How to find old games you cant remember

Wondering how to find a game that you forgot the name of? There are now millions of games that it’s easier to forget their names each day.

Sometimes, you may not recall the name of a game that was so good that you won’t find out what it is until you inadvertently discover it.

You’re not the only one who’s ever been stumped by this problem. There are hundreds of people on forums every day looking for a game they can’t recall the name of.

Another Interesting Read: The Best Gaming Chair Under 200: Top 5 Picks!

The good news is that if you can’t recall the name of a game I use personally and recommend to others in order to successfully deal with difficulties, this article will show you seven practical tactics.

So, do you want to know how to locate a game that you no longer recall the name of? Let’s see what we can figure out.

how to find a game that you forgot the name of?

I’ll teach you how to find a game that you forgot the name of. After trying several various approaches (which were successful for me) on what it’s called and failing to discover anything in return.

Game Databases

Look for how to find a game that you forgot the name of? With the aid of online databases if you left a question on a forum. The following are some of the most frequent ones:

Select as many options as you can recall, and they’ll provide you with a list of games that fit your criteria.

Ask on Forums

Have you ever heard of the Great Designer Search? It’s a competition sponsored by Google where participants design innovative and aesthetically pleasing websites for businesses.

With so many individuals sharing their thoughts and ideas in a non-judgmental atmosphere, it’s easier than ever before to get your questions answered or simply chat with people that have comparable interests as you!

A lot of other users reported that it was quite useful when it comes to how to find a game that you forgot the name of as well since they’ve had a 100% success rate thus far.

The internet is a huge and fascinating world to explore, especially when you’re seeking the finest gaming forums. The list below contains five of my personal favorites that will provide hours of enjoyment (as well as some extremely profound debates)!

• Quora
• Reddit
• GameSpot
• XDA-Developers 
• Stack Overflow

Creating an account on one of the websites I mentioned will allow you to post in their discussion forum.

You should devote a whole article to your favorite game, including the genre, characters’ names, objectives, and any other unique characteristics or locations that it has.

I’d advise you to post it on all of the five sites so that your name may be recognized fast.

Search on Google

Google may be a useful tool for locating forgotten information. I know because it aided me in identifying the name of my favorite open-world combat game, which allows players to do whatever they want over and over again.

All you have to do is go to Google and type in your query: “open-world combat game providing players a seemingly endless number of methods to accomplish the same thing.” Go to Google and search for “Dark Souls 2” (The best result should be Dark Souls 2.).

You’ve discovered not only what you were searching for, but also learned a lot more about other games thanks to your Google searches.

how to find a game that you forgot the name of USING Google Images

Google also offers some really impressive capabilities on how to find a game that you forgot the name of. One of them is Google Images. It works in the same manner as Search, but instead of search engine results pages, you’ll get a lot of relevant pictures.

Again, in the case of Outlast, I recommend you write something like this: “horror game video camera,” and it should provide you with the correct answer right away.

Look for games that match your search criteria. If there are none, consider different games that meet your criteria or try again, but be more particular this time to remove more irrelevant games.

Let’s assume you still can’t discover the game.

Search by Google Images

Do you mind if I take a screenshot of the game? If that’s the case, good for you! You’ve done an outstanding job, and we’ll get to your prize in no time.

Go to the “images” icon in your browser and take a photo of the game. Then, after you’ve hovered over the search bar with your cursor, click on it. If you discover what we’re searching for at any moment, please let us know!

I’m very happy we were able to find a game name that you’ll forget- I understand how to find a game that you forgot the name of, can be aggravating. If this doesn’t work, there are alternative methods listed below!

Search by Music From the Game

The game’s soundtrack is an unforgettable and iconic one. Google gives a big selection of game soundtracks, so you should have no trouble when it comes to how to find a game that you forgot the name of.

When you’re done browsing for song titles, see if there are any matches for “soundtrack title” or “game track name.”

Hello, welcome to my channel! I’m really glad you’re here! This is one of the most effective methods for remembering a game’s title. If not, please feel free to view some other choices below.

Look for the Best Games of the Genre

The last suggestion, which is also linked to Google Search, maybe a useful reminder.

If you can’t remember the game’s name after searching using the methods above, it implies you know very little about it.

So, rather than being particular, let’s aim for broadness and seek the best games in their category.

If I wanted to locate the Outlast, for example, my search query would look like this: “best horror games.”

Because of this, you will receive a list of the best games from the same category as your own, and you’ll have to go through hundreds or even thousands of games to find the one that’s right for you.

Ask Your Gamer Friend

I was always a gamer, and I had many friends who played games with me. It’s sometimes difficult for me to recall the name of that one game, but it’s simple to remember again!

Simply ask your fellow gamers what they’ve been playing lately.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the best way to figure out what a game is called?

Try to recall anything unusual about the game. During what time period did you play this game, as asked on r/tipofmyjoys by the guys?

Ask your gamer friends, go to gaming forums, search for a successor or remake, check out gaming videos on YouTube/use reverse image search, etc.

How can I find an old game?

Here are five sites that help us in figuring out how to find a game that you forgot the name of. GOG.com- The term “good old games” is used in the name “GOG,” and the site lives up to its promise. GOG.com differs from Steam in that their classic games area, as well as Web-Adventures.org, Sarien.net, AGD Interactive, offers a variety of blasts from the past.

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When I got my first PC it opened up a huge universe of games to me. A single game disk could contain dozens of games, from different genres like sports, adventure, action, etc. When playing a lot of games in a short time period you will probably not remember every single game title you played.

This is exactly what happened to me. That’s when I decided this article needed to be done since there must be other people like me who played a game a long time ago and can’t remember its name. 

Turns out the game whose name I forgot was Turok. All I had was vague memories of me playing a first-person shooter that had a jungle-like scenery in which I had to shoot dinosaurs. I came up with some methods to assist myself in remembering the name of this game. And today I am going to share those methods with you. So let’s get started, shall we?

Try To Remember Something Unique About The Game

In order to remember the name of a game, we must first try to remember some unique points about it. So, you can go through a bunch of stuff in your head and make a list of items. The information can be divided into 3 tiers based on importance.

The first tier consists of the most useful information.

• Platform: PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, PC, etc.
• Genre: was the game an FPS, 3rd person cover shooter, action, adventure, racing, RPG, etc.
• Year of Release: Do you remember when it was released? Or at least the year in which you played it?

The second tier is made up of “semi-useful information”.

• Protagonist: Do you remember the name of the main character?
• Plot: Do you remember what the general idea of the game was? What was the game about (killing demons, stealth, fighting, etc.)? How was the story conveyed to the player?
• Enemies: Most games have some kind of enemy unit or multiple types of enemy units. What were the enemies like in that game you played? How to beat them?
• Puzzles: Certain games have puzzle elements, did this one have any?

The third and final tier consists of some general info

• Artstyle: Was it cartoonish, realistic, etc.
• Setting: Did the game take place in a real-world setting/ location? Or in fantasy land? Was it set in the past, present, or future?
• Tone: Was the general tone of the game light-hearted, or more moody/ dystopian?

Try and answer these questions to the best of your ability. Make a note with these three tiers of information, and keep that note alongside you for when you get on Google to look up the game. Use this info to narrow down your searches and find elements that make your game different from the rest. 

Ask The Guys On r/tipofmyjoystick

This is an entire subreddit dedicated to finding names of games that you can’t remember. Just post whatever details you can, like answers from the first point (what’s unique about that game you played?). And the detectives on this subreddit will do their best to narrow it down and give you the name.

Make sure you follow the subreddit rules when posting a request. I also suggest you look up the template for submissions which uses a lot of the details I mention in my first point. Like Platform, genre, estimated year of release, and so on.

During What Time Period Did You Play This Game?

Was it something you played in your childhood? Can you remember the year, or approximate range (2002 to 2005, 1991 to 1995, etc.)? Search popular games released during that time period, and narrow it down to the platform you played on. 

Maybe your game was featured in some movie/ TV show released during the same time period. Like that episode of South Park where the kids play World of Warcraft. That was episode 8 from Season 10, and it first aired in 2006 when classic WoW was quite popular.

You can try using keywords or details you remember from the game and searching in Google for a specific year range only. If it was a multiplayer game, chances are it released after the mid to late 90s. If it was a war game in a first-person perspective with multiplayer elements, it probably came after the year 2000.

Ask Your Gamer Friends

Yep, it’s that simple. Being a gamer myself, I grew up in a circle of fellow gamers. I have friends who I know personally that have been gaming since their childhood days. And I have also made many online friends in the process. 

So if I am unsure about a certain game, I will simply ask one of my friends. And hope that between our collective experience, the name comes up. For your online friends, hop into a discord server and do a brainstorming session with relevant links and images.

Sometimes you will stumble upon quite interesting information while having a casual chat with friends. I actually got to know about Serious Sam from one of my college buddies. He told me it was an action FPS in which you mowed down monsters, set in fantastical landscapes.

And when I went online to search for Serious Sam, I found a bunch of gameplay videos and screenshots. One of these videos was of the desert level I had played in that cafe as a child. And then it struck me- I had been searching for Serious Sam all this time.

Check Out Some Gaming Forums

Just like Reddit, there are plenty of other websites/ forums on the internet with sections (or often the entire website) dedicated to gaming and its history. You can visit a site like IGN, GameFAQs, Gamespot, or NeoGAF and make a post with useful information that you remember about the game you played. And someone might be able to piece together the info and get a name for you. 

It’s also important to visit forums that are relevant to the type of game you are searching for. For example- if you played a space strategy game, visit a forum dedicated to that genre of games. As always, follow the rules of the forum.

If you don’t know which forum to visit, simply do a search. Look up forums that were active around the same time period as this game was released. Because a lot of old school gaming forums are either dead now or inactive.

And finally, don’t forget the Youtube comments section. Look up videos of games similar to what you played back then. Post a comment mentioning how you forgot the name of a certain game, and someone might drop by with a hint.

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Try Searching For A Successor Or Remake

In the gaming industry, good ideas never go unnoticed. Even if you played some obscure game that didn’t achieve financial success and got dropped, chances are some other developer grabbed the concept and made a successor. 

This method of searching is ideal for when you only remember vague/ generic details about a certain game. If you can’t narrow it down to specific things, think about the parts of that game which made it good. Or maybe some new gameplay elements it introduced which was then adopted by successive games.

Then start searching online for games that implement similar design concepts. Maybe you’ll find a sequel of the game you originally played, or some other game inspired by it which should lead you to the name.

Search Gaming Videos On Youtube/ Use Reverse Image Search

Type certain catchphrases or keywords you remember from the forgotten game into Youtube. Chances are someone has uploaded an ancient gaming video of themselves playing the game. Maybe you remember the level name, in which case search results should be pretty accurate. You can also search for these keywords in Google search. 

Perhaps you remember some of the plot details, try formulating a search based around that. Some Wiki entry or forum post might pop up with the name of the game. If you have a screenshot or image from within the game, or even cover art, try doing a reverse image search.

Do You Remember The Music?

Some games have very distinctive music styles and memorable soundtracks, like DOOM with its metal music. If you can remember the name of the song or some lyrics, use that information to get the name of the game. Search for games using that genre of music, narrow it down by using “OST” and “game” as keywords in Google.

You can take things one step further by looking up popular sounds artists for games created during that time period. And generally, the same sound artist is preserved for a sequel so you can use that information too. If you have a snippet of the soundtrack, you can do a reverse search via music identification tools/ apps. 

Use Hardware Information

Okay, this one is kind of weird but bear with me. Do you remember what hardware your PC had when you played this game? Maybe it was integrated graphics or some really old Voodoo graphics accelerator. 

This only works if you’re some kind of hardware nerd like me and remember the make/ model of every processor and GPU you ever had. Looking up a list of games that are often played on that model of GPU, time period helps. For instance, there will be many examples of people playing Crysis (the first one) on an NVIDIA 8800GT graphics card which was released during that time. 

Try to remember the kind of performance you got, and examine performance benchmarks for that time. If you want to get really deep, you can even search for driver release notes of that period for mentions of game titles. Another good resource to check out is gaming hardware reviews from that time period.

Gaming hardware journalists often review relevant hardware with games from the same time period. It has been that way since the beginning, so you can look up reviews for the specific GPU or CPU you had. Note that this isn’t going to work unless you played the game on a PC. 

Scour Through Game Databases

This is the last-ditch effort, and it’s going to take a lot of your time. It basically involves skimming through columns of game names until your brain finally clicks after reading a certain entry. But since you can’t just manually go through all 50,000 or so games that have been made until now you need a shortcut. 

The shortcut is to narrow it down by genre or platform. There are PC game databases, Mac game databases, DOS game databases… you get the idea. Search the database of games for a specific platform. And within that database, look up the relevant genre. 

Then, hopefully, you find what you’re looking for. Use all the information you have from your note that you constructed from the first point in this article. That should help you get a positive hit faster while going through the database.

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Conclusion

I hope my list helped you find that game whose name had been eluding you for a long time. Nostalgia is a powerful drug, and all the modern AAA goodness can’t beat that feeling you get when you replay one of those games from your childhood days. Recently, I played through some old Need for Speed titles in remembrance of the good old days. 

It brought back quite a few memories of my childhood days when times were simpler, and responsibilities were fewer. Those early days molded my love for gaming and introduced me to a whole new world of fantasy and excitement. I believe it is the same for a lot of you reading this article.

Remember- if you aren’t able to immediately find the name of the game using my tips, don’t give up. Be persistent, it might take days or even months. Some forums are relatively inactive so it will take a while before you get a reply on your post.

If you found this article useful, you may want to save this pin below to your Gaming board.