What game should I play? Three questions that pick one

"What game should I play?" usually is not a shortage of games — it is too many. A library of unplayed Steam sales, a subscription catalogue and a wishlist all compete for the same free evening. The fix is not a longer list; it is a few good questions that shrink the choice to one. Here is the method we built JustLikeGames around.

Question 1 — How much time do you actually have?

Be honest about tonight, not the weekend. Under an hour rules out anything with a long opening, lengthy cutscenes or save points far apart. That is the time for roguelikes with short runs, puzzle games, racing, fighting games or a single match of something competitive. Two hours or more is when a story-heavy RPG or an open world makes sense — a slow start is fine when you have time to get past it.

Question 2 — How much energy do you have?

A tired brain and a demanding game are a bad match. On low-energy nights, pick something you already know how to play, or a cozy game with no fail state — farming, building, exploring. Save the soulslike bosses, strategy games and new mechanics for when you are sharp. This one question explains most abandoned games: they were started on the wrong night.

Question 3 — Who are you playing with?

Solo, couch co-op, online with friends, or with kids in the room? This cuts the list harder than genre does. A couch co-op night needs games that support shared-screen play, and a family night needs something readable to a newcomer in five minutes.

Then: start from a game you already loved

For the next big game, the most reliable signal is the last game you could not put down. The trick is to ask what you loved about it. If it was Hollow Knight, was it the map you slowly unlock, or the hard, fair combat? The first points to other metroidvanias; the second to soulslikes. A good "games like" list gives the reason for every pick, so you can follow the part you actually enjoyed rather than just the genre label.

Stuck between two? Compare them head to head

When the choice is down to two — Elden Ring or Dark Souls III, Minecraft or Terraria, Hades or Dead Cells — a straight comparison helps more than another review of each. Look at time to fun, difficulty, length and what each does that the other does not, then pick the one that fits tonight's answers to the three questions above.

Tame the backlog

• Sort, don't just pile. Mark games as Backlog, Playing, Completed or Dropped. Dropping a game on purpose is allowed.
• Limit "Playing" to two or three. One long game and one short one covers both kinds of night.
• Set a small monthly goal. Finishing one game a month clears twelve a year.
• Note why you stopped. "Stuck on a boss" and "bored of it" need different fixes.

Our app: JustLikeGames

JustLikeGames is our free game finder for iPhone and Android. Its "What should I play tonight?" pick asks the three questions above — time, energy and who you are playing with — and gives you one game with a reason why; tap again for another. Type any game to get games like it, drawn from 186 hand-written "games like" lists from justlikegames.com, 57 head-to-heads and 15 genre guides, over a catalogue of more than 10,700 games that ships inside the app and works offline. A Find Me a Game quiz filters by genre, era and style, and the backlog tracker handles statuses, ratings, notes, play sessions and a monthly goal — with no account.

The app is free with light ads that never sit between you and a result, and a one-time purchase removes them. More of the lists are on the web at justlikegames.com. For quicker sessions, see our best free browser games.

Already know a game you loved? Game recommendations: how to find games like it turns that into a shortlist you will actually finish.

Only have a few minutes? Try our games to play when bored, sorted by how much time you have.