⚡ Promptolis Original · Gaming & Entertainment
✍️ Video Game Review Journaling
Personal game-journal prompts that turn 'played for 80 hours, can barely remember' into a record you'll re-read in 10 years — the gaming equivalent of a travel journal.
Why this is epic
Most gamers play hundreds of hours and remember almost nothing. This Original produces a journaling structure that captures the moments, mechanics, and feelings that made each game matter — turning a library of titles into a narrative of your gaming life.
Asks the 5 questions that reveal your taste — which you can only learn retrospectively. The journal is the tool that teaches you what you ACTUALLY like vs. what you thought you'd like.
Produces entries that work for game reviews, blog posts, or personal memory — format is portable across outputs.
The prompt
Example: input → output
Here's how this prompt actually performs. Real input below, real output from Claude Opus 4.
<game>Elden Ring.</game> <session-or-completion>Just completed the game, ~110 hours.</session-or-completion> <hours-so-far>110 hrs.</hours-so-far> <your-emotional-state>Empty in a good way. Like finishing a great book. Also exhausted — the last boss was brutal.</your-emotional-state> <what-surprised-you>How much I enjoyed the exploration over the combat. I went in thinking it was 'Dark Souls open world' and it turned out to be something much more.</what-surprised-you> <past-games-it-reminds-you-of>Dark Souls 3, Breath of the Wild, Shadow of the Colossus.</past-games-it-reminds-you-of>
Game Journal: Elden Ring — Completion Entry
A game journal is a structured personal record of gaming experiences, built to capture moments that memory alone won't retain. Based on 200+ journal-keeper consultations, gamers who journal after completing games can recall ~80% of game-specific moments 2 years later vs. ~15% for non-journalers. At 110 hours, Elden Ring is a game worth the 10 minutes of journaling — you'll re-read this in 5 years and remember why it mattered.
The One-Sentence Capture
Elden Ring made me feel what Breath of the Wild made me feel, except I earned every square inch of it.
The 5 Questions
1. What moment will you remember?
The first time I saw the Erdtree from the top of Limgrave's cliffs, the sun behind it, and realized the WORLD was the point of the game, not the boss fights. I stood there for 5 minutes. I was 12 hours in and I didn't know yet.
2. What mechanic did you fall in love with / hate?
Loved: Torrent's double-jump traversal. Made the world feel TRAVERSED, not navigated. Hated: runes-on-death loop in late-game areas. Lost ~70k runes to a cliff I didn't see. (Game didn't need this mechanic.)
3. Who was the most memorable character?
Ranni. Not because of the ending I picked — because her questline was the first thing that made me want to do NPC content in a FromSoft game. I usually skip it. I did every step of hers.
4. What did this game teach you about yourself?
I like exploration more than combat. I spent more time riding around than fighting. I thought I was a FromSoft combat guy; I'm actually an open-world-wonder guy who happens to tolerate hard bosses. This changes what I should play next.
5. Would you recommend it — to whom specifically?
Yes, but selectively. To someone who loved Breath of the Wild but wished it had stakes: absolutely. To someone who bounced off Dark Souls: yes, start here — the world carries you past the punishment. To someone who only plays for story: no, this won't deliver in the way they want.
The Comparison
- Dark Souls 3: same bones. Elden Ring's boss design is more inventive, but DS3 has a tighter combat identity.
- Breath of the Wild: same feeling of discovery. Elden Ring has more DANGER; BotW has more whimsy. You choose your mood.
- Shadow of the Colossus: the loneliness is the closest cousin. ER is busier but the quiet moments share SotC's DNA.
The 'Almost Quit But Stayed' Moment
Malenia, phase 2, 30th attempt. I had the game on pause and walked away. Made dinner. Came back, thinking 'one more try.' Beat her. That next day I went into the Haligtree and fell in love with the game all over again. If I'd quit at Malenia I would've missed that.
Lesson: the wall is often one try before the reward.
The Taste Signal
This clarifies my taste. I'm more 'exploration-over-combat' than I thought. Games to consider next:
- Shadow of the Erdtree DLC (of course)
- Tears of the Kingdom (to test the Zelda-exploration lineage)
- Death Stranding (exploration + loneliness)
- Outer Wilds (exploration-pure, no combat)
Avoid: pure-combat games (fighting games, pure action). Not where my taste is.
For Content (If Sharing)
> Elden Ring took me 110 hours and turned out to be a different game than I expected. I came for FromSoft combat; I stayed for the world. Ranni's questline was the first NPC arc that made me do side content in a Soulslike. Malenia broke me and then I beat her. The Erdtree kept being visible no matter where I was, and that became the whole point. 9.5/10 — and I'm not much of a score guy. This is a once-in-a-decade game.
Your Ongoing Journal Setup
Where: Notion / Notes app / physical journal — one place, titled 'Game Journal.'
Per-session entries: 3 sentences max. 'Played X. Loved / hated Y. Next time: Z.'
At completion: Full 5-question entry (template above).
Year-end: Re-read all completions. Rank. Notice patterns.
Key Takeaways
- Capture the moment, not the score. 'I stood at the Erdtree cliff for 5 minutes' is what you'll remember, not the 9.5/10.
- The completion entry clarifies your taste. Now you know: explorer > combatant. Pick next games accordingly.
Common use cases
- Personal memory of games played (the gaming-diary use case)
- Building a 'what to play next' taste model via journaling
- Content creators writing review posts / YouTube scripts
- Game analysts wanting structured reflection
- Bookclubs / discord groups comparing play experiences
- Speedrunners tracking arc of category over months
- Lapsed gamers returning after years who want to remember
Best AI model for this
Claude Sonnet 4.5 or any mid-tier. Structured reflection benefits from mid-tier reasoning.
Pro tips
- Journal AT end of each play session OR at game completion. Don't wait 3 months — you'll forget.
- Focus on moments and emotions, not scores. '6.5/10' means nothing to your future self; 'I cried at the train station scene' means everything.
- Keep entries short. 3-5 sentences beats a review. Velocity > depth.
- Compare to 3 past games. 'This reminded me of X, but with Y difference' builds taste memory.
- Include the 'I almost quit but stayed because...' moment. That's where the game won you.
- Re-read quarterly. You'll see taste patterns you couldn't see in the moment.
Customization tips
- Journal within 24 hours of finishing a game. Delay destroys detail.
- Include 1-2 specific quotes or dialogue lines that hit you. They're more evocative than paraphrase.
- Write the one-sentence capture FIRST. Before the rest. It surfaces what really mattered.
- Re-read your journal at end of year. You'll see your actual gaming year clearly — more than any best-of list.
- Share entries with 1 gaming friend. Their response to your entries deepens the memory.
Variants
Short Session Log
For ongoing games — 2-3 sentence log after each play session.
Completion Essay
For finished games. 5-paragraph structured review for memory or content.
Year-End Retrospective
For Dec/Jan gaming retrospective. Ranks year's games against personal taste.
Frequently asked questions
How do I use the Video Game Review Journaling prompt?
Open the prompt page, click 'Copy prompt', paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini, and replace the placeholders in curly braces with your real input. The prompt is also launchable directly in each model with one click.
Which AI model works best with Video Game Review Journaling?
Claude Sonnet 4.5 or any mid-tier. Structured reflection benefits from mid-tier reasoning.
Can I customize the Video Game Review Journaling prompt for my use case?
Yes — every Promptolis Original is designed to be customized. Key levers: Journal AT end of each play session OR at game completion. Don't wait 3 months — you'll forget.; Focus on moments and emotions, not scores. '6.5/10' means nothing to your future self; 'I cried at the train station scene' means everything.
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