Detailed Game Search is a database of games, tagged and searchable by arbitrary combinations of specific traits, meant to help people find games they'll like. There are two main ways to use it:
You want game suggestions: search by a combination of tags that interest you, see if there's any results.
You already have a game you're considering trying, and want to know more about it: if it's in the database, you can see all its tags, describing its mechanics in detail.
It was inspired by my frustration with trying to find games I'd like. I love metroidvanias as a concept, but if I search for metroidvanias, I get games with features I hate like death drops, long runbacks, and invisible paths. DGS lets me search for metroidvanias without those features.
This project is very much a work in progress, both in its code, its interface, its data model, its known bugs, and its dataset (there aren't many games in it yet, nor many tags for describing non-combat games). But it's open for public viewing and testing, and will soon (planned 2026-09) be open for contributions. Please try it out and contact me (yujiri at disroot.org) with any questions, problems or suggestions.