If you are a fan of PC video games, you are most likely faced with the problem of the multiplicity of game stores: Steam, Origin, Uplayu, Epic, GOG, Bethesda, Battle.net… in short, the list is long and most publishers have got involved, much to your dismay! It is therefore difficult to have an overview of all the dematerialized games that you own!
Playnite is a universal library for all your PC games…and the software is open source and free!
Collect all your PC games in a single library
Using Playnite is very simple. Download and install the free Playnite application for Windows. The software will automatically scan your PC for installed games and display them in its library, a unified library!
At the time of installation, You will need to log in to each of your accounts if you want to view games that are not installed but that you own.…if you only want to see the games installed on your computer, you won't even need to do this!
Then the program will import data concerning all your accounts and games (the list of your games, their metadata, etc.).
And what's cool is that Playnite supports most of the video game publisher or retailer libraries, namely Battle.net, Bethesda, Epic, GOG, itch.io, Origin, Steam, Twitch, and Uplay. Plus, it also works with game console emulators.
Every time you launch the application, it scans your computer for new games (you can also manually trigger a scan). But that's not all! You can also add games manually by dragging and dropping them into the library.
For each game, you will be entitled to a complete sheet with data and visuals retrieved from igdb.com. The application has a French translation, but the game sheets will be in English.
When you want to play a quick game of one of your games, just launch it directly from Playnite. And just like with Steam, you can use the app in full screen and use a controller to launch your games.
Finally, for stats fans, Playnite tracks your playtime and it's even possible to import your data from Steam and GOG.
To top it all off, the software interface is really very elegant and ergonomic! It is even possible to change the interface theme and there are extensions to add features!
In short, if you appreciate useful software, this is one of them and it will allow you to put an end to the chaos and rivalries between different publishers. You will have a library of games to rule them all! And that is priceless… well yes, it is even 100% free!
