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👉 Follow My Steam Curator Page
In July 2026 I decided to start curating & build a player-first destination focused on pure escapism, deep single-player, & unfiltered perspectives, completely free of algorithmic control.

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No pretension, no algorithms. Just immersive escapism and honest gaming.

For me, gaming is always about stepping into another world, settling in, and finding a rhythm. It's about doing something positive with my time, taking my mind off potential stressors, and getting mental exercise, which reinforces my belief that there are no mythical "best games." Instead, I feel the games we play should always be entertaining, immersive, and respectful of our time and money. I also wholeheartedly support the fact that gaming is a very positive, useful form of therapy, which I have used for many years.

As difficult to pull off as it often is, my reviews will always be two paragraphs; An immersive in-character RP narrative, followed by a short, honest one paragraph review. I don't believe my reviews need to be wordy or technical (information that can be found on a store page anyway), mostly because that's not how I play video games! I don't have the ability to multi-task so when I'm in a game, I'm just there to enjoy the experience. When I put hours into a game and then later start writing my review, I describe the feeling I had while playing more than anything else.

There's a ton of review styles, this one is mine. My review style parallels my gaming style, where I offer to share my enjoyment for gaming through story and hope you dig the vibe. If you appreciate the difference, you're in the right place, thanks for reading.

Escapism: Rich, atmospheric worlds built for deep immersion and focused, satisfying solo play, with optional multiplayer as a bonus.
Rewarding: Enjoyable game play, achievements, Steam Trading Cards and, Points Shop items.
Lasting: High-value replayability, robust new game+ modes, and worlds that keep giving.
Intuitive Play: Clean, accessible controls that keep you in the moment. Great controller and Steam Deck/Steam Input support is always a massive plus.

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1967 : I was hatched. v1.0 a purely analog foundation.
1969 : ARPANET sends its first transmission ("LO") before instantly crashing. The baseline for a connected world, the Internet, the World Wide Web won't happen for 20 more years. We will never be the same.
1971 : Somehow* one of my training wheels came off and I learned to ride my bike without them, a red 16" Schwinn Stingray Midget. My love of two wheels lasts still today. *Pretty sure my wheel was sabotaged.
1972 : Pong hits the streets, famously jamming an arcade test cabinet's coin box because it was overflowing with quarters.
1975 : Got a Jaws skateboard by Continental, rode it until it went down stairs and broke in two. My next board would be a Dogtown Wes Humpston Big Foot.
1977 : I was on my bike outside 24/7
1978 : The arrival of the Atari 2600 in the living room. A family purchase that only I played. Breakout was my first video game, Pong second.
1979 : BMX racing, skateboards and girls. I was outdoors a lot. The Atari gathered dust.
1980 : Spent countless hours in arcades playing Defender, Asteroids and Tempest. Arcades became shady, got a summer job, back to Punk Rock and street fights.
1981 : Learned BASIC in school on a TRS-80. Magical at first, got bored. Hated it, back outside.
1984 : Dungeons and Dragons. The first session was with a group of punks intoxicated af.
1987 : NES, an 8-bit beauty and technically my first personally owned console. Played Castlevania and Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Not a Mario guy.
1989 : TurboGrafx-16, the second console I bought. Played R-Type, beat Bonk's Adventure twice.
1990 : Wizardry, the birth of Western RPGs. I mapped and finished the game. Deployed to Iraq and took my TurboExpress/TurboVision (an attachable TV tuner.) It got destroyed; threw it in a burn pit.
1992 : Tandy 1000 RLX, my first PC. R.I.P. Radio Shack, we had some good years together. Used Sailor access from the library as my ISP. CompuServe, Prodigy and AOL. Look mom, we’re on the “World Wide Web”! First modem was a 2400, I'd have a 14.4 by the end of the year.
1993 : Neverwinter Nights on AOL, historically the first graphical MMORPG. I was there. DOOM was the first FPS I played, Hexen second.
1994 : Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, my first RTS game, first 1v1 “online match” with a friend. Became a BBS SysOp, created a 2-line Wildcat! Bulletin Board System. Netscape Navigator changed home computing forever.
1996 : Ultima Online, Alpha Tester.
1998 : EverQuest, Beta Tester.
1999 : EverQuest, Guide Program.
2000 : Dark Age of Camelot, Beta Tester.
2001 : Competed in Tribes 2 tournaments for money with a competitive clan. Became CompTIA A+ certified (self-taught), got a job as a pc repair tech. Apple certified.
2003 : Star Wars Galaxies, second player to unlock Jedi on Wanderhome.
2004 : World of Warcraft, Beta Tester.
2007 : World of Warcraft, second Horde Paladin to reach level 50 on my server. Raider in a top 5 guild.
2010 : Joined Steam to play Global Agenda. I didn't fully embrace the Steam ecosystem yet; most of my games used external launchers. That’s why a lot of games on my account only have a few hours (Also have time on PS5, Xbox and Switch).
2011 : First few games purchased on Steam were Brink, Final Fantasy XI, Space Marine, Civilization V, and Skyrim. Still wouldn’t put heavy hours into Steam for many years, played consoles or external launchers.

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After a long history of beta testing, multiplayer, and witnessing the birth of internet culture, I realized the web changed people in ways I wasn't comfortable with. What started as a virtual library of free knowledge and Shareware morphed into something I didn't recognize. Anonymity online became a cloak of selfishness and an excuse for nasty behavior. When social media and phone cameras took over, the vision of the internet as an idea of freedom turned into a bar room brawl between "me first" and "look at this."

I bailed out on being an active participant in online communities for the most part. From 2012 on, I left guilds, forums, portals, and digital interaction behind. I remained connected but turned away from socials and turned to more functional and specific use cases: streaming, news, shopping, and paying bills. Connected, but distant. No competitive scenes, no multiplayer drama.

I'm 59 years old now in 2026. I look for single-player experiences mostly. I’ve only recently decided to come back to Steam, having spent a few years on Xbox, PS5 and Switch. Got a new GPU, said goodbye to Windows, imaged my PC with Bazzite and displayed it on my 65” 4k LG C1. I prefer using my Steam Controller over MKB and don’t often play multiplayer unless I can solo or am playing with my wife. I’m a loner in real life, and online I behave the same way. I’m courteous, introverted, curious and perfectly fine doing things the way I do them.

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When I pass on, I want my profile to remain throughout the years as a monument to our culture and my time on planet earth. My wife and I are in a Family Group and she helped pay for all of these games; so let it stand Valve, this is not the account you're looking for. I own the domain Triphamr [triphamr.com] and want my family to keep it alive. How does a “non-famous” person keep their online presence alive and should they? I think we should.

Writing is also a passion, I'm working on my memoirs. Stories and thoughts from a man who has lived an adventurous and full life who just wants to see people smile more. I also live with a memory deficiency and writing helps me remember things, an integral and critical part of my life. It's a blur, but it's been a blast.

Valve is a great company:

Gabe, you're 5 years older than me, so we're going to ride this wave out together. I wish you the best, my friend, thank you for Steam. You've done good and I hope it prospers and exists forever.

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[*] In MMOs I used to “people watch” in dungeons.
[*] Deleting max-level characters to start over because I forgot how to play them is normal.
[*] Support Stop Killing Games [www.stopkillinggames.com].
[*] I'm content chilling in-games, finding waterfalls, listening to nature sounds.
[*] Obsessively organize backpacks, banks and inventories.
[*] I prefer games that don't end and love NG+
[*] I traditional role-play in my head, fueled by epic creativity, wonder and amazement.
[*] My game loop is: WWMCD - What Would My Character Do?.
[*] Arthritis hates combo-heavy games, so I play deep idlers, auto-battlers, slow-paced, collecting, taming and grind games mostly. Nothing that usually requires deep twitch. Which sucks because I love Warframe.
[*] I live with many disabilities, one that affects my life and game play the most involves memory. I have a complete lack of short-term memory, the reason I don't play combo heavy games. I'd play the hell out of Elden Ring if I could remember what buttons to press. Though I do try on occasion, if I repeat something literally a thousand times and write myself notes, I can usually recall it. But it's frustrating and exhausting.

[*] My favorite themes and atmospheres in games are: Cyberpunk, Dark Fantasy, Dieselpunk, Weird West, Grimdark, Biopunk, Post-Apocalyptic, Dystopia and most *Punk.

Current PC Specs

O/S: Bazzite
GPU: ASUS Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24GB GDDR6
CPU: Intel Core i9-12900K
Cooler: NZXT Kraken Z53 240mm
Mobo: MSI MPG Z690 Edge
RAM: G.SKILL TridentZ DDR4 4000 32GB
PSU: Silverstone SX1000 Platinum
SSD: Samsung