Tunnel Out started as a multiplayer game that is available on my Wixsite. When it was play tested, the question that came up was is there a solo version. At the time, I had no idea how to make that game solo, but after playing a few solo journaling games I realized the narrative portion of the multiplayer game could be the journaling aspect of the solo version.
It was important to retain the dice rolls and unexpected events and injuries to me because I felt, although journaling games started out fun to me, they didn't provide enough outside unexpected elements for me to progress the stories in interesting ways. It was all internal ideations without external events other than the original prompt to propel me forward. I feel like Tunnel Out solves that issue.
So if you like journaling but it gets to be a bit of a slog like it was for me, this game might have the balance you're looking for. It also has a finite amount of resources and a time frame which keeps the game from being endless without an actual goal. But because it is a journaling game, you can extend the game any way you want by finding resources and altering the elements if you want to.
The most important thing to me is you like playing it and find ways to make it work for you.