· 3 min read
Journaling games: 7 games where writing is how you play
By Thomas D.
What a journaling game is, the solo tabletop games that made the idea popular, and cozy video games where writing about your own life is part of play.
"Journaling game" means two different things, depending on who you ask.
For tabletop players, it means a solo journaling RPG: a game you play alone with a notebook, a pen and some dice or cards. Prompts tell you what happens, and you write the story in your journal.
For video game players, it more often means a game where writing is part of play: you write letters, notes or journal pages, sometimes about your own life.
Both are on the rise. Here are seven worth knowing, from both sides.
Solo journaling RPGs
1. Thousand Year Old Vampire
Tim Hutchings' game, released in 2019, is probably the best-known solo journaling RPG. You play a vampire across centuries. Prompts, chosen by dice rolls, ask you to gain and lose memories, skills and people. Over time your vampire forgets who they were, and so, in a strange way, do you. It's beautiful and often dark.
2. Alone Among the Stars
Takuma Okada's short game sends you exploring planets alone. You draw cards and roll a die to discover what's on each world, then write about it. It's gentle, curious and easy to start, and many other solo games have been built on its design.
3. The Wretched
Chris Bissette's game puts you in the place of the last survivor on a damaged spaceship. You draw cards for prompts, write log entries, and pull blocks from a tumbling block tower that represents the ship. When the tower falls, the story ends. It's tense rather than cozy, but it shows how strong the format can be.
Video games where you write
4. Kind Words (lo fi chill beats to write to)
You write short anonymous letters about what's on your mind and reply to strangers' letters with kindness, to a lo-fi soundtrack. Writing about your own life, and reading other people's, is the whole game.
5. Spirit City: Lofi Sessions
A cozy focus companion with lo-fi music, rain and a crackling fire. It includes a journal along with a timer, a to-do list and a habit tracker, and you collect little spirits as you build good habits.
6. Finch
A self-care app for phones where you look after a small bird by completing daily goals and answering short reflection prompts. It's more a habit app than a game, but its gentle, game-like loop has made it popular.
7. Leaf by Leaf
We made this one, so take this entry with a pinch of salt. Leaf by Leaf is a pixel-art journaling game you can play in your browser or on Mac and Windows. You sit with a character under an old tree, by the sea, at a cabin or by the fire, and write short pages about your own day: morning and evening pages, a weekly reflection, and Untangle a thought, a seven-page CBT exercise that ends with the tree letting a leaf go. Your streak, level and seasons grow as you keep writing.
What makes a good journaling game
- Prompts that do the hard part. A blank page is intimidating. Good prompts give you somewhere to start.
- A satisfying ending. A tower falls, a planet is left behind, a leaf flies off. Endings make you want to come back.
- Low setup. The best ones are playable in minutes.
- Privacy. When the writing is personal, you need to know it's yours.
Is a journaling game the same as journaling?
Not quite. Solo RPGs are fiction: you write about a character. Self-care journaling games ask you to write about your real life, with game elements to make the habit easier. Both use the same pleasure of putting words on a page. If you want the real-life kind, see how to start journaling or our list of journaling ideas.