looking For

I'm not looking for "masterpieces."

I'm not here to tell you that every game I recommend is the best thing since sliced bread. That's not how this works.

I'm looking for games that are good. Interesting. Worth your time. Deserving of a wider audience.

Some will be rough around the edges. Some will be short. Some will have a single great idea and nothing else. Some will be weird. Some will be quiet.

But they'll all be worth mentioning.

And that's what I'm doing here. I'm mentioning them. I'm giving them the attention they didn't get the first time around.

The Filter

I have a background in SEO. Early in my career, I worked as an SEO assistant. I learned how to spot weak signals, how to find things hiding in plain sight, how to separate noise from substance.

That background has stuck with me.

When I look at a game, I'm not looking at the marketing. I'm not looking at the trailer. I'm not looking at the hype. I'm looking at the game itself. The mechanics. The design. The feel. The craft.

I'm also looking at the context. When did this game release? What was it competing with? What was the conversation around it? Did it get a fair shot?

If it got buried, I want to know why. And if it was good, I want to tell someone.

How the Blog Works

I'm going to keep this simple.

Four categories. Each one covers a different angle.

Buried Finds is the main recommendation column. It's about overlooked games that deserve a wider audience. If you only read one category, read this one.

Why It Works is about design. It's about why these games work—mechanically, emotionally, structurally. It's analytical, but not academic.

Missed on Release is about games that launched at the wrong time. It's about second chances. About reconsidering games that were misunderstood.

Shelf Notes is the personal section. It's about my process. My habits. My lists. My thoughts about being a player and a parent and a person who still cares about games.

What I'm Not Doing

I'm not doing hype.

I'm not doing outrage.

I'm not doing "dunk" posts.

I'm not doing console wars.

I'm not pretending every game is a masterpiece.

I'm not using insider jargon to sound smart.

I'm just trying to find good games that got buried and tell you about them.

A Quiet Commitment

I don't have a big audience. I don't have a marketing team. I don't have industry connections.

What I have is time. And attention. And a long-running habit of finding good games that nobody else is talking about.

That's what I'm bringing to this blog. That's why I'm here.

If you're tired of hype, if you're tired of being told what to love, if you're tired of missing the quiet games, you're in the right place.

This is the kind of game that needs someone to mention it.

I'm going to be that someone.

Not everything loud is worth your time. Not everything quiet should be missed.