diff --git a/osu.Game/Database/DatabaseContextFactory.cs b/osu.Game/Database/DatabaseContextFactory.cs
index 359188b4e2..6154016083 100644
--- a/osu.Game/Database/DatabaseContextFactory.cs
+++ b/osu.Game/Database/DatabaseContextFactory.cs
@@ -9,11 +9,19 @@ namespace osu.Game.Database
     {
         private readonly GameHost host;
 
+        private const string database_name = @"client";
+
         public DatabaseContextFactory(GameHost host)
         {
             this.host = host;
         }
 
-        public OsuDbContext GetContext() => new OsuDbContext(host.Storage.GetDatabaseConnectionString(@"client"));
+        public OsuDbContext GetContext() => new OsuDbContext(host.Storage.GetDatabaseConnectionString(database_name));
+
+        public void ResetDatabase()
+        {
+            // todo: we probably want to make sure there are no active contexts before performing this operation.
+            host.Storage.DeleteDatabase(database_name);
+        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/osu.Game/Database/OsuDbContext.cs b/osu.Game/Database/OsuDbContext.cs
index 93d23cc1bc..20d36f3ebe 100644
--- a/osu.Game/Database/OsuDbContext.cs
+++ b/osu.Game/Database/OsuDbContext.cs
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 
 using System;
 using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
+using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Diagnostics;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;
 using osu.Framework.Logging;
 using osu.Game.Beatmaps;
@@ -63,8 +64,12 @@ namespace osu.Game.Database
         protected override void OnConfiguring(DbContextOptionsBuilder optionsBuilder)
         {
             base.OnConfiguring(optionsBuilder);
-            optionsBuilder.UseSqlite(connectionString);
-            optionsBuilder.UseLoggerFactory(logger.Value);
+            optionsBuilder
+                // this is required for the time being due to the way we are querying in places like BeatmapStore.
+                // if we ever move to having consumers file their own .Includes, or get eager loading support, this could be re-enabled.
+                .ConfigureWarnings(warnings => warnings.Ignore(CoreEventId.IncludeIgnoredWarning))
+                .UseSqlite(connectionString)
+                .UseLoggerFactory(logger.Value);
         }
 
         protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
@@ -160,7 +165,15 @@ namespace osu.Game.Database
         public void Migrate()
         {
             migrateFromSqliteNet();
-            Database.Migrate();
+
+            try
+            {
+                Database.Migrate();
+            }
+            catch (Exception e)
+            {
+                throw new MigrationFailedException(e);
+            }
         }
 
         private void migrateFromSqliteNet()
@@ -179,6 +192,8 @@ namespace osu.Game.Database
 
                     try
                     {
+                        Logger.Log("Performing migration from sqlite-net to EF...", LoggingTarget.Database, Framework.Logging.LogLevel.Important);
+
                         // we are good to perform messy migration of data!.
                         Database.ExecuteSqlCommand("ALTER TABLE BeatmapDifficulty RENAME TO BeatmapDifficulty_Old");
                         Database.ExecuteSqlCommand("ALTER TABLE BeatmapMetadata RENAME TO BeatmapMetadata_Old");
@@ -219,13 +234,14 @@ namespace osu.Game.Database
                         Database.ExecuteSqlCommand("DROP TABLE RulesetInfo_Old");
 
                         Database.ExecuteSqlCommand(
-                            "INSERT INTO BeatmapInfo SELECT ID, AudioLeadIn, BaseDifficultyID, BeatDivisor, BeatmapSetInfoID, Countdown, DistanceSpacing, GridSize, Hash, Hidden, LetterboxInBreaks, MD5Hash, NULLIF(BeatmapMetadataID, 0), OnlineBeatmapID, Path, RulesetID, SpecialStyle, StackLeniency, StarDifficulty, StoredBookmarks, TimelineZoom, Version, WidescreenStoryboard FROM BeatmapInfo_Old");
+                            "INSERT INTO BeatmapInfo SELECT ID, AudioLeadIn, BaseDifficultyID, BeatDivisor, BeatmapSetInfoID, Countdown, DistanceSpacing, GridSize, Hash, IFNULL(Hidden, 0), LetterboxInBreaks, MD5Hash, NULLIF(BeatmapMetadataID, 0), OnlineBeatmapID, Path, RulesetID, SpecialStyle, StackLeniency, StarDifficulty, StoredBookmarks, TimelineZoom, Version, WidescreenStoryboard FROM BeatmapInfo_Old");
                         Database.ExecuteSqlCommand("DROP TABLE BeatmapInfo_Old");
+
+                        Logger.Log("Migration complete!", LoggingTarget.Database, Framework.Logging.LogLevel.Important);
                     }
-                    catch
+                    catch (Exception e)
                     {
-                        // if anything went wrong during migration just nuke the database.
-                        throw new MigrationFailedException();
+                        throw new MigrationFailedException(e);
                     }
                 }
                 catch (MigrationFailedException e)
@@ -241,5 +257,9 @@ namespace osu.Game.Database
 
     public class MigrationFailedException : Exception
     {
+        public MigrationFailedException(Exception exception)
+            : base("sqlite-net migration failed", exception)
+        {
+        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/osu.Game/OsuGameBase.cs b/osu.Game/OsuGameBase.cs
index e7ad77d099..50639e3427 100644
--- a/osu.Game/OsuGameBase.cs
+++ b/osu.Game/OsuGameBase.cs
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ using osu.Game.Graphics;
 using osu.Game.Graphics.Cursor;
 using osu.Game.Online.API;
 using osu.Framework.Graphics.Performance;
+using osu.Framework.Logging;
 using osu.Game.Database;
 using osu.Game.Input;
 using osu.Game.Input.Bindings;
@@ -90,18 +91,7 @@ namespace osu.Game
             dependencies.Cache(this);
             dependencies.Cache(LocalConfig);
 
-            try
-            {
-                using (var context = contextFactory.GetContext())
-                    context.Migrate();
-            }
-            catch (MigrationFailedException)
-            {
-                using (var context = contextFactory.GetContext())
-                    context.Database.EnsureDeleted();
-                using (var context = contextFactory.GetContext())
-                    context.Migrate();
-            }
+            runMigrations();
 
             dependencies.Cache(API = new APIAccess
             {
@@ -173,6 +163,28 @@ namespace osu.Game
             FileStore.Cleanup();
         }
 
+        private void runMigrations()
+        {
+            try
+            {
+                using (var context = contextFactory.GetContext())
+                    context.Migrate();
+            }
+            catch (MigrationFailedException e)
+            {
+                Logger.Log((e.InnerException ?? e).ToString(), LoggingTarget.Database, LogLevel.Error);
+                Logger.Log("Migration failed! We'll be starting with a fresh database.", LoggingTarget.Database, LogLevel.Error);
+
+                // if we failed, let's delete the database and start fresh.
+                // todo: we probably want a better (non-destructive) migrations/recovery process at a later point than this.
+                contextFactory.ResetDatabase();
+                Logger.Log("Database purged successfully.", LoggingTarget.Database, LogLevel.Important);
+
+                using (var context = contextFactory.GetContext())
+                    context.Migrate();
+            }
+        }
+
         private WorkingBeatmap lastBeatmap;
 
         public void APIStateChanged(APIAccess api, APIState state)